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Texas solar continues to boom

By Mason Adams

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This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Southeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

SOLAR

  • The Solar Energy Industries Association reports that Texas led the U.S. last year by installing 11 GW of solar power — more than twice the amount installed by any other state. (Houston Public Media)

  • South Carolina regulators enter a compliance agreement with solar panel maker Silfab Solar after a pair of chemical spills at the company’s factory earlier this month. (South Carolina Public Radio)

  • Jacksonville, Florida’s city council approves the closure of three rights-of-way to allow for a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources to build a 74.9 MW solar farm that will sell power back to the city’s municipal utility. (Jacksonville Daily Record)

BATTERIES

  • General Motors and battery company LG Energy Solution recall 700 workers who were previously laid off due to sluggish EV sales as they work to redevelop a Tennessee EV battery plant to make grid-scale batteries. (Reuters)

WIND

  • The Trump administration is reportedly drafting a settlement agreement with TotalEnergies that would pay the company $928 million to cancel its two offshore wind leases in federal waters, including one off North Carolina. (New York Times)

FOSSIL FUELS

  • The Trump administration approves BP’s $5 billion ultra-deepwater oil drilling project off the coast of Louisiana despite opposition from environmentalists and Democrats. (New York Times)

  • The Trump administration calls a meeting of the rarely convened committee known as the ​“God Squad” for what observers expect will be an attempt to exempt certain Gulf of Mexico offshore oil and gas projects from requirements under the Endangered Species Act. (E&E News)

  • Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Corp. proposes building a $2.6 billion, 1,499 MW gas-fired power plant next to a coal plant scheduled for retirement in 2030. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, White River Now)

  • Virginia’s energy agency announces it will award nearly $80 million in grants to projects that capture and reuse methane from coal mines. (Cardinal News)

GRID

  • The Energy Information Administration finds PJM Interconnection and Texas’ ERCOT are seeing power demand balloon more quickly than any other grid region, and could see annual growth as high as 4.7% and 15% between 2025 and 2027, respectively. (Utility Dive)

RENEWABLES

  • Duke Energy reports a new subscription program offering large business customers in North Carolina streamlined access to renewable energy already has surpassed its enrollment targets. (news release)

NUCLEAR

  • The Kentucky Nuclear Energy Development Authority awards $8 million in grants to six organizations for programs to develop nuclear energy, ranging from workforce development to site readiness. (Kentucky Today)

DATA CENTERS

  • Virginia lawmakers passed a spate of legislation related to data centers, including a bill allowing state regulators to decide whether to shift more costs onto the sector for the power they consume. (Virginia Mercury)

  • London-based tech company Nscale announces plans to build a data center in West Virginia on a 2,200-acre campus that will be powered by a microgrid. (West Virginia Public Broadcasting)

OVERSIGHT

  • Alabama lawmakers pass a bill that aims to tackle the state’s high electricity rates by requiring state regulators to hold open rate case hearings for Alabama Power and other utilities. (AL.com, WIAT)

  • Jacksonville, Florida’s city council launches a probe into its municipal utility due to questions about unpaid capacity fees and its corporate culture. (Florida Politics)

UTILITIES

  • An analysis by the nonprofit Energy and Policy Institute finds vertically integrated utilities in the Southeast have significantly higher average profit margins than utilities that participate in organized wholesale power markets. (Utility Dive)

POLITICS

  • Louisiana lawmakers consider an array of legislation to create new limits on liability for climate-related damages, block state funding to support net-zero emissions policies, and to limit or completely ban carbon capture operations. (Gambit/Times-Picayune)

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