TVA clings to fossil fuels despite critics’ push for renewables

UTILITIES: The Tennessee Valley Authority resists cooperatives’ and critics’ efforts to push it to embrace more renewables, which make up less than 5% of its portfolio versus more than 75% that comes from coal, gas, and nuclear. (Sierra)

SOLAR:
• Texas residents complain about a six-month wait for an energy company to approve rooftop solar permits, resulting in solar installations that sit unused. (Houston Chronicle)
• Two Virginia community colleges add programs to train solar installers as regional school systems add more solar arrays. (Virginia Business)
• A North Carolina equipment manufacturer installs a 1 MW solar array at its headquarters to provide half of its energy needs. (Greensboro News & Record)
• An Arkansas county investigates the possibility of using solar energy to power its operations. (El Dorado News-Times)

OIL & GAS: The company that plans to build a new natural gas-fired power plant with carbon capture in West Virginia credits the recent congressional climate package for making the project possible. (E&E News)

CLIMATE:
• Hurricane Fiona knocks out Puerto Rico’s power grid and rips up roads as it moves across the Caribbean. (Associated Press)
• Louisiana residents still wait for federal assistance in a small town struck by Hurricane Laura more than two years ago. (NOLA.com)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The Biden administration approves plans by Georgia and Oklahoma to build electric vehicle chargers along interstates and major highways. (WXIA, KFOR)
• A Florida city begins purchasing electric vehicles for its municipal fleet. (Spectrum News)

PIPELINES: Three activists who participated in a ​“Trojan Duck” protest against the Mountain Valley Pipeline receive misdemeanor convictions and suspended jail sentences. (Roanoke Times)

TRANSITION: Berkshire Hathaway’s construction of a West Virginia solar facility to power an aerospace enterprise runs against the state’s coal-friendly politics, which have resulted in rising electricity rates for residents. (Forbes)

EMISSIONS: A new study by North Carolina researchers finds health care savings from reducing power generation’s emissions outweigh decarbonization costs, but Black and low-income communities will likely still face higher levels of air pollution and related health effects. (Mining.com)

BUSINESS: A company that designs new materials for lithium-ion batteries and another that recycles glass fiber reinforced plastics into wind turbine blades are among six eastern Tennessee startups vying for a $10,000 prize. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

POLITICS: Western Virginia climate activists travel to Washington, D.C., to lobby congressional representatives against the Mountain Valley Pipeline and legislation to complete its construction. (Southwest Times)

COMMENTARY:
• Leaders must turn the public’s growing concern about climate change into concrete action to decarbonize the economy and protect vulnerable populations from its impacts, writes a Texas professor. (Austin American-Statesman)
• Florida must seize opportunities to shift to renewables and fight climate change, or the extreme weather it’s already seeing will quickly worsen, write three activists. (Tampa Bay Times)