Used EV batteries become energy storage in Texas

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.

STORAGE

• B2U Storage Solutions breaks ground on a Texas facility to use recycled electric vehicle batteries to store clean energy, with plans to build four projects totaling 100 MW over the next year. (Canary Media)

GRID

• Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium plan new smelters in Oklahoma and possibly Kentucky, but need to secure a steady supply of power at a time when data centers and other industrial facilities are driving up demand and straining the grid. (Canary Media)

• As companies propose more than a dozen data center projects to take advantage of Kentucky’s newly approved state incentives, the state’s largest utility proposes new power generation and a plan to keep a coal plant open longer to meet anticipated demand. (Courier Journal, Courier Journal)

• Dominion Energy proposes data center developers commit to long-term energy contracts and agree to pay for certain levels of power as consumer advocates worry about how to ensure that developers — and not residential customers — pay for construction of new power generation and grid improvements. (Wall Street Journal)

• Consumer advocates say a recent PJM energy auction that will result in prices going up is part of a ​“death by a thousand cuts” from rising transmission, fuel, and other costs from inflated projections of power demand from data centers. (Kentucky Lantern)

• After residents of a rural Virginia county defeated a company’s proposal to build a gas-fired plant and data center complex, other communities see the effort as a model to fight similar projects. (Danville Register & Bee)

POLITICS

• The Trump administration moves to roll back an Obama-era finding that greenhouse gas emissions threaten human health, which would undo more than a decades’ worth of regulations and likely boost the oil and gas sector. (New York Times, Houston Chronicle)

• North Carolina lawmakers override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of a bill to cancel Duke Energy’s interim goal to reduce carbon emissions 70% by 2030, leading to debate about whether its planned construction of new gas-fired plants will cost customers more due to fluctuating fuel prices. (Inside Climate News)

PIPELINES

• The Mountain Valley Pipeline and Williams Cos. both propose adding new pipelines along Williams’ existing Transco network in Virginia and North Carolina, developing a rivalry as they compete for regulatory approval and customers. (E&E News)

• Virginia regulators set a public hearing on a Virginia Natural Gas’ proposal to build a compressor station. (news release)

• Spire announces it will purchase a Duke Energy subsidiary’s Tennessee gas distribution business for $2.48 billion. (news release)

NUCLEAR

• Kairos Power, which is actively building a small modular nuclear reactor in Tennessee, thinks it can succeed despite its reliance on untested molten fluoride salt as a coolant. (E&E News)

• The Tennessee Valley Authority’s chief nuclear officer is stepping down after unexpected outages at all three of its nuclear plants. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

SOLAR

• Virginia regulators fine a solar developer nearly $121,000 for erosion and stormwater violations. (Cardinal News)

UTILITIES

• A state investigation recommends Mississippi remove control of a long-troubled municipal utility from a city due to its failure to implement recommended solutions to its frequent power outages. (Mississippi Today)

• Trump considers firing the three remaining directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority, which would temporarily shift the board’s powers to CEO Don Moul if his nominees haven’t yet been confirmed. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

FOSSIL FUELS

• The Trump administration has had little success in getting the oil and gas industry to ​“drill, baby, drill” despite moves to roll back regulations and offer up more public lands for drilling at reduced royalty rates. (Inside Climate News)

• Kentucky U.S. Rep. Andy Barr proposes a series of bills to spur the coal industry, including allowing coal ash ponds to stay open if they certify they’ll recycle 25% of the waste for other uses. (Spectrum News)

• Conservationists sue Alabama Power, alleging a coal ash pond that was capped in 2018 is still leaking toxic substances into groundwater near a popular river and lake. (Inside Climate News)

EMISSIONS

• An analysis finds methane intensity among oil and gas operators in the Permian Basin fell 50% from 2022 to 2024 due to improved operations, better equipment, and new technology. (Houston Chronicle)

COMMENTARY

• Virginia’s electric cooperatives face challenges in modernizing and expanding the power grid without raising costs for residential customers to accommodate growing demand from large users like data centers, writes the president & CEO of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative. (Cardinal News)

• About a quarter of Virginia households have trouble paying their electric bills, and should leverage federal, state, and utility-based assistance programs, write two organizers. (Cardinal News)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• A retired nuclear plant in Michigan is about to restart, a first for US — Eric Wessoff

• The country’s biggest energy market struggles to reform amid soaring costs — Jeff St. John