Vineyard Wind is back on, winter storm puts utilities to the test, and more headlines

This roundup of U.S. energy news headlines is part of our Canary Media Daily newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

OFFSHORE WIND

• A federal judge rules that work can resume on Vineyard Wind off Massachusetts, the fourth time this month courts have allowed construction to continue on offshore wind projects halted by Trump administration orders. (WBUR)

• Still, the administration’s yearlong attack on offshore wind has stymied many other proposed projects, leaving the Northeast scrambling to meet growing power demand. (Grist)

• Two congressional Republicans from Virginia press the Trump administration for more information about its stop-work order that temporarily paused construction on Dominion Energy’s offshore wind farm. (Virginia Mercury)

WINTER STORM

• This past weekend’s winter storm and bitter cold are testing Southeast utilities as natural gas facilities struggle to continue producing fuel. (New York Times, E&E News)

• Experts say a combination of new battery storage projects, weatherization requirements for power plants and transmission systems, and luck kept the Texas power grid stable through the weekend storm, although there were localized outages. (Inside Climate News, Houston Chronicle)

BATTERIES

• Form Energy finds a competitor in long-duration battery startup Noon Energy, which says it successfully demonstrated its 100-plus-hour carbon-oxygen battery. (Heatmap)

GRID

• The Illinois Supreme Court rules in favor of Grain Belt Express developer Invenergy, allowing the company to move forward with a key construction permit for the $11 billion transmission project. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• EU sales of fully electric cars beat gasoline-powered car sales for the first time in December. (Reuters)

• General Motors expects profits to rise after withdrawing from its EV investments. (New York Times)

COAL

• Utility regulators from at least 10 states want MISO to hold a stakeholder process to determine how to allocate costs for keeping coal plants online following orders from the Trump administration. (Utility Dive)

POLITICS

• Experts say the Trump administration’s playbook for dismantling years of climate and clean energy action could be employed in the other direction under future presidents. (E&E News)

CLIMATE

• The U.S. officially exits the Paris climate agreement, a year after President Donald Trump set the course for departure for a second time. (Politico)