Virginia — and its data centers — shake up regional carbon market

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EMISSIONS

• Virginia’s pending reentry to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is already shaking up prices for member states as the state will bring the world’s biggest concentration of data centers and their voracious power demand into a system without enough clean energy to accommodate them. (E&E News)

NUCLEAR

• Georgia ratepayers are still paying the cost of Georgia Power’s expansion of nuclear Plant Vogtle, which ran seven years behind schedule and more than two-and-a-half times over budget, providing a cautionary tale for advocates of nuclear power. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR

• SEG Solar expects to create 800 jobs after kicking off commercial operations at a 4 GW solar manufacturing facility near Houston later this year. (Houston Chronicle)

• EDP Renewables North America reaches a power purchase agreement with Meta for its 250 MW solar farm in Arkansas. (Utility Dive)

• As solar booms in Texas, thousands of state residents have filed complaints with the state’s attorney general asserting they were misled about savings, incentives, and overall costs of rooftop solar systems. (KXAN)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Chalmette Refining’s Louisiana refinery is rocked by an explosion and subsequent fire, but no injuries are reported. (Times-Picayune)

• A new Sierra Club report finds Texas fossil fuel plants consumed more than 100 billion gallons of water in 2024, and calls on state officials to shift to renewables amid worsening drought conditions. (KVUE)

• The Well Done Foundation tries to help plug what federal officials estimate are up to 740,000 unplugged oil and gas wells in Oklahoma and other states. (Inside Climate News)

• Oglethorpe Power breaks ground on a 1.4 GW gas-fired power plant in Georgia to support 29 of its electric cooperatives. (Macon Telegraph)

OVERSIGHT

• Critics express concern over Duke Energy campaign contributions to both Democratic and Republican North Carolina state lawmakers as it benefits from favorable legislation and now is requesting an 18% rate hike after the state regulatory board was reconfigured. (Carolina Public Press)

• The incumbent chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission — which regulates the oil industry — heads to a Republican primary runoff with a conservative challenger who has railed about cultural issues. (Houston Chronicle)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Occidental Petroleum says its massive direct-air carbon removal project in Texas has hit an unexpected delay, pushing its opening date even further past its original end-of-2024 goal. (E&E News)

GRID

• TS Conductor will open a South Carolina factory this week to make next-generation advanced conductors it says will allow utilities to boost their transmission capacity. (Island Packet)

• PJM Interconnection considers reforms to ensure electricity supplies will continue to grow fast enough to meet soaring data center power demand while keeping costs down for other consumers. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Virginia Democrats respond to rising gas prices by renewing their push for federal funding to support EV infrastructure. (WVTF)

• Greenlane announces it will expand its truck charging network from California and Arizona into Texas’ Houston-Dallas corridor. (CleanTechnica)

UTILITIES

• West Virginia residents struggle to afford rising electric bills as their state lawmakers fail to address the issue and instead vote to support data centers and the coal industry. (Mountain State Spotlight)

• The Tennessee Valley Authority and Chattanooga, Tennessee’s municipal utility award $210,000 to an early elementary school to upgrade its energy systems. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

• Dominion Energy agrees to a settlement with South Carolina groups that would reduce its requested rate increase by a third, though state regulators still must approve the deal. (Post and Courier)

DATA CENTERS

• A 32-year-old Kentucky resident is running as a write-in candidate for county magistrate after getting involved in a local political fight over a data center, providing an example of how disputes over the facilities are animating state politics and elections. (Kentucky Lantern)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Confusing ballot wording may have tipped Ohio vote on renewables ban — Kathiann M. Kowalski

• 250+ onshore wind projects stalled as Pentagon freezes permitting — Kathryn Krawczyk

• Balcony solar bill dies in Illinois after union voices opposition — Kari Lydersen