Virginia expands community solar

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SOLAR

• Virginia adopts two laws requiring Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power to develop more shared community solar farms financed in part by subscribers who want solar energy but can’t invest in their own panels. (Canary Media)

• Enbridge begins operation of a massive Texas solar farm that eventually will grow to 815 MW and will supply power to several different companies through power purchase agreements. (Electrek)

• A South Carolina county board votes to lift a moratorium on large-scale development as a step toward approving a 198-MW solar farm. (WCIV)

• Alabama’s Poarch Creek Indians Tribal Council moves to gather information about three proposed industrial-scale solar projects and their potential effects on areas of cultural and historic importance. (AL.com)

DATA CENTERS

• The Tennessee Valley Authority mulls a series of rate and charge proposals for data centers to protect ratepayers against subsidizing large-load customers. (WJHL)

• North Carolina lawmakers consider a Republican proposal to add restrictions on data centers that also includes provisions to delay retirement of coal-fired power plants and to take steps to unwind the state’s 2050 carbon neutrality goal. (E&E News)

• Worker unions are beginning to intervene in data center fights as they see the facilities as an emerging source of new jobs. (E&E News)

• Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf proposes a data center complex in Kentucky that would eventually require more than 1 GW of power. (WEKU)

• A growing number of cities in Georgia and North Carolina move to temporarily block new permits and site plans for data centers until they develop rules around the projects. (Stateline)

GRID

• A West Virginia county board reiterates its opposition to a proposed 500-kV interstate transmission line ahead of public hearings later this year. (WV News)

OVERSIGHT

• After criticizing hardline Republican candidate Bo French during the primary election, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and two oil and gas regulators change course to endorse him in the general election for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission. (Houston Chronicle)

• Virginia and Maryland race to craft stricter rules for disposing of coal ash after the U.S. EPA proposes loosening regulations on the toxic substance. (Bay Journal)

EMISSIONS

• A plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 that was approved by Democratic former Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards remains on the books despite a rightward shift in state government by current Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and GOP lawmakers. (The Advocate)

• The second annual Appalachian Methane Initiative report reveals operators of high-producing, unconventional gas wells have mitigated their methane emissions, while lower-producing conventional wells have disproportionately higher loss rates. (Environmental Defense Fund)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Louisiana’s liquified natural gas export terminal building boom is the latest in a long line of industries that have polluted and passed environmental costs on to neighboring Black and Indigenous communities. (Scalawag)

• West Virginia officials respond to a 100-gallon oil leak from a Diversified Energy compressor station. (WV Metro News)

CLIMATE

• A new study argues Louisiana is ground zero for coastal climate adaptation and that the state should take a proactive approach to plan for movement resulting from rising seas and sinking land. (Inside Climate News)