West Virginia solar industry threatened by net metering changes

SOLAR: Two West Virginia utilities ask state regulators to restructure net metering policy to pay a lower, ​“wholesale” rate for solar power in the northern part of the state, threatening the state’s budding solar industry. (Mountain State Spotlight)

ALSO:

• A Kentucky county approves a permit for a 160 MW solar farm. (Gleaner)
• Amazon announces a plan to build a 100 MW solar farm in Oklahoma. (KFOR)
• San Antonio, Texas’ city council approves a $30 million program to install rooftop, parking and park canopy solar arrays at 42 city facilities. (Texas Public Radio)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Canoo completes its first electric vehicles in Oklahoma and looks to hire 1,300 workers at two factories in the state, even as it posts a $112 million loss for the quarter. (Oklahoman; Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, subscription)

TRANSITION: A new analysis finds a disproportionate amount of wind, solar, battery and manufacturing investment spurred by the federal climate package is going to communities that once relied on fossil fuels, including West Virginia. (Washington Post)

GRID:

• A new report suggests Texas will likely face more outages during extreme weather this winter because generation capacity isn’t keeping up with growing power demand. (San Antonio Express-News)
• South Carolina officials and regulators consider how to shore up the power grid against extreme weather, booming population growth and record-breaking economic development (South Carolina Public Radio)
• Florida residents protest a Duke Energy grid improvement proposal that could result in the construction of power lines across a greenway. (WCJB)

EMISSIONS: Tennessee officials work to create an inventory of the state’s biggest climate offenders and draft a plan to cut that pollution statewide. (WPLN)

OIL & GAS:

• A clean energy company delays its plan to build a Texas natural gas plant equipped with carbon capture due to supply chain issues. (E&E News)
• A Houston company purchases 6,000 acres in the Permian Basin with plans to double its oil and gas production. (Ruidoso News)
• The Texas comptroller visits the state’s newest natural gas-fired power plant as part of a tour to tout construction of new gas plants as a way to shore up grid reliability. (KAGS)

WIND: Siemens’ decision to cancel its planned turbine blade factory in Virginia shakes the burgeoning coastal wind industry, but Dominion Energy affirms its plans to continue construction of its offshore wind farm. (Engineering News-Record)

UTILITIES: Residents in two East Texas towns outside the state’s deregulated market sue to have state regulators review their municipal utilities’ rates and provide more transparency about how they’re set. (Texas Tribune)

CLIMATE: A drought-caused influx of salt water, rising seas and extreme storms threaten communities in lower Louisiana. (New York Times)

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: West Virginia University researchers study the effect of hydropower dams on communities in South America, with a throughline of understanding how coal extraction has disrupted West Virginia communities. (Times West Virginian)

OVERSIGHT: Texas State Board of Education members raise concerns about proposed science textbooks, saying the oil and gas industry is portrayed too negatively and questioning connections made between climate change and extreme weather. (Corpus Christi Caller Times)

COMMENTARY: The president of the Kentucky Senate argues the state’s fleet of coal plants are needed to ensure grid reliability until ​“we cross the river into the new energy future, likely more than two decades away.” (Louisville Courier Journal)