Why wind and solar could still thrive in N.C.

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.

RENEWABLES

• North Carolina observers say the realities of rising power demand, the low cost of wind and solar, and the increasingly bleak economics of fossil fuels may facilitate the clean energy transition despite a new state law that unravels Duke Energy’s 2030 deadline to cut its carbon emissions by 70% from 2005 levels. (Canary Media)

• “It’s a perfect checkmate”: Texas solar and wind companies worry consumers will end up paying the cost as Republicans roll back federal tax credits for renewables amid an unprecedented surge in power demand. (Houston Chronicle)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Workers at Ford Motor and SK On’s joint BlueOval EV battery factory in Kentucky vote on whether to join the United Auto Workers amid disputes over safety conditions and allegations of a ​“scorched-earth anti-union campaign”; votes will be counted tonight. (Kentucky Lantern)

• United Auto Workers rally to support a resolution by Chattanooga, Tennessee’s city council to declare its solidarity with the union during contract negotiations with Volkswagen. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

WIND

• Dominion Energy says its 176-turbine offshore wind farm near Virginia is on schedule and about 60% complete as it shrugs off worries the Trump administration will try to halt construction, as it did last week for a New England wind farm that’s 80% complete. (Virginia Business)

GRID

• The Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce is making an all-out push to promote Elon Musk’s xAI and its development of a supercomputing facility in Memphis, Tennessee, despite its use of dozens of gas turbines and pollution of a neighborhood already subject to a high concentration of other toxic emissions. (MLK50: Justice Through Journalism)

• Georgia officials and regulators have grappled with how to build and who should pay for new power generation facilities to accommodate the electricity needs of data centers, which last year made the Atlanta metro area the nation’s top market for data center leasing. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

• A developer withdraws plans to build a 515-acre data center campus in Virginia due to concerns about site readiness. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, WRIC)

FOSSIL FUELS

• In the two years since Texas lawmakers created a $7.2 billion state fund to jump-start the construction of more gas-fired power plants, officials have approved only two proposals totaling just $321 million, and seven of the 25 total local applications have been pulled from consideration due to supply chain issues and concerns about profitability. (Texas Tribune)

• West Virginia regulators consider adding more than 2,300 acres to a coal company’s mining permit despite opponents’ concerns about its effect on water quality in an area where discolored, foul-smelling water is already a reality. (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

• Jacksonville, Florida’s municipal utility board opts to build a $1.57 billion gas-fired power plant at a former coal plant instead of buying more power from Florida Power & Light. (Jacksonville Daily Record, WJXT)

• Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announces that Brazos Midstream will build a $185 million gas processing plant to double its capacity in the Midland Basin. (Dallas Express)

• A coal miner is killed at a West Virginia processing plant. (WV Metro News)

SOLAR

• A ​“Solarize” group in Charlotte, North Carolina, launches a program to make solar more affordable through group buying. (WSOC)

NUCLEAR

• Texas company Aalo Atomics raises $100 million for its plans to double its workforce to build modular nuclear power plants to accompany data centers. (Houston Chronicle)

UTILITIES

• Texas regulators approve a $2.7 billion version of CenterPoint Energy’s system resiliency plan, which is less than half of its initial $5.75 billion proposal. (Utility Dive)

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture awards a $64.7 million loan to a Tennessee electric cooperative to build 239 miles of power lines to connect 7,230 additional customers. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

COMMENTARY

• Utilities should stop signing contracts for pipeline expansions that will cost their customers regardless of how much gas they actually use, writes a staff member at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy. (Utility Dive)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• How affordable housing can still go solar, despite Trump turbulence — Jeff St. John

• Nippon Steel to begin relining Indiana blast furnace next year — Maria Gallucci

• New Hampshire, never big on offshore wind, steps back further — Sarah Shemkus