Workers unionize a Tennessee EV and battery plant

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: General Motors and Korea’s LG Energy Solution agree to recognize the United Auto Workers after a majority of a Tennessee electric vehicle plant’s 1,000 workers sign union cards, with a pay raise in the immediate future. (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR:

• A company announces it will build a multibillion-dollar uranium enrichment facility on federal land in Tennessee, in what will be the largest single investment in state history. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• Florida regulators will meet at a workshop today to study the possibility of using ​“advanced” nuclear technologies due to a legislative mandate tucked into a wide-ranging energy bill passed earlier this year. (News Service of Florida)

SOLAR: Virginia solar developers again ask state regulators to press Dominion Energy to suspend new rules they say are holding up mid-sized solar projects from connecting to the grid. (Virginia Mercury)

GRID:

• Texas is on pace to surpass California by the end of the decade as the top solar state, but projections show it will still struggle to produce enough energy to meet growth in power demand from the electrification of oil and gas production and rapid expansion of data centers. (Bloomberg)
• An expert touts programs to incentivize voluntary power reductions during times of high demand, which Texas lawmakers have hinted toward with recent legislation. (KMID/KPEJ)

OIL & GAS:

• Texas regulators collect public comment on proposed revisions to rules for oil and gas drilling waste disposal sites, which environmentalists say don’t go far enough but industry officials complain are too stringent. (Inside Climate News)
• Texas officials deny a company’s request for a state-backed loan to build a natural gas-fired power plant after Florida-based NextEra said it was unknowingly listed as a co-sponsor on the project. (Houston Chronicle)
• Oil and gas producers plan to take advantage of a tax credit in the landmark federal climate package to inject carbon dioxide to squeeze more oil from the ground, but critics warn about a lack of federal oversight and uncertainty about the practice’s effectiveness. (E&E News)
• A study finds the oil and gas companies have donated millions and played a role in governance and instruction at colleges and universities, creating conflicts of interest for researchers. (Floodlight)

STORAGE: A Canadian company announces it will deploy three battery storage systems in Virginia, including a 225 MWh unit with a solar facility at a transportation hub that will be the state’s largest battery storage project to date. (Renewables Now)

UTILITIES: CenterPoint Energy tells Texas lawmakers it plans to propose a $5 billion plan to boost grid resilience around Houston and will forego some profits from its purchase of large generators that went unused during its heavily criticized response to Hurricane Beryl. (Utility Dive)

FINANCE: A business group sues Texas officials over a 2021 state law that prohibits state agencies from doing business with companies considered hostile to the fossil fuel industry, arguing it violates constitutional free speech and discrimination protections. (Dallas Morning News)

COMMENTARY: A first-time Georgia voter says the Democratic presidential ticket will maintain momentum for the state’s rapidly growing clean energy sector. (Savannah Morning News)