Wyoming gas producers look to cash in on data center demand

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DATA CENTERS

• Anschutz Corporation proposes building a 3,200 MW natural gas plant with carbon capture and storage and a 1,000 MW solar facility in Wyoming to help power the ​“digital gold rush” of data centers coming to the state. (WyoFile)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• U.S. Senate Republicans say they will vote to block California’s electric vehicle mandate and ban on new gasoline car sales in defiance of a nonpartisan parliamentarian finding that Congress is not authorized to weigh-in on the matter. (San Francisco Chronicle)

UTILITIES

• Edison International shareholders file a lawsuit accusing the utility of misleading investors about its wildfire hazard mitigation efforts in the lead-up to January’s deadly Los Angeles-area blazes. (Los Angeles Times)

• NV Energy CEO Doug Cannon resigns following Nevada regulators’ call for an investigation into allegations the utility overcharged some 80,000 customers a total of at least $17 million. (Nevada Current)

• Advanced Energy United pushes back on NV Energy’s bid to base customers’ bills on their highest daily use rather than total consumption, saying it penalizes efficiency. (Nevada Current)

• Colorado regulators approve Xcel Energy’s proposed peak-use rate structure, but say most customers will feel little or no impact. (CPR)

• Arizona Public Service and Tucson Electric Power propose raising rates to recover infrastructure investment costs and offset inflation. (KJZZ)

FOSSIL FUELS

• A Physicians for Social Responsibility analysis finds Chevron and other petroleum companies failed to meet state disclosure rules regarding at least 30 million pounds of hydraulic fracturing chemicals pumped into Colorado oil and gas wells. (Guardian)

• Navajo Transitional Energy Company and a developer begin studying the feasibility of building an ​“ultra-low-carbon coal” power plant with carbon capture at one of the firm’s mines in New Mexico or the Powder River Basin. (news release)

STORAGE

• Fluence begins manufacturing battery enclosures and management system hardware at its new factory in Goodyear, Arizona, as part of its strategy to onshore all production. (Energy Storage News)

• Lithium-ion battery recycling firm Li-Cycle files for Chapter 15 bankruptcy, but expects to continue operating its Arizona facility. (Solar Power World)

• Some California officials and residents push back on a proposed battery energy storage facility near Watsonville, citing safety concerns in the wake of the January Moss Landing fire. (KSBW)

SOLAR

• Idaho Power customers and clean energy advocates push back on the utility’s proposal to slash net-metering compensation for rooftop solar by 80%. (KTVB)

• A tornado significantly damages an electric cooperative’s 80 MW solar facility in eastern Colorado, but utility officials say it won’t affect customers. (CPR)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Just seven steel plants that rely on coal-fired blast furnaces remain in the U.S., and they’re all in cities with some of the worst air quality in the country, Alexander C. Kaufman reports.

• Rural southwest Virginia, once the heart of coal country, is now training workers for the growing solar installation industry via apprenticeship programs with local colleges and employers, Matt Busse and Lisa Rowan report in our series with the Rural News Network.

• Clare Fieseler compiles a detailed timeline of the ups and downs of the Empire Wind project from the moment President Trump signed his executive order banning new offshore wind to the announcement that he conceded to let construction resume off New York.