Arkansas wind industry makes its case for replacing coal

WIND: With three coal-fired power plants in Arkansas expected to close by 2030, renewable energy advocates tout the state’s emerging wind industry as a potential replacement. (Arkansas Advocate)

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ALSO: Dominion Energy crews begin installing ductwork along Virginia roadways for power lines to the utility’s offshore wind farm. (WVEC)

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SOLAR:

• Toyota officials unveil a 30 MW solar farm in Alabama that will help power the automaker’s nearby factory. (WHNT)
• A company breaks ground on a 815 MW solar farm in Texas that will be one of the largest in North America when complete. (PV Magazine)

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OIL & GAS:

• A Texas lawmaker introduces legislation to redirect oil and gas taxes from the state’s “rainy day fund” to plug abandoned wells, reduce emissions and repair local infrastructure. (Texas Tribune)
• A Virginia community group files an appeal challenging Dominion Energy’s plans to build a 1,000 MW gas-fired power plant to replace a coal plant. (WRIC)

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STORAGE: Two companies move to assemble a 1 GW virtual power plant in Texas by linking hundreds of thousands of smart thermostats, with plans to eventually add in other customer-owned assets like solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles. (Canary Media)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Austin, Texas’ transit agency shelves 46 electric buses for at least a year because the company that makes them went bankrupt and there aren’t yet enough chargers to keep them running all day. (Austin Monitor)

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NUCLEAR:

• Forced outages have pushed all three of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s nuclear plants to go unexpectedly offline, including at a Tennessee plant that won’t be able to power up again until next year. (Knoxville News Sentinel)
• Texas officials release a report laying out ways the state can attract companies to produce more nuclear power. (KXAN)

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COAL ASH: U.S. EPA officials say they’re working to address the discovery of nearly 300 tons of coal ash near a North Carolina elementary school. (WCNC)

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CARBON CAPTURE: The U.S. Energy Department awards $26 million to a proposed offshore carbon capture and storage facility near Louisiana that’s expected to take emissions from a liquified natural gas export terminal. (The Advocate)

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GRID:

• Texas’ state grid operator predicts a significant chance of outages this winter if the state experiences extreme cold. (Houston Chronicle)
• Texas regulators approve a company’s $3 billion grid reliability plan to accelerate upgrades, reduce the duration of weather-related outages and address other physical and cybersecurity risks. (Utility Dive)

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POLITICS:

• A former Florida lawmaker is sentenced for his role in a 2020 “ghost candidate” scheme to siphon votes from a Democratic incumbent in a scandal that’s spotlighted how Florida Power & Light maneuvered to secure a Republican supermajority to push through favorable legislation. (Floodlight)
• Experts warn Texas could be among the most affected states if Donald Trump rolls back climate legislation because it’s home to the most renewable resources in the country, as well as a huge pipeline of pending clean energy projects. (Houston Chronicle)

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COMMENTARY:

• A three-year-old North Carolina law is moving the state toward clean power and lower electric rates by pushing it away from the widely fluctuating prices of oil and gas toward cheaper renewables, writes a conservative clean energy advocate. (Energy News Network)
• A contractor’s cleanup of a Tennessee uranium enrichment complex is allowing it to be repurposed for businesses developing advanced nuclear technology to aid in the transition from fossil fuels, write three officials affiliated with projects at the site. (Knoxville News Sentinel)

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