Feds greenlight Fervo Cape geothermal project in Utah

GEOTHERMAL: The federal Bureau of Land Management approves the Fervo Cape enhanced geothermal energy project in southwest Utah, which is expected to generate up to 2,000 MW when fully built out. (Washington Post)

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ALSO: The Biden administration proposes exempting small-scale geothermal exploration on federal land from environmental review in an effort to accelerate development. (news release)

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NUCLEAR POWER:

• The Idaho National Laboratory urges tech firms to invest in nuclear research and Amazon signs on with Northwest utilities to develop four small modular reactors that would generate about 320 MW to power its data centers. (East Idaho News, Associated Press, news release)
• Utah officials propose developing nuclear reactors to help address the “looming energy crisis” expected to be brought on by electrification and data center proliferation. (ABC 4)

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OIL & GAS: The U.S. EPA fines Hilcorp Energy $9.4 million by emitting nearly 2,000 tons of methane and other pollutants in violation of federal and state laws at its oil and gas facilities in northwestern New Mexico. (news release)

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GRID:

• The Biden administration awards Western states nearly $500 million to help harden, expand and modernize power grids to make them more resilient to climate change-exacerbated extreme weather and rising demand. (Canary Media)
• California officials say more than 265,000 entities with a total of 515 MW of capacity have enrolled in a demand response program that incentivizes conservation and exporting power back to the grid during high demand. (Utility Dive)

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UTILITIES: Arizona regulators respond to lawsuits accusing them of skirting state law when exempting a proposed 200 MW natural gas plant from environmental review by considering each 50 MW unit separately. (Arizona Capitol Times)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Arizona advocates call on public and private entities to build out charging infrastructure following a three-fold increase in electric vehicle registrations over the last 18 months. (Cronkite News)
• The U.S. EPA awards Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Colorado entities more than $14 million to replace diesel trucks and engines with electric vehicles or other zero-emission alternatives. (news release)

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PUBLIC LANDS: The federal Bureau of Land Management finalizes land use plans for western Colorado aimed at protecting big game and sage grouse habitat from oil and gas development. (news release)

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SOLAR: California community choice aggregators sign up to acquire 394 MW of solar power and 171 MW of battery storage capacity. (Solar Industry)

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MINING: Eighty-five religious organizations file a brief supporting Apache advocates’ lawsuit seeking to block a proposed land exchange and copper mine in central Arizona. (ICT)

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