Qcells backs largest ever community solar partnership

SOLAR: Korean solar company Qcells expands its deal with a developer to provide 2 GW of modules from its Georgia factory for community solar projects by 2027 — the largest community solar partnership in U.S. history. (Korea Herald, news release)

‍

ALSO:

• A Virginia town council approves a 12 MW solar project. (Farmville Herald)
• An energy company contracts with a Virginia farmer to manage vegetation at a rocky 1.8 MW solar facility with grazing sheep and pigs. (Solar Power World)
• Solar developers and researchers look for ways to reduce the risk of hail damage to solar panels from increasingly severe storms. (Inside Climate News)

‍

OIL & GAS:

• Oil and gas companies in the Permian Basin search for safe ways to repurpose wastewater produced during fracking after reinjections of water into the ground were linked to earthquakes. (E&E News)
• The U.S. EPA announces 751 barrels of oil have been recovered so far from a 2,000-barrel spill in Arkansas. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, subscription)

‍

WIND: Dominion Energy begins installing turbine foundations as it continues building its 176-turbine offshore wind farm near Virginia. (WHRO)

‍

RENEWABLES: A California firm agrees to purchase stakes in a 250 MW solar farm, a 226 MW wind farm and a 350 MW wind farm, all located in Texas. (Renewables Now)

‍

HYDROGEN: The oil and gas industry’s lawsuit against the U.S. EPA questioning the process of developing clean hydrogen as a fuel for long-haul trucks grinds against efforts by Exxon Mobil and Chevron to champion the new technology. (Houston Chronicle)

‍

COAL: A federal watchdog releases a report finding an agency’s process for distributing funding to states and tribes to clean up old coal mines is plagued by problems that have resulted in delays, poor tracking and confusion over the process. (E&E News)

‍

NUCLEAR: West Virginia U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito calls on state officials to ensure they’ve prepared sites for the construction of small modular nuclear reactors after her legislation heads to President Biden for his signature. (WV News)

‍

BUILDINGS: A North Carolina developer constructs 11 new homes built to federal Zero Energy Ready Home standards that are priced for first-time homebuyers. (WSOC)

‍

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Texas school district will purchase 15 electric buses with $6.1 million in federal funding. (KXAS)

‍

GRID:

• A Florida public works director says a $70 million effort to move power lines underground has been mismanaged after asking city leaders for another $6.1 million. (WTSP)
• A Texas electric cooperative prepares for a summer in which the state power grid could be challenged by soaring demand. (KXII)

‍

CLIMATE:

• The disparity between parts of Texas experiencing drought and those dealing with saturated ground and flooding events illustrates how climate change can exacerbate extremes within the same state. (Yale Climate Connections)
• A Texas State University center receives $500,000 to research how extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change are linked to pollution at beaches. (Austin Monitor)

‍

COMMENTARY: Louisiana should engage communities around ports and leverage federal funding to reduce toxic emissions, environmental injustice and the potential for lawsuits, writes an activist. (The Advocate)

‍