Toyota staffs up North Carolina battery factory

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Toyota announces plans to hire 1,600 additional workers and ship its first hybrid and electric vehicle batteries from a new North Carolina plant later this year. (Raleigh News & Observer)

‍

ALSO:

• Toyota receives a $4.5 million federal grant to partner with a national lab in Tennessee and others to develop a robotic disassembly process for electric vehicle batteries in hopes of building out a circular domestic battery supply chain. (Utility Dive)
• A think tank finds rising support for labor unions in Tennessee, after previously finding favorable opinions of the United Auto Workers ahead of its successful unionization of a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

‍

GRID:

• The director of Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility says it’s studying adding an additional substation and other infrastructure to address the doubling power demand of Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer, even as the city chamber of commerce says the project will increase another tenfold in coming months. (Commercial Appeal)
• The head of a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant in Alabama says the utility spent $430 million on winterization improvements to prevent rolling blackouts like those that occurred two years ago. (WHNT)
• Texas’ grid operator issues a winter weather watch, signaling higher demand for power amid cold temperatures from a winter storm moving across the U.S. (Austin American-Statesman)

‍

COAL: An analysis finds owners and operators of coal plants in 30 states are considering or have decided to delay their planned retirements to keep up with escalating power demand, driven largely by data centers. (Floodlight)

‍

SOLAR:

• The head of a southern Virginia NAACP branch expresses concern that rampant solar development could destroy rural acreage and have a negative effect on nearby communities. (Cardinal News)
• Dozens of North Carolina residents voice their opposition to a planned 80 MW solar farm on 460 acres owned by 12 longtime landowners. (WITN)
• An energy company partners with the Florida Municipal Power Agency to complete a 75 MW solar farm that will supply power to 12 Florida cities. (Solar Power World)

‍

OIL & GAS:

• Florida residents and officials respond to President Biden’s ban on offshore drilling, including Republicans who call for President-elect Trump to reverse the ban while still protecting Florida from drilling. (WFLA)
• Experts say that even if Trump can reverse Biden’s new offshore drilling ban, the combination of resistance by cost-conscious producers, increased fuel efficiency in vehicles and the threat of tariffs could block his plans to jack up oil and gas production. (Politico)

‍

STORAGE: A company commissions two 100 MW battery storage facilities in Texas and sells the investment tax credits to a third party. (Renewables Now)

‍

WIND: Trump promises to block new wind energy development despite its rapid expansion in Republican-led states like Texas, where it generates 22% of the state’s electricity. (New York Times)

‍

UTILITIES: A judge delays Mississippi’s investigation of a troubled municipal utility to allow the city an opportunity to respond. (SuperTalk Mississippi Media)

‍

POLITICS: A Virginia lawmaker files legislation to block state regulators from approving rate hikes for Appalachian Power for two years. (Bristol Herald Courier)

‍

COMMENTARY: A new study finds Virginia will need to triple its energy production by 2040 to meet anticipated demand from data centers, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)

‍