Good morning! California’s electricity rates are spiraling out of control — and there’s little sign of relief. State lawmakers, regulators, and consumer advocates remain torn over how to rein in the sky-high bills, Jeff St. John reports today.
Illinois is also wrestling with ways to lower residents’ high energy bills. Kari Lydersen reports on a Chicago-area effort to introduce time-of-use rates that reward customers who shift their power use to times of low demand.
U.S. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin says he terminated $20 billion in green bank grants for climate nonprofits, alleging “programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse” and likely accelerating legal battles to restore the funding. (Politico)
Citibank, the administrator of the green bank funds, has so far held out on returning the $20 billion to the EPA and violating its contracts with recipients, but also hasn’t released it to grantees as promised. (Grist)
Tech, retail, and industrial business leaders who pushed for climate action during Trump’s first term have softened their approach in his second term. (E&E News)
CLEAN ENERGY
Wind and solar produced more electricity than coal for the first time in the U.S. last year, with expanding battery deployment helping solar generation scale up. (Ember)
Georgia and Illinois both doubled their solar deployment in 2024 over the year before, installing 1.5 GW and 2.5 GW respectively. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chicago Tribune)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Zeldin also announces the elimination of environmental justice offices at the EPA’s 10 regional offices and its D.C. headquarters, just days after he recalled those workers from layoffs. (New York Times, Inside Climate News)
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy rescinds two Biden administration memos intended to prioritize disadvantaged groups and environmental impacts in infrastructure planning. (Associated Press)
TARIFFS
President Trump reduces his threatened 50% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 25% as Ontario’s premier agrees to lift a 25% surcharge on power exported to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. (CNN)
NUCLEAR
Major tech companies including Google, Amazon, and Meta join a pledge to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050. (news release)
FOSSIL FUELS
A Microsoft executive says the company is open to deploying gas generation with carbon capture to power AI data centers as it looks to match all its electricity use with carbon-free power by 2030. (CNBC)
WHITE PAPER
Outback to Overdrive: How Australian EV Strategies Can Energize U.S. Grids
This mini-brief from Edge Zero explores how Australia’s innovative strategies in grid management, including grid visibility at the transformer level and smart managed charging, can provide solutions for U.S. utilities grappling with the same challenges.
