Good morning. President Trump has gone after government support for clean energy projects, but especially despises wind energy. After attending an offshore wind conference in Virginia, Clare Fieseler reports in today’s top story how industry officials are retooling their communication with Republicans. First step: Focus on the economic aspects over climate.
Elsewhere, Dominion Energy faces a deadline to create a virtual power plant in Virginia, and a solar company seeks incentives for its planned Texas factory.
TODAY'S TOP NEWS
WIND
“I certainly don’t lead with climate change”: Experts at a Virginia conference discuss how the idea of energy dominance and building a supply chain appeals to Republicans more than emission reductions when discussing offshore wind. (Canary Media)
STORAGE
Dominion Energy has until December to propose a virtual power plant program in Virginia under a new law signed earlier this month. (Utility Dive)
SOLAR
T1 Energy looks for government incentives to build an $850 million solar cell factory in Texas. (Austin Business Journal)
A West Virginia school system installs more than 1,000 solar panels to defray its energy costs and provide energy lessons to students. (WCHS)
More than 50 solar and battery companies call on Texas’ congressional delegation and key budget negotiators to preserve federal clean energy tax credits that support more than 12,000 jobs in the state. (Houston Chronicle)
EFFICIENCY
A startup incubator announces a public-private partnership to build an innovation hub with laboratory space and advanced machinery in New Orleans to attract companies focused on energy efficiency, carbon management, and port infrastructure. (Times-Picayune, New Orleans City Business)
GRID
Texas grid officials prepare for the first heat wave of 2025, which is projected to set a new demand record for May. (CBS News)
Cleveland-Cliffs abandons its plans to revitalize a former tin mill in West Virginia by developing a plant to make electrical transformers with the help of a $50 million state loan. (WV Metro News)
FOSSIL FUELS
The Williams Companies plans to expand its natural gas pipeline network north from a Virginia compressor station to feed “the power-hungry Virginia market.” (Cardinal News)
An analysis finds oil and gas companies used more than 10 billion gallons of water from Texas’ Rio Grande and Pecos rivers between 2021 and 2024, even during an extreme drought that affected farmers downstream. (Inside Climate News)
Diamondback Energy’s CEO tells shareholders “it is likely that U.S. onshore oil production has peaked” and will decline with lower oil prices. (Houston Chronicle)
CARBON CAPTURE
Congressional Republicans consider slashing Biden-era federal tax credits that Texas oil and gas companies are banking on to build clean hydrogen and carbon capture projects. (Houston Chronicle)
CLIMATE
Horne LLP is awarded a contract worth $81.5 million over three years to run North Carolina’s disaster recovery program after Hurricane Helene despite its poor performance previously running a similar program in the state from 2019 to 2022. (Inside Climate News)
NEW FROM CANARY
The uncertainty created by Trump’s ever-shifting tariffs and the potential elimination of clean-energy tax credits could dramatically slow the fast-growing U.S. battery industry, Jeff St. John reports.
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