Good morning. The Trump administration has thrown the Southeast’s energy transition into disarray, leaning in on oil and gas development along the Gulf Coast while cutting clean energy funding and tax credits. Todays’ stories include big-picture looks at how the White House is rattling the energy industry across the region, as well as smaller stories about how companies and utilities are coping.
A Virginia county board votes to cap energy projects at 10% of the county’s land and utility-scale solar projects to 7%, and to require a vegetative buffer around solar farms. (Smithfield Times)
STORAGE
A Texas company installs low-cost battery storage systems by charging an annual membership fee and becoming the customer’s electricity plan provider. (Houston Chronicle)
The Texas Supreme Court considers whether to allow lawsuits against utilities by the families of people who were killed or injured during widespread outages during the 2021 winter storm. (Houston Chronicle)
The Tennessee Valley Authority pushes back on social media posts claiming it plans to cut power amid cold weather this week, saying the posts in question stem from blackouts during Winter Storm Elliott in 2022. (WZDX)
UTILITIES
According to its latest earnings call, Duke Energy made $4.4 billion in profits last year despite damage from Hurricane Helene and a slight drop in residential energy use. (WFAE)
COMMENTARY
The antiquated contract Memphis, Tennessee’s municipal utility has with the Tennessee Valley Authority lacks a provision allowing it to generate its own power, hampering its push to build a solar energy system, writes a professor. (Tennessee Lookout)
A Virginia Democrat who was the deciding vote against creating a board that might overrule local governments on solar development represents a district that has lots of power-hungry data centers, but also rural residents concerned about solar development, writes an editor. (Cardinal News)
