View this email in a web browser.
Fla. utility to build world’s largest solar-powered battery
Florida’s largest electric company is building the biggest battery system on the planet, a move that will support the early closure of two aging natural gas units. Florida Power & Light Co. revealed last week it’s planning to build a 409-megawatt capacity solar power battery on the state’s west coast. An existing utility-scale solar array will power the battery during the day so it can release electricity later as demand rises. [ read more … ]
Wheeler, Perry and host of admin officials due on the Hill
Several hearings this week may focus on the disconnect between the White House’s spending blueprint and statements from top officials and President Trump. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler will make his first appearance on Capitol Hill for this latest round of budget hearings. Wheeler will have to defend the administration’s proposal to slash his agency by nearly a third, particularly tomorrow during a House panel hearing controlled by Democrats. [ read more … ]
Policy & Politics
CEO: Utilities will ‘blow right past’ Clean Power Plan goals
The CEO of a major Midwest utility said his industry won’t wait to see how the legal skirmish over the Obama administration’s landmark climate rule plays out “The industry is going to blow right past the Clean Power Plan,” DTE Energy CEO Gerry Anderson said in a press briefing yesterday. The Detroit-based utility, which has 2.2 million customers, will accelerate plans to slash carbon emissions, achieving an 80 percent reduction by 2040 compared with a 2005 baseline, Anderson said. That’s a decade earlier than the target established just two years ago following President Trump’s election [ read more … ]
Perry touts renewables as Trump mocks them
Energy Secretary Rick Perry reiterated this morning the Department of Energy’s belief in renewable energy as an important part of a broader “all-the-above” portfolio during an event put on by RealClearPolitics and sponsored by the coal lobby. The secretary’s comments during a Washington, D.C., event appear at odds to rhetoric from President Trump during campaign rallies in recent days, where he criticized wind power as unreliable compared with other forms of energy. [ read more … ]
What happened to the Tesla solar roof?
Two years ago this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed — in a tweet, of course — that the company would soon begin taking orders for solar roofs. In Tesla news-time, two years is a lifetime. Since then, other tweets have gotten Musk in trouble with federal regulators while the company has also started to produce electric cars and turn a profit. Tesla has built a legion of supporters — who buy both its products and company shares — while detractors point to an array of flashy announcements and product launches that have not come to market at scale but have at times helped to support stock prices and deals. [ read more … ]
North Carolina State may ban wind power near coast, military flights
North Carolina could permanently ban big wind-power projects from the most energy-intensive parts of the state’s Atlantic coast, but a state senator said Wednesday the move is necessary to prevent hindering military training flights. Legislation introduced by Republican Sen. Harry Brown would prohibit building, expanding or operating sky-scraping wind turbines within about 100 miles from the coast. The bill would apply to the area that stretches from the Virginia border to south of the Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base. [ read more … ]
Aerion designing supersonic jet to run completely on biofuels: CEO
Supersonic jet developer Aerion Corp is designing its first plane to run completely on biofuels to reduce emissions, even as the company calls for new global standards for planes that can conquer the sound barrier, the company’s chief executive said on Thursday. Aerion’s business jet AS2, with a $120 million list price per jet, would be capable of running on synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) biofuel, CEO Tom Vice said at a Wings Club event in New York. [ read more … ]
Britain, without air and water laws, races to make them
The future of Britain’s environmental policies teeters uncertainly as the nation grapples with a messy exit from the European Union. Businesses and environmental groups say Prime Minister Theresa May’s government has failed to fill the void of missing regulations and enforcement programs that would occur when E.U. bureaucracies no longer oversee chemicals, air pollution and water pollution in the United Kingdom. That’s especially true if Britain leaves the union without a deal to cushion the impacts of Brexit. [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.