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Virginia is on a roll transitioning to electric school buses. And that momentum could remain uninterrupted if legislators activate a precedent-setting but dormant initiative to tap into state dollars.
Freshman Del. Holly Seibold has submitted a budget amendment this legislative session asking Virginia to catch up with other states by allocating $200,000 to jumpstart the Clean Vehicle Grant Fund. It has been left penniless since Seibold’s predecessor set it up three years ago specifically to help school districts rid their fleets of polluting, noisy diesel-powered buses.
The amendment calls for moving the money — half in 2025 and half in 2026 — from the general fund to the Department of Environmental Quality. DEQ staffers would use the $200,000—nowhere near enough to buy even one e-bus—to set up a working group tasked with establishing sources of long-term state funding for the transition.
A yes or no decision by the House Appropriations Committee could be made within the next month.
Seibold, the Democrat who represents Fairfax County, was responding to a plea — and an eleventh-hour phone call — from advocate Bobby Monacella, who played a pivotal role ushering in an e-bus evolution in Northern Virginia.
“Ideally, I just want Virginia to have a consistent stream of money so school districts that want to continue to electrify their fleets after this round of federal money runs out, can do so,” said Monacella, a Mothers Out Front campaigner in Fairfax County.
Thus far, Virginia’s approach to greening its diesel bus fleets has been piecemeal. School districts have plugged into federal dollars, public-private ventures, utility programs and even bought buses directly.
For instance, 67 buses are on the road or on order in Virginia thanks to grants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded nationwide since 2022. That $5 billion for school bus electrification, folded into the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, is expected to run out in 2026.
“When that federal money goes away, we have to figure out a way to pick it up at the state level so we can transition all the buses,” Monacella said about her hopes for a seamless switch. “That means convening a stakeholders work group to hash out the details of the program. So, this budget amendment is perfect timing.”
In the federal government’s eyes, Virginia is viewed as an electric school bus pioneer because of legislation sponsored in 2021 by then-Del. Mark Keam, a Fairfax County Democrat.
His original measure was stripped of its original funding source, a tax on dyed diesel fuel, used in farm machinery and other non-highway vehicles. The substitute version, passed into law, directed the state DEQ to hash out details for the grant fund via a workgroup. Neither the working group nor the financing mechanism ever materialized.
Keam, who resigned in 2022, had advanced the bill because his daughter suffered from asthma and he wanted all children to have a healthier, pollution-free ride to school.
Despite the lack of a dedicated state funding source, Virginia ranked fourth nationwide in the number of electric school buses either on the road or on order, according to data compiled by the nonprofit World Resources Institute through December.
Since 2021, several other states — including top three finishers California, Maryland and New York — have enacted either robust incentive, mandates, or both to encourage school districts to switch to electric buses.
Climate change and students’ health and safety motivated Monacella, then a volunteer activist, and other members of a joint environmental task force to spur Fairfax County into adopting a mandate in 2019 that all 1,625 buses in its fleet be electric by 2035.
Mothers Out Front carried the enthusiasm of that local victory to the General Assembly two years later to be a driving force for House Bill 2118, Keam’s bipartisan, ambitious undertaking to create a specific grant funding model for bus electrification over 10 years.
This session, Monacella decided that three years is long enough for the law to languish, unfunded.
“It’s a tribute to former Delegate Keam that Delegate Seibold has picked up the flag and carried it,” she said. “What he did was precedent-setting.”
Tish Tablan, who leads the Electrify Our Schools program at the Charlottesville-based Generation 180, is as motivated as Monacella about dedicating dollars to fleet conversions.
“State funding is necessary to support school districts in upgrading to electric buses,” said Tablan, senior program director at the nonprofit. “It’s time for Virginia to invest in protecting our children and communities from the harmful effects of diesel air pollution.”
Monacella and Seibold had discussed funding for electric school buses months ago, but nothing specific had emerged from those conversations.
A budget amendment likely wouldn’t have surfaced if Monacella hadn’t participated in an online question and answer session with legislators on Jan. 12 organized by the Virginia Grassroots Coalition.
“Being aware of the deadline for budget amendments should’ve been my first priority,” said Monacella, who only recently had become a full-time advocate. “I thought I had missed it.”
When another delegate attending the online forum told her the deadline was 5 p.m. that day, Monacella signed off and sprang into action with Seibold’s staff.
“It was kind of a crunch but we got it in there,” she said about the scramble. “I totally admit I dropped the ball. It was kind of everyone to help me recover.”
Electric school buses are roughly three times as expensive as traditional diesel ones. A basic price tag on a 77-passenger electric bus in Virginia is $368,500, compared to $120,099 for a diesel model, according to Whitney Kopanko, the electric vehicle program manager at Sonny Merryman. The Prince William-based bus dealer controls 60% of the overall school bus market in Virginia.
Through January, Fairfax County had 73 buses on the road or on the way to the district. That’s close to one-fourth of Virginia’s electric bus total of 302 — out of 16,000-plus buses in service statewide.
“I don’t know about the ins and outs of a potential funding stream,” Monacella said about the eye-popping investment needed to replace thousands more buses. “I do know we have a long way to go and the federal money isn’t going to cover that.”
She’s willing to devote the legwork to the cause in the name of curbing carbon emissions.
As evidence, Monacella “repented” for her budget amendment oversight by traipsing to the offices of House Appropriations Committee members in Richmond earlier this month to drop off flyers she designed to educate staffers about restoring Virginia’s status as a leader on school bus electrification. Seibold, who doesn’t serve on that committee, also will be nudging her fellow legislators.
“I wanted to bring it to their attention so when they sit down and sort through all of these amendments they might remember this one,” Monacella said. “I figured, why not?”
SOLAR: Minnesota community solar developers are retooling their business plans as the state’s program undergoes some of the biggest changes since its launch over a decade ago. (Energy News Network)
ALSO:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
RENEWABLES: The University of Wisconsin-Madison announces a new campus-wide sustainability plan that includes achieving 100% renewable electricity by 2030. (Wisconsin State Journal)
PIPELINES:
NUCLEAR: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s budget proposal seeks another $150 million to help reopen the shuttered Palisades nuclear power plant, but critics say the money would be better spent on energy efficiency, renewable energy, or public transit. (Bridge Michigan)
MINING: Minnesota Democrats introduce a bill to restrict certain mining practices in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area watershed that the industry says will limit access to essential materials for clean energy. (Minnesota Reformer)
COAL: DTE Energy schedules demolition dates for its Trenton, Michigan, coal power plant, with the first phase set for March 1. (ClickOnDetroit)
POLLUTION: Minnesota officials begin the process of implementing the state’s new “cumulative impacts” law for regulating pollution in environmental justice areas, but questions remain about its definitions. (MinnPost)
CLIMATE:
BIOFUELS: The Ohio House passes a bill to create a temporary 5 cents per gallon tax credit for sales of E15 and higher ethanol blends. (Crawford County Now)
COMMENTARY:
Minnesota community solar developers are adjusting their business plans as the state’s program undergoes some of the biggest changes since its launch over a decade ago.
One of the oldest and largest in the country, Minnesota’s community solar program has spurred development of more than 800 megawatts worth of solar capacity since launching in 2013. Customers subscribe to shares of projects and receive monthly credits on their utility bills, typically lowering overall energy costs.
The concept has been hailed as a way to spread the benefits of solar to customers who lack rooftop space, sun exposure, or the financial means to install solar panels on their own. In practice, the biggest beneficiaries have been commercial customers, which subscribe to 82% of the program’s capacity, according to data tracked by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.
State lawmakers passed legislation last session aimed at increasing the share of power going to residential subscribers, especially low- and moderate-income customers, as well as attempting to address long-simmering complaints by solar companies about the program’s administration by utility Xcel Energy.
“I think there were thoughts that it could be handled in a more unbiased way outside of the utility,” said Rep. Patty Acomb, a Democrat whose district covers a suburban area west of Minneapolis.
The Minnesota Department of Commerce will now manage the program and has formally begun accepting applications. However, Xcel Energy will continue to handle interconnection applications, which have been a source of friction between the utility and developers.
Community solar developers will be allowed to build larger projects with fewer geographic restrictions, up to 5 megawatts anywhere in Xcel’s service territory. Previously, projects were limited to 1 megawatt, and developers could only sign up subscribers who lived in the same or an adjacent county as the project’s location.
The biggest changes come with the mix of subscribers developers must recruit for projects. At least 30% of a project’s subscribers must be low- or moderate-income residential customers. Another 25% must be allotted for schools, government agencies or other public interest organizations. Each project must have at least 25 participants.
“We were trying to address equity and economics and making sure that the benefits are going to a more underrepresented group,” Acomb said.
With the new application process and subscriber requirements, as well as ongoing congestion in Xcel’s interconnection queue, developers expect a slow first year under the new rules but generally support the program’s new direction.
Brendan Dillon, president of Minneapolis-based solar developer Nokomis Energy, said the new program “much better reflects what community solar should be, which is a tool that allows people who, for whatever reasons — whether it’s financial, or they don’t own their home or condo or they don’t have roof space — to be able to access clean energy and apply its financial benefits.”
Nokomis Energy plans to work through existing community groups and those associated with local governments to reach the designated income-qualified subscriber pool. Dillon said solar developers will do more community outreach and engagement to reach potential low-and-moderate subscribers.
Rob Appelhof, CEO and president of Cedar Creek Energy, said he works with another company to market subscriptions, and they already have a strong representation of low and moderate-income participants, so recruiting “should not be a problem.”
Developers said removing the geographic restrictions will help them build more projects and allow more farmers to benefit from leasing land to solar companies.
“It opens up more opportunities for urban residents to subscribe to community solar,” said Eric Pasi, CEO of Enterprise Energy.
US Solar Corporation President Reed Richerson said that “there are plenty of farmer landowners who want to host community solar on a portion of their land, and they’ve been unable to because they live in areas where, despite there being achievable permitting and achievable interconnection, there was a constraint with accessing subscribers.”
The dual application process splits the interconnection approval, Xcel’s responsibility, with the project approval from Commerce.
“In these early days, it is becoming a bit stickier than I think we might have imagined, mainly because I think Xcel isn’t necessarily on the same page as the Department of Commerce or the way the law is written,” Richerson said.
Richerson said he does not expect projects under the new rules to win approvals from Xcel and Commerce “until, at earliest, March,” he said. “And then, upon the award, you can go build your projects. But with timelines of these things, having anything online by the end of the year will be challenging.”
Unlike before, the program will now have annual caps, starting at 100 MW from 2024 to 2026, 80 MW through 2030 and 60 MW from 2031 on. That will create new pressure and uncertainty for developers, who could spend thousands of dollars to secure a site and an interconnection agreement only to have Commerce turn the project down.
“I guess the biggest uncertainty is getting your projects approved when there’s only a limited amount of them,” Appelhof said.
Cooperative Energy Futures has served low-income subscribers through community and rooftop solar for years. Policy and Regulatory Director Pouya Najmaie said developers will leverage income-qualified participation necessary for the state program to take advantage of incentives in the federal Inflation Reduction Act.
With enough low-income subscribers, a developer can add as much as 20% to 30% tax credit available for community solar, reducing the cost of a project by half, he said. “We’re doubling down more on low-income (customers) because of the IRA,” Najmaie said.
Cooperative Energy Futures will not seek to build larger, remote projects but instead focus on smaller ones built nearer to subscribers’ homes.
“We’re going to be concentrating a lot on the city and looking for warehouses and large building rooftops for hosting,” he said. “The capacity is much better there, and you’re closer to load, so it’s generally more efficient.”
Xcel Energy is still studying the cost impact of the legislation and “won’t know more until we understand what the customer makeup of the new gardens will be, because the legislation creates several different bill credit rates based on customer groups,” said spokesperson Theo Keith.
The utility supports the focus on residential, income-qualified and public interest subscribers because it will “expand options for income-qualified customers to participate directly in the clean energy transition,” he said.
Xcel has also asked regulators for more time to solve a persistent and confusing issue for community solar. Customers currently receive two bills, one from the community solar developer and another from Xcel that includes credit for the electricity their subscription produces. The legislation requires Xcel to develop a combined bill for those customers.
POLICY: A Vermont legislative committee advances a bill to increase the state’s utility renewable energy standard to 100% by 2030. (VT Digger)
ALSO:
GRID:
BUILDINGS:
OFFSHORE WIND:
SOLAR:
CLIMATE: Maine snowmobiling clubs detail how shorter, warmer winters are derailing their enjoyment of their pastime. (Bethel Citizen)
HYDROGEN: Environmental advocates warn that weakening proposed rules on federal hydrogen tax credits could divert existing clean energy generation to hydrogen production and prolong fossil-fuel-fired generators. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: The pending federal tax credits, along with nearby wind energy generation, could support hydrogen production in Wisconsin, a clean energy researcher says. (WBAY)
POWER PLANTS: We Energies wants to build a $1.2 billion natural gas peaker plant on the site of a retiring Lake Michigan coal plant. (Journal Sentinel)
PIPELINES:
WASTE-TO-ENERGY: Environmental groups propose an expedited timeline to close a Minneapolis trash incinerator by the end of next year, though local officials remain concerned about the trash being sent to landfills. (Star Tribune)
COAL: The U.S. EPA has detected groundwater contamination from metals and other inorganic compounds at roughly 150 coal ash disposal sites. (Inside Climate News)
SOLAR:
AIR POLLUTION: All of Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro area, already complies with the EPA’s new, tighter soot pollution thresholds. (Minnesota Reformer)
GRID:
CLEAN ENERGY: Arizona regulators vote to repeal the state’s energy efficiency and renewable portfolio standards, saying the market should guide corporations. (12 News)
UTILITIES:
OIL & GAS: New Mexico Democratic lawmakers introduce legislation urging regulators to study the risks for people living near oil and gas facilities after well-setback language was stripped from another bill. (Carlsbad Current-Argus)
POLLUTION: California officials expect about half of California’s counties to be out of compliance with the new U.S. EPA standards for fine particulate matter, or soot. (Mercury News)
SOLAR:
ELECTRIFICATION: California, Colorado and Oregon sign an agreement with six other states to promote electric heat pump sales. (Verge)
TRANSPORTATION: Colorado lawmakers propose overhauling the state’s largest transit agency to better align it with broader housing and climate initiatives. (Daily Camera)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
GRID:
NUCLEAR: Industry observers predict a slight uptick in domestic uranium mining could give a proposed advanced nuclear reactor in Wyoming a boost. (Wyoming Public Radio)
MINING: Federal wildlife officials consider extending endangered species protections to a snail found only in springs near the Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada. (news release)
CLIMATE: Conservationists challenge the federal government’s 2016 management plan for Glen Canyon Dam, saying it failed to consider climate change’s impacts on water levels and hydropower production. (Courthouse News)
Almost 50 environmental justice groups on Tuesday sent a letter to leaders of the federally-funded Midwestern hydrogen hub, imploring them not to try to loosen requirements for tax incentives for hydrogen produced with clean energy.
The U.S. Treasury in December published draft rules saying that to receive lucrative 45V tax credits for producing clean hydrogen, the energy used must not be diverted from the grid, but be “additional” energy created specifically to power the electrolysis process used to produce pure hydrogen from water.
Environmental advocates are largely pleased with Treasury’s draft rules, which also say clean energy must be generated around the same time and near where it is used for hydrogen production, to reap incentives. But organizations are worried that industry groups are lobbying to weaken the draft rules, which are open for public comment through Feb. 26.
The Midwest Alliance for Clean Hydrogen (MachH2), a coalition of industry and research groups that won up to $1 billion in Department of Energy hydrogen hub funding, has proposed to produce much “pink hydrogen” powered by nuclear energy from Illinois. Critics say this, as well as “green hydrogen” produced with solar and wind, could divert zero-emissions power from other users and hence prolong the lives of fossil-fuel-fired generators that fill the gaps.
“If MachH2 imperils the achievement of our states’ climate goals, harms the health of our communities, and causes electricity price spikes that disproportionality impact low- and moderate-income households, it will face stiff opposition from our coalition and from communities that will bear the brunt of harmful, and avoidable, pollution,” says the letter from 47 organizations, including We the People of Detroit, Interfaith Power & Light, North Dakota Native Vote, StraightUp Solar, the Sierra Club, Eco-Justice Collaborative and Illinois People’s Action.
MachH2 declined to comment for this story.
The environmental and justice groups praised the draft 45V rules for including “three pillars” the groups see as crucial to making sure “clean hydrogen” is truly clean. Those pillars mean clean hydrogen production tax credits will only be awarded if new clean energy is used to power the projects, and the clean energy can actually be delivered to the site of the electrolysis around the time it is needed. The draft rules say that to be considered “additional,” the energy source must have been built within 36 months before the hydrogen production goes online.
Accounting known as hourly matching, which can be verified with Environmental Attribute Certificates, ensures that hydrogen production isn’t removing clean energy from the grid that could be used by consumers at times of high demand.
A 2023 study by researchers at Princeton University’s Center for Energy and the Environment modeled the emissions impact that hydrogen production by electrolysis would have in the western U.S., and found that all three “pillars” would be necessary to ensure overall emissions don’t exceed fossil fuel generation.
The environmental justice organizations’ letter notes that the EPA has supported the Treasury department’s decision that induced emissions on the grid — caused by replacing electricity diverted for hydrogen production — should be counted as indirect emissions of hydrogen.
“Backsliding on Treasury’s proposed rule… would lead to significant emissions increases from hydrogen production, in violation of 45V’s statutory requirements,” said the organizations’ letter. “It would also directly harm communities that are home to some of our states’ dirtiest power plants, which would run more to replace the zero-carbon energy diverted to hydrogen production.”
Lauren Piette, a senior associate attorney in the clean energy program for Earthjustice, said, “The important thing now is to make sure Treasury holds the line against pressure to weaken the rules.”
Treasury asked for comment on possible exemptions to the additionality requirement, including the possibility that existing nuclear and hydroelectric plants could receive the tax credit, or that existing plants could get the tax credit if it helps them avoid retirement. Advocates have called these possible changes in the rules “loopholes.” An analysis by the Rhodium Group found these exemptions would generally increase greenhouse gas emissions, compared to modeling under the rules without exemptions.
“Treasury needs to reject the loopholes industry is demanding, which would create enormous subsidies for dirty hydrogen, lock in more fossil fuel production and use, and increase dangerous health and climate-harming pollution,” Piette said. “Especially damaging would be any loopholes to the incrementality requirement, which are based on industry’s speculative claims about retirement risk, curtailment, and modeling. Such loopholes would reward the hydrogen industry for siphoning critical zero-carbon energy from the grid, creating a massive power demand that would be filled by our dirtiest power plants – the ones that should be retiring, not ramping up.”
The letter charges that if the three pillars aren’t mandates for receiving tax incentives, the electricity diverted from the grid to hydrogen production will cause consumers’ energy bills to spike. They point to cryptocurrency mining as an example of how this phenomenon has played out.
“Cryptomining, which is subject to minimal constraints and requirements, has increased utility bills by tens to hundreds of millions of dollars for households and businesses in upstate New York and led to costly grid strains in Texas,” the letter says.
BP’s Whiting oil refinery in Northwest Indiana is a focal point of the proposed Midwest hydrogen hub, as the company plans to ramp up hydrogen production at the site and provide it to regional users. BP asked the Treasury department to allow hydrogen made from existing generation to receive tax credits.
“We encourage the IRS and Treasury to adopt flexible criteria on ‘additionality’ especially at this nascent stage,” said BP America’s comment to the IRS. “Strict additionality rules requiring electrolytic hydrogen to be powered by new renewable energy is not practical, especially in the early years, and will severely limit development of hydrogen projects.”
BP and other members also argued against the requirement for hourly matching of renewable energy generation to use in hydrogen production, arguing instead for yearly matching. The draft rules currently allow for yearly matching until 2028, then hourly matching becomes mandatory.
“Stringent requirements such as hourly zero-emission matching have the potential to devastate the economics of clean hydrogen production,” said BP’s comment. “Moreover, such restrictive requirements are likely not practical or feasible in these early stages. If a green hydrogen production facility can only produce during hours when wind and solar are available, the low utilization rate will dramatically increase the price of the hydrogen produced.”
Bloom Energy Corporation, which manufactures electrolyzers, also said that adequate technology does not exist to timestamp energy generation and use in order to ensure that clean energy is generated when it is needed for hydrogen production.
“Since electrolyzers will comprise a very small percentage of the overall EAC-qualifying energy produced for many years to come, there is ample time for those state, regional and voluntary bodies to work through their stakeholder processes and make any changes as needed to adjust those systems so as to avoid unintended outcomes,” said Bloom Energy in its comment, referring to Environmental Attribute Certificates.
The Princeton study noted that hourly matching can add considerable costs to hydrogen production, but said the 45V tax credit would be lucrative enough to compensate for those costs while driving the market development of better hourly matching mechanisms.
Constellation Energy, owner of Illinois’s nuclear plants, also supported a mandate for hourly matching.
“Setting an expectation of hourly matched clean energy will provide a market signal for the clean energy investments needed to further drive decarbonization in the power sector,” said the nuclear company’s comment.
But Constellation is asking for exemptions to additionality, asking the government to decide that hydrogen made with behind-the-meter generation from existing plants qualifies for tax credits. The MachH2 hydrogen hub proposal calls for an electrolyzer on the site of Constellation’s LaSalle nuclear plant in Illinois, which could provide behind-the-meter electricity. But this electricity would still represent clean power that otherwise could have been sent to the grid, critics say.
Constellation also argued against adding carbon emissions related to the nuclear supply chain when calculating hydrogen’s lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions.
“Measuring carbon content for nuclear fuel is not typically done by the mining, enrichment, fabrication and transport vendors in the nuclear fuel supply chain, and it would be extremely cumbersome, costly, and labor intensive to impose these requirements on said vendors,” Constellation said.
The letter to MachH2 comes as grassroots groups and environmental organizations are increasingly organizing around still murky but well-funded plans for hydrogen to be used in everything from power generation to steelmaking to transportation, including as part of the seven federally-funded hubs.
On February 1, the national collaborative Just Solutions Collective released an Environmental Justice Platform on hydrogen, demanding strict limits on the type of hydrogen production and use that is incentivized as part of a clean energy shift.
The organization says hydrogen production from natural gas, and hydrogen produced with power from the grid, should be “ruled out” since “fossil fuel-based hydrogen fails to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” by many estimates. They also demanded strict safety protocols around new hydrogen development, strident protections for water resources, protections around chemicals added to hydrogen fuels, and transparency in all hydrogen-related projects.
Just Solutions leaders hope their platform influences policymakers and also helps community groups more effectively weigh in on plans for expanding hydrogen, including as the U.S. Department of Energy invests $7 billion in the seven hydrogen hubs nationwide.
“The framework is meant to be a resource for climate and environmental justice advocates so they can advance clean energy technology that meaningfully addresses the climate crisis and to stop false solutions from taking root in our communities,” Just Solutions senior fellow and strategist Sylvia Chi said in a January webinar.
Environmental justice organizations in other parts of the country have also opposed hydrogen hub plans. Last summer Indigenous, environmental justice, and youth groups urged the Biden administration not to fund a hydrogen hub based in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, and that proposal was not among the seven selected.
“DOE is saying a lot of the right things, but there is widespread concern that environmental justice is going to be set off to the side and figured out later, after contracts are signed and projects are approved,” said Piette. “We have yet to hear a clear answer on whether communities will be able to say no to a Hub project. DOE needs to give its own guidance teeth and hold Hubs accountable to local communities, especially those already experiencing cumulative burdens of decades of fossil fuel pollution.”
The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) produced a report released in January commissioned by the Just Solutions Collective.
The report points to a pilot program in New York state where the Nine Mile nuclear plant is powering hydrogen production. While the nuclear power is zero emissions, it displaces energy from the grid that, when replaced by New York’s natural gas-heavy energy mix, increases overall greenhouse gas emissions.
IEER argues that the ideal place for zero-emissions-produced hydrogen is in areas like California and Texas where there’s often much more wind or solar power available than the grid can handle. These renewables are regularly curtailed, or kept off the grid, simply going to waste. A possible exemption to the additionality requirement for tax credits that Treasury has floated includes existing generation during times that renewables would be curtailed.
The IEER report estimates that curtailed renewables at current levels could produce 34,000 tons of hydrogen annually in California, and 150,000 tons in Texas. And the availability of renewables in those and other states is only expected to increase.
The environmental justice organizations’ letter similarly says that in the Midwest, MachH2 could successfully procure new renewables to power green hydrogen production.
“The MachH2 hub is one of the best situated in the country, able to take advantage of excellent wind and solar resources in the Midwest,” the letter says. “With the anticipated buildout of new renewable energy in this region, the projects funded by the hub will have no difficulty procuring cost-competitive, new, hourly-matched power from the proposed deliverability zone to claim the 45V tax credit.”
SOLAR: Duke Energy prepares to offer new rebates in North Carolina for rooftop solar arrays paired with batteries, which along with federal incentives could create a new wave of business for solar installers even after Duke reduced net-metering credits. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: An Arkansas city board agrees to move forward with development of a 4.9 MW solar farm that officials hope will provide 70% of the power for city operations. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
POLITICS:
CARBON CAPTURE: Southeastern Louisiana University deploys four buoys to monitor the ecosystem of a lake where a company wants to inject carbon dioxide captured from a blue hydrogen facility. (The Advocate)
OIL & GAS:
COAL: Private club property owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice will be auctioned off to satisfy more than $300 million in unpaid loans issued by a Virginia bank for the Justice family’s coal, agricultural and hospitality businesses. (Cardinal News)
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE: Community advocates rally to support a historically Black community in Alabama that’s seen repeated flooding problems since the state expanded a nearby highway. (Inside Climate News)
FINANCE: A multi-month pause in operations by a state-approved clean energy home improvement lender in Florida last year has caused problems for a couple who installed an air conditioning unit but haven’t been able to pay the contractor. (WKMG)
NUCLEAR: A truck carrying low-level nuclear waste catches fire on Interstate 40 near Nashville, leading to the revelation that up to 75% of low-level radioactive waste in the U.S. goes to Tennessee for processing. (WKRN)
GRID: Renewable energy developers say they are navigating a complex and congested electric grid in Minnesota to get their generation delivered to customers. (MPR News)
ALSO: The Biden administration will require some cryptocurrency mining facilities to report their energy use based on grid concerns with the energy-intensive industry. (Inside Climate News)
POLITICS: Illinois lawmakers who received campaign contributions from utilities deny a quid pro quo for supporting a new Illinois law that lifted the state’s moratorium on new nuclear plant construction. (Journal Star)
POWER PLANTS: Union members rally in support of a proposed northern Wisconsin gas plant that has divided local residents and elected officials. (Northern News Now)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
PIPELINES: Northern Iowa county officials share frustrations about not being reimbursed for pre-engineering and other site preparation activities related to a proposed carbon pipeline. (Globe Gazette)
AIR POLLUTION: The Biden administration’s proposed limits on soot would result in cleaner industrial facilities, power plants and vehicles in Illinois, experts say. (Chicago Tribune, subscription)
SOLAR: A developer plans 26 community solar projects averaging 3 MW in size that will feature pollinator habitats across Illinois. (PV Magazine)
UTILITIES: Detroit-based DTE Energy’s CEO predicts the utility will need to build a large Michigan gas plant with carbon capture technology as part of its long-term generation mix. (Crain’s Detroit Business, subscription)
COMMENTARY: A South Dakota landowner whose property includes a portion of the Dakota Access pipeline issues a warning about carbon pipelines that she says would similarly obstruct property rights. (South Dakota Searchlight)
EMISSIONS: The U.S. EPA tightens airborne soot regulations to reduce coal plant and diesel truck pollution, a move expected to save as many as 4,500 lives in 2032 and bring $46 billion in health benefits by that year. (E&E News)
BUILDINGS:
OIL & GAS:
CLIMATE:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
SOLAR: Duke Energy prepares to offer new rebates in North Carolina for rooftop solar arrays paired with batteries, which along with federal incentives could create a new wave of business for solar installers even after Duke reduced net-metering credits. (Energy News Network)
GEOTHERMAL: As geothermal pilot projects get underway in Massachusetts, the utilities behind them work to overcome high upfront costs, disruptive development and other challenges. (CommonWealth Beacon)
POLITICS:
Correction: An electrification advocate wrote that the International Code Council was violating its own rules to allow appeals that could strip electrification-ready measures from a recommended code update. An item in yesterday’s newsletter mischaracterized the author’s stance.
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