Welcome to a new week. In case you haven’t noticed, most of the US is mired in drought—as we head into wildfire season, that’s concerning. Fortunately, utilities throughout the country have thorough plans in place. But preparedness is still lacking in states not historically impacted by large blazes.
Here’s where our Daily readers are at: In a recent poll, 61% said they’re feeling ready for wildfire season—and a third said they’re not. (The rest aren’t sure.)
P.S. 🫵 We want your perspective on the future of the energy workforce. Take our inaugural survey here, and help us build for the future.
— Molly, Carrie, and the Energy Central editorial team
Join us June 23 in Washington, D.C. as we bring together utility decision-makers for networking and meaningful conversations on the challenges shaping today's power sector.
$82M in Biden-era DOE clean energy grants are back in action.
Déjà vu: This is the second time a court has sided with companies seeking to revive recently axed DOE grants. In January, the agency was ordered to reinstate $28M in awards.
Plus, a win for wind: The Trump administration appears to be backing off its wind permitting blitz. On Wednesday, the DOJ scrapped its appeal of a December court decision that invalidated the stalled federal approvals for wind projects.
Power pros see a light at the end of the data center queue.
Just in time: Interconnection, equipment, and public acceptance hurdles keep getting steeper, but there’s a silver lining: Some utility and energy leaders say we’re getting closer to balancing the cost burden, according to a Bloom Energy survey conducted in April. 33% of respondents said that “tariff pathways to sequester costs are improving,” while 28% said “regulatory cost allocation is improving.”
Exhibit A? Just look at the flurry of tariffs and agreements rolling out around the country (including ratepayer protections proposed by hyperscalers themselves).
The future power play: Respondents also saw behind-the-meter power as a long-term solution—not a stopgap: 80% said they consider distributed or onsite power “permanent infrastructure rather than a temporary bridge.”
More oil is moving through the Strait of Hormuz than we thought. 🛢️
Surprise: The US military is helping shepherd some 7M barrels of oil out of the Persian Gulf per day, Energy Sec. Chris Wright said. That’s roughly half the oil held up in the Strait of Hormuz since the Iran war began…and millions more than investors assumed were in transit.
Yes, but: This figure doesn’t include crude from Iran—that would require either a deal or US military intervention.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has taken this opportunity to revive US coal production. This includes a push for a 1.6-GW coal plant (TerraSpark’s Energy Campus) in West Virginia, which would become the country’s first new coal facility since 2013. One snag: TerraSpark head Alex Phillips has no energy experience…but he does (reportedly) have links to QAnon.
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A hulking solar-plus-storage project comes with an equally weighty price tag.
New deal: IPP Cypress Creek Energy has raised $3.5B to build a 1.63-GW/1.9-GWh solar-plus-storage project in Arkansas. But that’s not all: The Steel River Energy Center is set to wrap up at 2.45-GW/2.9-GWh by 2029, when it could rank among the country’s largest projects of its kind.
Plus, utility-scale solar generation will increase by 19% this summer compared with last year, per the EIA.
This is PJM’s biggest standalone battery facility yet.
A 150-MW/600-MWh project in Virginia is now online. The $250M system, developed by Elevate Renewables, has enough juice to power over 100K VA homes through a long-term offtake agreement with Dominion.
A Michigan judge is urging the state to reject Consumers Energy's ‘highly problematic’ dam sale.
The context: As we reported last month, Consumers wants to sell 13 aging hydro dams to Confluence Hydro, a subsidiary of PE firm Hull Street Energy…for $1 each. Then, ratepayers would buy back the power at 2x the market rate (for three decades). And critics worry that Confluence Hydro could neglect the dams and endanger surrounding communities.
The judge’s take? This deal is “inconsistent with the public interest,” Judge James Varchetti wrote. The Michigan PSC is slated to decide on the sale by September.
When significant operational disruptions occur, the root cause is rarely limited to the event itself. The underlying exposure often develops long before the outage.
Rising energy costs are reshaping grid operations. Tune in to hear how utilities and energy users can improve reliability, manage costs, and unlock more value from energy assets in real time.
💡 Want utility decision-makers’ perspectives on the future of energy? Join us on June 23 in Washington, D.C. We’re hosting a high-powered group of energy & utility professionals for connections, conversations, and cocktails.
Thanks for reading. Until next time!
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