The Fight

Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Hotspots

The Week in Renewable Fights

A rundown of notable battles in the energy transition.

Map of projects.
Heatmap Illustration/Wiki Commons

1. York County, South Carolina Silfab Solar’s effortsto build a solar panel factory in coastal South Carolina have become a nexus of fear politics in recent weeks, even as the community’s Republican congressman tries to assuage residents’ concerns.

  • Members of the community are concerned about chemicals that will be used at the plant, which will be built near two schools. They also say they’re worried about the risk of fires or explosions.
  • A town meeting about Silfab last week was hosted by Representative Ralph Norman and drew more than a hundred people. It turned into a fury venting session. You can watch the drama play out in full here.
  • On his part, Norman seems to be straddling the line, trying to assure residents the project will be safe while recognizing that many are fretting about the project.
  • Move Silfab, a group campaigning to relocate the plant, is holding a community organizing event this Saturday.

2. Knox County, Nebraska North Fork Wind LLC last week joined with landowners to sue Knox County in federal court over expansions to a stepback ordinance that the company says were expressly designed to kill their 600-megawatt wind farm.

  • Knox County changed a 2,000-foot stepback into a 6,600-foot one earlier this year after a push by self-described “Wind Watchers,” what appears to be an ad hoc collection of activists that are opposing wind energy projects across Nebraska. Upon examining social media pages for some “Wind Watchers” groups, I can tell you there’s a lot of misinformation about wind and solar in their content feeds.
  • I’m watching ordinances and legal challenges like these closely. They’re quickly becoming an easy way for projects to get gummed up in administrative red tape over the concerns of fear-founded groups like Wind Watchers.

3. Madison County, Ohio What could be the largest agri-voltaics project in the U.S. may be poised for a showdown in the Ohio Supreme Court.

  • Savion Energy’s 800-megawatt Oak Run solar project was re-approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board last week after a lengthy battle with local opposition.
  • Critics then told local press they’re looking at taking this decision to the state Supreme Court as a last stand against the project.
  • This is happening as the same court will soon decide in two cases whether the Power Siting Board can reject solar projects based solely on whether there’s local dissent.
  • Agri-voltaics are crucial to the future of solar energy and present an opportunity for sustainable renewable development on farmland. Keep an eye out for a much longer dive into the opposition to Oak Run in next week’s edition of The Fight.

4. Nantucket County, MassachusettsIf you thought the Vineyard Wind debacle would go away, the fishermen want you to know you’re sadly mistaken.

  • The New England Fisherman’s Stewardship Association – a fishing trade group formed last year to oppose offshore wind development – held a protest on the water outside Avangrid’s project last week that got picked up by Fox News.

5. San Luis Obispo County, California I’m monitoring resistance to an ongoing study by Port San Luis and Clean Energy Terminals in central California on whether to become an offshore wind operation and maintenance hub.

  • The U.S. will need many more offshore wind manufacturing sites to meet its deployment goals. While no projects off California’s coast are currently underway, building infrastructure at sites like Port San Luis will be essential to building a state offshore wind industry.
  • Right now, local officials are facing opposition from REACT Alliance, a California grassroots group that as far as I can tell has little local support but is linked with the growing network of anti-offshore organizations. While in its infancy, the fact they’re so plugged in with other more successful and vocal organizations is definitely a concern.

Here are a few more hotspots I’m watching…

  • In Nebraska, a utility-scale solar project by National Grid Renewables is sparking anger from a neighboring town with a population of 120 people. There’s scant info about the project online. (Dear NGR folks, please email me back about this project! I want to learn more.)
  • In Iowa, the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline received a crucial construction permit from the state utilities commission. But there’s a catch: the project must first get clearance from regulators in North and South Dakota before the build. And there’s going to be many, many hurdles to that.

This article is exclusively
for Heatmap Plus subscribers.

Go deeper inside the politics, projects, and personalities
shaping the energy transition.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Q&A

How the Wind Industry Can Fight Back

A conversation with Chris Moyer of Echo Communications

The Q&A subject.
Heatmap Illustration

Today’s conversation is with Chris Moyer of Echo Communications, a D.C.-based communications firm that focuses on defending zero- and low-carbon energy and federal investments in climate action. Moyer, a veteran communications adviser who previously worked on Capitol Hill, has some hot takes as of late about how he believes industry and political leaders have in his view failed to properly rebut attacks on solar and wind energy, in addition to the Inflation Reduction Act. On Tuesday he sent an email blast out to his listserv – which I am on – that boldly declared: “The Wind Industry’s Strategy is Failing.”

Of course after getting that email, it shouldn’t surprise readers of The Fight to hear I had to understand what he meant by that, and share it with all of you. So here goes. The following conversation has been abridged and lightly edited for clarity.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Hotspots

A New York Town Bans Both Renewable Energy And Data Centers

And more on this week’s most important conflicts around renewable energy.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Chautauqua, New York – More rural New York towns are banning renewable energy.

  • Chautauqua, a vacation town in southern New York, has now reportedly issued a one-year moratorium on wind projects – though it’s not entirely obvious whether a wind project is in active development within its boundaries, and town officials have confessed none are being planned as of now.
  • Apparently, per local press, this temporary ban is tied to a broader effort to update the town’s overall land use plan to “manage renewable energy and other emerging high-impact uses” – and will lead to an ordinance that restricts data centers as well as solar and wind projects.
  • I anticipate this strategy where towns update land use plans to target data centers and renewables at the same time will be a lasting trend.

2. Virginia Beach, Virginia – Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia offshore wind project will learn its fate under the Trump administration by this fall, after a federal judge ruled that the Justice Department must come to a decision on how it’ll handle a court challenge against its permits by September.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Spotlight

The Wind Projects Breaking the Wyoming GOP

It’s governor versus secretary of state, with the fate of the local clean energy industry hanging in the balance.

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

I’m seeing signs that the fight over a hydrogen project in Wyoming is fracturing the state’s Republican political leadership over wind energy, threatening to trigger a war over the future of the sector in a historically friendly state for development.

At issue is the Pronghorn Clean Energy hydrogen project, proposed in the small town of Glenrock in rural Converse County, which would receive power from one wind farm nearby and another in neighboring Niobrara County. If completed, Pronghorn is expected to produce “green” hydrogen that would be transported to airports for commercial use in jet fuel. It is backed by a consortium of U.S. and international companies including Acconia and Nordex.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow