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Editions from 2026-08-10.

Aug 9, 2026 · 5:01 PM PT edition · 20 stories

via Bluesky

Washington utilities plan natural gas plants despite 2045 clean energy mandate — WA's utilities must go carbon-free by 2045. So why are they turning now to natural gas?

CleanTechnica · Michael Barnard

Grid operators outline flexibility plans amid uncertainty over actual implementation — Grid flexibility is easy to mistake for a technology market. One jurisdiction announces several gigawatt-hours of batteries, another…

Guardian Environment · Editorial

India seeks to expand economy and reach net zero without precedent, needs state demand — The world’s most populous country needs state-generated demand to industrialise, decarbonise and avoid China’s overcapacity trap India is…

Inside Climate News · Ajani Stella

US offshore wind slowdown leaves trained workers without long-term projects — When Gerard Mullin decided to train in offshore wind, he didn’t know what to expect. But on his first long-term project in Massachusetts,…

Guardian Environment · John Harris

UK datacentre expansion plan raises concerns over housing and resource strain — Whitehall wants to triple the UK’s number of datacentres – but demand for electricity and water means that could be at the expense of new…

Guardian Environment · Ushika Kidd

Microplastics found to persist in food-waste compost, contaminating agricultural soils — Researchers find microplastics can persist in compost, leaching into agricultural soils Plastic contamination should be a central concern…

Inside Climate News · Aman Azhar

Natural gas dominates PJM's first reformed grid queue as data centers drive demand — Natural gas surged to the top in the first round of power projects accepted into PJM Interconnection’s reformed interconnection process,…

Heatmap News · Emily Pontecorvo

Amazon building 7.65 GW gas plant in Texas to power AI data center campus — The data center buildout has hit a new inflection point. It has long been true that artificial intelligence is fueling climate change by…

More: TechCrunch Climate, Distilled, via Bluesky

Inside Climate News · Dennis Pillion

Alabama regulators hold hearings to potentially cut gas utility profit margins — MONTGOMERY, Ala.—For the first time in more than 40 years, Alabama utility regulators this week convened formal hearings to potentially…

EIA Today in Energy

U.S. utility-scale battery storage capacity reaches 52 GW on pace for continued expansion — Utility-scale battery storage capacity in the United States increased significantly during the last three years, with an annual average…

More: CleanTechnica

Heatmap News · Jeva Lange

Wildfire smoke from eastern Washington reaches Seattle area due to unusual wind pattern — I wrote this story from inside a cloud of smoke. Owing to some funky meteorology in the Seattle area this week — a pressure ridge paired…

Heatmap News · Jeva Lange

Wildfires across Northwest spark fresh calls for forest management legislation — It has been five days since the Old Trail fire burned through northeast Spokane, one of three blazes to encroach on the periphery of…

Latitude Media · Stephen Lacey

States pause data center approvals amid grid strain concerns — As more states pause data centers, how will they use the opportunity to pass energy policy?

Canary Media · Kathryn Krawczyk

Ford previews lower-cost electric pickup truck as sales lag — This analysis and news roundup come from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday.

Utility Dive · Scott Engstrom

Utility billing systems lag grid modernization efforts, GridX executive argues — Utilities are spending billions to modernize the grid but the system responsible for billing customers is not keeping up, writes GridX CCO…

Utility Dive · Ethan Howland

Constellation CEO says existing power plants critical to data center power supply — Constellation Energy expects Texas’ Batch Zero large load interconnection process will resume without “meaningful delay.”

PV Tech · Shreeyashi Ojha

India plans incentives for over 10GW of polysilicon capacity — India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) plans to announce a scheme covering more than 10GW of polysilicon production capacity.

TechCrunch Climate · Tim De Chant

Trump administration spends $4B to cancel 12 offshore wind leases — The Trump administration has now convinced developers to abandon 12 offshore wind leases. The latest will cost taxpayers $1.2 billion.

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