** California’s rooftop solar industry is rapidly shedding jobs and losing companies to bankruptcy due to policy changes. The California Solar and Storage Association has suggested some near-term policy changes to slow the bleeding.
** A wide range of Republicans, including former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, excoriated President Biden for his decision to pause proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects over its economic impacts and potential to boost U.S. enemies.
** In a blow to carbon pipeline opponents, North Dakota regulators are set to rule that the agency’s decisions in pipeline siting applications supersede local ordinances.
** Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds says she is open to future but not retroactive policy changes to how state regulators review carbon pipeline applications.
** An unusually severe cold snap in Alaska coincides with natural gas well equipment failures, hindering fuel deliveries to utilities and customers.
World
** Protesting farmers were encircling Paris with tractor barricades and drive-slows on Monday, using their lumbering vehicles to block highways leading to France’s capital to pressure the government over the future of their industry, which has been shaken by repercussions of the Ukraine war.
** In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that, on April 8, a total eclipse will pass from Mexico, across Texas and up the East Coast, with most of the continental US experiencing a significant drop in solar generation.
** Shell’s exit from Nigeria’s onshore oil sector highlights risks oil majors face in Africa’s biggest exporter but has raised hopes that local firms could reverse the output decline from the Niger Delta, industry officials and analysts said.
** Swiss solar panel maker Meyer Burger is facing the brunt of competition from China and is warning it may have to close its loss-making production plant in Germany unless the government steps in with financial support.
** Toyota chief Koji Sato apologized Monday to customers, suppliers and dealers for flawed testing at a group company, following a series of similar problems in recent years.
