** Iowa House lawmakers advance bills that would strengthen eminent domain protections, limit permit lengths and include more involvement of a consumer advocacy office in an effort to clamp down on carbon pipelines.
** The federal Bonneville Power Administration could lose up to 20% of its workforce to the Trump administration’s job cuts and hiring freeze, raising concerns about grid reliability in the Northwest.
** A Nebraska bioethanol plant plans to ship carbon dioxide captured during production to Wyoming, where it would be geologically sequestered.
** Minnesota regulators unanimously approve an 8.17% rate increase for Xcel Energy’s gas customers, which the utility says is needed to pay for infrastructure and safety improvements as well as keeping up with inflation.
** American Electric Power is evaluating $10 billion in potential investments to meet demand from data centers and other large loads.
** The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase.
World
** BP has been ordered to cut spending on renewable energy by its third largest shareholder as pressure grows on the oil giant to boost investor returns. Elliott Management is said to be pushing BP to make a string of divestments as it emerged the US hedge fund has taken a near 5pc stake in the company worth £3.8bn.
** The Huadian Tibet Caipeng PV-Storage Project, now partly running, sits at 5,228 meters (17,152 feet) above sea level in Tibet, making it the highest solar-plus-storage facility in the world. It has gained attention for its large-scale, cutting-edge technology, and clean energy supporters and social media users are praising the achievement.
** A giant gas field has been discovered underGreat Britain’s Lincolnshire that could fuel the UK’s entire needs for a decade, reducing dependence on imports and generating tens of thousands of jobs, an energy company has claimed. Egdon Resources, the business behind the discovery, is to formally announce its findings at an energy industry conference later this month.
** Two rival companies, Volkswagen and Xpeng, recently signed a memorandum of understanding that will give their customers access to both companies’ super-fast charging stations in China. That’s over 20,000 charging stations available to their electric vehicle drivers.
** A slowdown in the growth of China’s fuel use is without precedent for a country at its stage of economic development, the International Energy Agency said.