OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Bill Gates pledges $1.5B for climate projects in infrastructure bill | Storms hammer Midwest, leave 850K without power

Welcome to Overnight Energy, your source for the day’s energy and environment news. 

Please send tips and comments to Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@digital-staging.thehill.com . Follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin . Reach Zack Budryk at zbudryk@digital-staging.thehill.com or follow him at @BudrykZack . 

Today we’re looking at Bill Gates pledging money for bipartisan infrastructure package’s clean energy provisions, storms leaving people in the Midwest without power and House Democrats doubling down in a push for electric vehicle funding.

OPENING THE GATE: Bill Gates pledges $1.5B for climate projects in infrastructure bill

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has pledged $1.5 billion from his climate investment fund to collaborate with the federal government on clean energy projects if the White House-backed infrastructure package becomes law.

The package, which passed the Senate 69-30 this week, includes funding to boost the deployment of clean energy, clean transportation and more. 

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Gates said it would be “critical” for any clean-energy initiatives to “get the costs down and to be able to scale them up to a pretty gigantic level.”

“You’ll never get that scale up unless the government’s coming in with the right policies, and the right policy is exactly what’s in that infrastructure bill,” he added.

Projects sponsored by Gates’ Breakthrough Energy would still have to beat out other applicants for project funding. Gates told the Journal that the organization would likely redirect the bulk of the funds to Asian and European efforts if the infrastructure package fails to pass.

A statement from the group said that it will specifically aim to cover cost share requirements for relevant demonstration projects at the Energy Department. It also wants to subsidize credit costs or enhance credit for projects with the department’s Loan Programs Office. 

Read more about his push here.

POWERLESS: Storms hammer Midwest, leave 850K without power

Severe thunderstorms that hit the Midwest on Wednesday overnight into Thursday left more than 850,000 people without power across states including Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio. 

According to data from Poweroutage.us, Michiganders bore the brunt of the power outages, with more than 770,000 without power as of the early afternoon Thursday.

There were also more than 65,000 outages reported in Ohio, more than 60,000 in Wisconsin and nearly 35,000 in Indiana. 

Two of Michigan’s largest energy companies, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, kept residents updated as they worked to restore power to impacted areas, with DTE saying Thursday morning that 70 mph winds had damaged more than 3,000 power lines across the state. 

Read more about the outages here.

STORM BREWING: DeSantis tells Floridians to review disaster plans as tropical storm approaches

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) told residents on Wednesday to review their disaster plans as Tropical Storm Fred approaches the state.

“PTC #6 developed into Tropical Storm #Fred overnight. This is the sixth named storm of the season & could potentially impact Florida this weekend,” the governor tweeted.

“While it’s too soon to determine exact impacts, Floridians should review their disaster plans & follow @FLSERT for updates,” he added.

The National Hurricane Center said Thursday the Florida Keys and the southern Florida Peninsula will likely be issued a tropical storm watch by Thursday afternoon.

Read more about the storm here.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

The Sunrise Movement’s Members Of Color Say The Group “Tokenized” And “Used” Them For Years, BuzzFeed News reports

Con Edison urges NY customers to conserve energy amid heat wave, Reuters reports

Feds propose expanded coastal barrier protection, E&E News reports

UK spending far more on polluting policies than green ones, says WWF, The Guardian reports

Ohio Environmental Advocates Say Pandemic and State Lawmakers Hindering Clean Energy Industry, WKSU reports 

ICYMI: Stories from Thursday…

Bill Gates pledges $1.5B for climate projects in infrastructure bill

Storms hammer Midwest, leave 850K without power

DeSantis tells Floridians to review disaster plans as Tropical Storm Fred approaches

Wildfires worst ecological catastrophe in decades, Greek prime minister says 

OFFBEAT AND OFF-BEAT: 30 lightyears or less