Midwest Energy News Archives | Energy News Network

Trash, wood burning could be considered ‘carbon-free’ in Minnesota

Andy Balaskovitz — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 13:11:00 +0000

EMISSIONS: Minnesota regulators leave open the possibility that burning wood or trash for electricity could qualify as carbon-free, depending on how overall emissions are calculated, under the state’s new clean energy law. (Star Tribune)

ALSO: Environmental groups and some lawmakers oppose the decision, saying it goes against the intent of the 2023 law. (Sahan Journal)

FOSSIL FUELS: Lobbyists working for major North American oil and gas companies helped lawmakers in several states, including Ohio, craft legislation to increase legal penalties for climate activists. (The Guardian)

GRID:

Grid operator MISO advances plans for a $21.8 billion portfolio of transmission projects that analysts say could produce up to $23.1 billion in net benefits, partly by limiting the need for new generation. (Utility Dive)
Five-year grid investment plans by Michigan’s two large investor-owned utilities to reach or slightly exceed industry averages for reliability could have “significant impacts on electricity prices,” an auditor says. (E&E News, subscription)
Kansas regulators approve plans for two transmission lines that would collect power from wind and solar projects for the Grain Belt Express project. (KSNT)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

The Biden administration’s policies on electric vehicles is a key issue among voters leading up to the November election in a Republican-leaning metro Detroit congressional district. (Bridge)
Geologists are searching Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for nickel deposits that could provide key materials for electric vehicle batteries. (E&E News, subscription)

CLIMATE: A new poll finds 58% of Black voters in battleground states view climate change as a major priority, and messaging on clean energy and climate change increased voting motivation for 33% of Black voters. (Michigan Advance)

CLEAN ENERGY: A Nebraska startup that uses clean energy to split natural gas into carbon and hydrogen to make industrial products is running short on cash and faces delays after securing a $1 billion government loan. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)

SOLAR:

Ohio legislation to create a statewide community solar program stalls amid opposition from large utilities. (WCMH)
Southern Indiana residents remain divided over a proposed 2,050-acre solar project as leaseholders say it’s their decision how to use their land and neighbors claim it would devalue their property. (WHAS)
DTE Energy has broken ground on three solar projects across Michigan in recent months to meet demand for its voluntary customer renewable energy program. (Solar Power World)

WIND: The state of Iowa sues a Washington-state company for allegedly dumping tons of old wind turbine blades around the state, in violation of solid waste laws. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

ELECTRIFICATION: The Rosebud Sioux Tribe is awarded $11.8 million in federal funding to electrify and retrofit homes on the tribe’s reservation. (South Dakota Searchlight)

RENEWABLES: Rural opposition to wind and solar power goes back roughly 20 years in Michigan when the state first adopted a renewable energy standard, and the disputes continue today as utilities ramp up their clean energy portfolios. (Michigan Public)

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Trash, wood burning could be considered ‘carbon-free’ in Minnesota is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

Drought conditions renew concerns about fracking’s water use

Andy Balaskovitz — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:02:53 +0000

OIL & GAS: Drought conditions in Ohio this summer prompted a local watershed district to take the unprecedented step of limiting water use for fracking, and should cause state and local officials to be more proactive, environmental groups say. (Energy News Network)

GRID: Michigan lawmakers pass legislation creating new tax breaks for large data centers, which opponents say lacks assurances that the energy-hungry projects wouldn’t jeopardize the state’s clean energy goals. (Bridge)

CLEAN ENERGY:

While environmental groups say Minnesota’s carbon-free energy targets should focus on wind and solar, a state agency endorses a broader view that could include fossil fuels with carbon capture. (MPR News)
A new Iowa green bank will help municipalities and nonprofits finance renewable energy projects and access federal funding. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
Residents in a small Ohio town that recently set a goal to cut carbon emissions 50% by 2030 say individual action plays a key role in hitting climate targets. (WOSU)

PIPELINES: Former GOP Iowa Congress member Steve King campaigns against a South Dakota ballot initiative that opponents say would be unfavorable to landowners amid carbon pipeline development. (Dakota Scout, subscription)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

A Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan claims the transition to electric vehicles will decimate jobs, despite research suggesting that’s inaccurate. (Planet Detroit)
Michigan school transportation coordinators express optimism about being among the first to transition to electric school buses, despite some initial logistical challenges. (Capital News Service)

HYDROGEN: General Motors plans to partner with a large supplier to build a hydrogen fuel cell plant in Detroit, which could take a few years until production starts. (Crain’s Detroit, subscription)

COMMENTARY:

Reinstating solar net metering and a statewide energy efficiency program would save Indiana ratepayers money and improve grid stability, an Indiana editorial board writes. (Journal Gazette)
The Michigan Legislature needs to pass community solar bills to bring energy affordability and clean energy access to low-income ratepayers, a Democratic state lawmaker writes. (Bridge)

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Drought conditions renew concerns about fracking’s water use is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

Politics loom large around Ohio EV battery plant

Andy Balaskovitz — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 13:06:53 +0000

POLITICS: An electric vehicle battery factory bolstered by President Biden’s climate law has lifted the economy in a northeastern Ohio county but doesn’t appear to have boosted Democrats’ prospects. (CNN)

OVERSIGHT: Ohio utility regulators urge the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in its favor and allow for more court intervention to decide federal energy rules when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deadlocks. (E&E News)

COAL:

Wisconsin environmental groups call on We Energies to abandon its plan to convert a coal plant along Lake Michigan to natural gas and return to its original plan to close the facility by 2025. (Journal Sentinel, subscription)
“We’re turning a page in our history books,” a Consumers Energy official says while leading public tours of a hulking coal plant along Lake Michigan that’s scheduled to close by mid-2025. (MLive, subscription)

STORAGE: A battery storage project under construction in rural Wisconsin shows how storage is an underused transmission asset because of unresolved regulatory questions with grid operators, experts say. (Utility Dive)

EMISSIONS: Large tech firms part of the Sustainable Steel Buyers Platform launch a competitive bidding process asking steelmakers to deliver 1 million metric tons of near-zero emissions steel a year by 2028. (Canary Media)

GRID:

Iowa economic development officials say the state’s “stable” electric grid is helping to attract data centers, including a newly proposed $750 million campus in Cedar Rapids. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)
PJM’s independent market monitor says the grid operator’s new metric for measuring power plant availability inflated prices in the most recent capacity auction by nearly 50%. (Utility Dive)
Duke Energy’s rate increase request in Ohio to pay for grid infrastructure improvements would hike average customer bills by about $135 a year after three years. (WCPO)

SOLAR:

Activists gather outside AEP Ohio’s Columbus headquarters to call on the company to stop lobbying against state legislation to open community solar projects. (Spectrum News)
A nearly 200-year–old church in northern Michigan is switching from propane to heat pumps and plans to add solar thanks to cost savings under the Inflation Reduction Act. (WSJM)

BIOFUELS: The removal of a massive pile of waste grain from a former Nebraska ethanol plant that contaminated a nearby stream nearly four years ago is set to be completed by the end of next year. (Nebraska Examiner)

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Politics loom large around Ohio EV battery plant is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

Audit seeks root of Michigan’s poor grid reliability

Andy Balaskovitz — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 13:04:21 +0000

GRID: A third-party audit finds Michigan’s two large investor-owned utilities had worse-than-average outages and restoration delays than other utilities, driven by delayed tree-trimming schedules and outdated grid infrastructure. (Detroit News)

CLIMATE:

City planners in Detroit, Cleveland and other Midwestern cities are examining how to upgrade local infrastructure to accommodate a possible climate-induced migration of people. (The Guardian)
States’ climate investment plans could be upended if former President Trump is elected and makes good on promises to rescind unspent funds from the federal Inflation Reduction Act. (States Newsroom)

SOLAR:

Duluth-based utility Minnesota Power announces plans for two large solar projects totaling 205 MW of capacity in central and northern Minnesota, including at a coal plant scheduled to retire by 2035. (MPR News)
A Wisconsin nonprofit that works with contractors to help finance community solar projects receives $200,000 in federal funding. (Daily Reporter)
Kansas Geological Survey researchers receive nearly $900,000 in grants to develop a solar recharge system that would generate power in the underused corners of corn fields and also direct rainwater into underground reserves. (news release)

BATTERIES: A Chicago manufacturer of lithium ion batteries receives a $60 million federal grant to build a $175 million plant in Flint, Michigan, that would be one of the world’s largest silicon anode facilities. (Sun-Times)

NUCLEAR: The owner of a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant says it is on track to reopen the plant in October 2025 despite a petition asking regulators for a new framework for re-commissioning. (Utility Dive)

UTILITIES: Illinois reaches a $10 million settlement with an alternative energy supplier that was accused of deceptive sales practices that led utility customers into contracts with more expensive providers. (Journal Courier)

WIND:

The Omaha Public Power District signs a 20-year contract to buy power from a 300 MW wind project in southeastern Nebraska. (Renewables Now)
An Iowa city will install 10 public benches made from wind turbine blades by a recycling company that recently went out of business. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

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Audit seeks root of Michigan’s poor grid reliability is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.

Vacant urban land raises complex questions for clean energy

Andy Balaskovitz — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 13:03:29 +0000

CLEAN ENERGY: In Detroit and Chicago, efforts to improve access to clean energy in underserved neighborhoods pose complex questions about the use of vacant land for projects. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: Xcel Energy scales back plans to build multiple gas peaker plants as part of its long-term clean energy plan in Minnesota, saying that one new gas plant is all it needs for now to meet projected demand. (Star Tribune)

RENEWABLES: A University of Wisconsin researcher finds that the long process of securing approvals from tribal and federal entities contributes to the lack of commercial-scale wind and solar development on reservations. (Grist)

CLIMATE: Scientists launched weather balloons around Chicago this summer to better understand and predict how climate change-driven heat and urban heat islands will affect neighborhoods. (Sun-Times)

NUCLEAR: Minnesota regulators order Xcel Energy to refund customers millions of dollars they paid for more expensive power after utility workers severed a cable that shut down a nuclear plant for months. (Star Tribune)

PIPELINES: The Summit carbon pipeline developer wraps up public meetings in 23 Iowa counties over the past month on its plan to add 330 miles to the original pipeline route. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

EFFICIENCY: An apartment complex with 16 townhomes in Kansas City, Missouri, receives $3.6 million in federal Inflation Reduction Act funding to make various efficiency upgrades and electrify appliances. (Inside Climate News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

General Motors CEO Mary Barra says the company still plans to phase out internal combustion light-duty vehicles by 2035. (CBS News)
Many Rivian drivers have yet to receive adapters that would allow them to charge their vehicles at Tesla charging stations, a year after the initiative was announced. (Inside Climate News)

OIL & GAS: The push to build new data centers to support artificial intelligence will likely contribute to more methane emissions as more gas plants come online, according to an environmental data firm’s new report. (The New Republic)

BATTERIES:

A western Michigan battery materials production plant that will be the country’s first facility to mass produce lithium iron phosphate cathodes receives $100 million in federal funding. (WOOD-TV8)
A startup’s plan to build two plants in Wisconsin that make hemp-based batteries as an alternative to lithium-ion faces uncertainty after failing to secure $50 million in federal funding. (Wisconsin State Journal)

More from the Energy News Network: Midwest | Southeast | Northeast | West

Vacant urban land raises complex questions for clean energy is an article from Energy News Network, a nonprofit news service covering the clean energy transition. If you would like to support us please make a donation.