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EFFICIENCY: New rules requiring Twin Cities home sellers to disclose energy efficiency scores have had little impact on buyers’ decisions so far because of the tight housing market and other factors. (Energy News Network)
SOLAR: • Wisconsin regulators this week will hear testimony on the legality of third-party solar financing, a concept that has brought strong opposition from utilities in the state. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) • A team of University of Michigan undergraduates will drive a solar-powered car 3,000 miles from New Jersey to California. (Detroit Free Press) • Oneida Nation officials consider using federal grant funding to install a solar project on the tribe’s Wisconsin reservation. (Green Bay Press Gazette)
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GRID: • As grid operator MISO’s board of directors prepares to vote today on a $10.4-billion, 18-project long-range transmission plan, consumer groups file a complaint objecting to an “anticompetitive” planning process. (RTO Insider, subscription) • Technology experts say Wisconsin “could really benefit” from using highway rights of way for underground transmission lines coupled with broadband internet infrastructure. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) • A Michigan energy regulator welcomes a discussion over electricity capacity but says the state’s power grid is not at risk of shortfalls in the near term. (MiBiz)
OIL & GAS: The $4.7 billion from last year’s federal infrastructure law to plug orphan oil and gas wells across the U.S. will only be enough to scratch the surface of the problem, an analysis shows. (Bloomberg Law)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Chicago, Kansas City and St. Louis are among U.S. cities where Amazon and Rivian will soon roll out custom electric delivery vehicles. (KING5)
COAL: Local officials approve plans to redevelop part of a former Wisconsin coal plant into an industrial park. (Kenosha News)
PIPELINES: • Nebraska landowners raise concerns over a plan to convert a nearly 400-mile natural gas pipeline to carry carbon dioxide. (Lincoln Journal Star) • The Keystone pipeline resumed typical operations over the weekend after a South Dakota transformer station was vandalized the week before. (S&P Global)
RENEWABLES: Community members in Columbia, Missouri are again pressuring local officials to adopt a 100% clean energy plan by 2030. (Columbia Daily Tribune)
UTILITIES: CenterPoint Energy shareholders largely oppose a new executive pay structure as customers face rising natural gas bills. (Star Tribune)
HYDROELECTRIC: The Minnesota Legislature recently adjourned before approving $2.2 million to pay for repairs of a hydroelectric dam, frustrating local officials. (West Central Tribune)
WIND: A northwestern Illinois county is the site of multiple new wind farm developments. (Geneseo Republic)
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COMMENTARY: • A current and a recently retired university researcher say small modular nuclear reactors “carry the same economic and environmental risks as their larger predecessors and make no sense for Iowa.” (Cedar Rapids Gazette) • A columnist says MidAmerican Energy’s abandoning plans for a 30-turbine wind project in Iowa is the “latest example of the rural backlash against the encroachment of large-scale renewable projects. (Forbes) • The executive director of Iowa Business for Clean Energy says MidAmerican Energy’s $3.9 billion clean energy spending plan needs close scrutiny from state regulators. (Des Moines Register)
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Andy compiles the Midwest Energy News digest and was a journalism fellow for Midwest Energy News from 2014-2020. He is managing editor of MiBiz in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was formerly a reporter and editor at City Pulse, Lansing’s alternative newsweekly.
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