COAL: Alliant Energy plans to close Wisconsin’s second-largest coal plant by 2025, which utility officials say will save $250 million in maintenance and upgrade costs. (Wisconsin State Journal)
SOLAR: Advocates push a bill in Iowa to double a cap on state solar tax credits as the waitlist for the program grows longer. (Energy News Network)
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PIPELINES:
• A Minnesota appeals court denies two tribes’ request to stop construction on the Line 3 pipeline. (Associated Press)
• U.S. House and Senate lawmakers introduce legislation to revive the Keystone XL pipeline, though it faces unlikely odds in Congress. (E&E News, subscription)
• Wisconsin Republicans back legislation supporting construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. (Journal Times)
UTILITIES:
• Clean energy advocates raise concerns about Minnesota Power’s plan to build new natural gas capacity amid its 2050 carbon-free power target. (Star Tribune)
• An Indiana municipal utility seeks to raise rates to in part pay for coal ash management. (Palladium-Item)
WIND: A North Dakota lawmaker proposes legislation that would impose a tax on wind projects to help support in-state coal plants. (Bismarck Tribune)
POWER PLANTS: The operators of a 485 MW natural gas plant in eastern Ohio plan to transition to 100% hydrogen over the next decade. (Columbus Dispatch)
POLICY: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum issues an executive order aiming to counter recent climate action by President Biden and bolster in-state energy development. (Bismarck Tribune)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Two southeastern Michigan school districts receive electric school buses to deliver food through assistance programs. (Detroit Free Press)
GRID:
• Utilities joining Southwest Power Pool’s new western power market say it will help with decarbonization goals, though clean energy advocates have raised questions about power delivery efficiency. (Utility Dive)
• FirstEnergy will invest more than $31 million in grid upgrades to support electric vehicle battery manufacturing. (Tribune Chronicle)
• Clean energy advocates say grid operator MISO is lagging on approving major interstate transmission projects, blocking broader clean energy development. (Michigan Radio)
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TRANSPORTATION: North Dakota legislation to divert more oil tax revenue for transportation infrastructure gains early support from lawmakers and business groups. (Associated Press)
COMMENTARY:
• Three northern Minnesota mayors say the Line 3 pipeline is an “incredible economic benefit to our state.” (MinnPost)
• Ohio’s power plant subsidy law is “an example of the harm done to ratepayers and the energy transition when bad actors and dark money work together to conceal the true motivations behind utility bailouts,” a researcher says. (Brookings Institution)