EFFICIENCY: Commercial property-assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing had its best two years in Michigan in 2020 and 2021, during which 28 finished projects received retroactive financing that helped property owners save cash as they waited out the pandemic. (Energy News Network)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The Ohio House passes legislation to create an electric vehicle commission that would advise lawmakers on policy while creating tax incentives for manufacturers. (Ohio Capital Journal)
• Major automakers’ plans to spend heavily on electric vehicles creates a surge in battery supplier activity in southeastern Michigan. (Crain’s Detroit Business)
• Investor enthusiasm in Rivian suggests the startup could overtake major Detroit-based automakers in the electric vehicle race, though some analysts are skeptical. (The Guardian)
• Illinois’ Clean Energy Jobs Act and a new manufacturing tax credit provide a backbone to lure private investment in building electric vehicles in the state. (The Pantagraph)
WIND: An Illinois county board violated the state’s Open Meetings Act this summer when it voted to suspend the issuance of building permits for a planned wind project, the state attorney general rules. (Herald & Review)
GRID:
• Kansas regulators signal support for ratepayers while raising concerns about an international hedge fund that’s behind Evergy’s $10.4 billion grid infrastructure plan. (Wichita Eagle)
• Duke Energy files a grid modernization plan with Indiana regulators that’s aimed at improving reliability with new infrastructure, substations and underground power lines. (WDRB)
SOLAR:
• A north Minneapolis church installs a community solar array, saying it will help residents deal with the effects of climate change while lowering their electric bills. (Associated Press)
• A developer is in the process of collecting landowner leases for a planned 1,500-acre solar project in eastern Iowa. (KWQC)
CLEAN ENERGY: A northwestern Minnesota tribal citizen’s companies leverage federal funding to build an electric vehicle charging network, solar installations and create clean energy job training opportunities. (Canary Media)
OIL & GAS:
• North Dakota officials look to tap billions of dollars in federal funding to expand the state’s abandoned well plugging program. (Bismarck Tribune)
• Eastern Ohio oil and gas producers remain optimistic as prices are high and demand rebounds from the earlier months of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Times Herald)
COAL: A provision in the federal reconciliation bill includes incentives to develop renewable energy projects in places where coal plants have closed, though analysts are concerned little development will occur in formerly coal-reliant towns. (E&E News)
GEOTHERMAL: Campus upgrades at the Missouri University of Science and Technology include a $7.7 million geothermal plant that will power a student innovation lab. (St. Louis Public Radio)
COMMENTARY: Cincinnati’s mayor, who is also running for governor, reiterates his call to fire members of the state’s Public Utilities Commission to restore public confidence after a major corruption scandal involving FirstEnergy. (Columbus Dispatch)