SOLAR: In a victory for solar advocates, a Wisconsin judge rejects a utility’s plan for fees on customers with solar installations that critics say undermined distributed generation. (Midwest Energy News)
EFFICIENCY:
• On-bill financing is spreading among Midwest utilities as a way to help utility customers pay for costly efficiency upgrades. (Midwest Energy News)
• Officials in Dubuque, Iowa are building momentum behind efficiency and renewable projects as the city competes for a $5 million energy prize. (Telegraph Herald)
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CLEAN POWER PLAN: Illinois officials say the state is preparing a plan to comply with the federal rules. (Associated Press)
ETHANOL:
• DuPont opens the country’s largest cellulosic ethanol plant in Iowa. (Biofuels Digest)
• A $3.4 million grant will help distribute high-content ethanol more broadly in Ohio. (Columbus Dispatch)
FOSSIL FUELS: Experts warn that a widespread shift to clean energy could lead to an “economic jolt” resulting in significant stranded assets. (ClimateWire)
PIPELINE: Iowa landowners are concerned that a company’s gaining access to their property for a planned oil pipeline is already a “done deal.” (Sioux City Journal)
OHIO: FirstEnergy executives expect Ohio regulators to reach a settlement early next year on the utility’s proposed long-term power purchase agreement. (Columbus Business First)
OIL AND GAS:
• Sunken ships, including five in the Great Lakes, are a growing pollution concern. (Associated Press)
• Metro Detroit residents are concerned about potential drilling activity affecting their properties. (WXYZ-TV)
BIOMASS: Local officials approve $26 million in public funding for a northern Minnesota plant that would turn woody biomass into cellulosic sugars that would become the building blocks of different products. (Pioneer Press)
POLLUTION: Ohio’s attorney general joins more than a dozen AGs from other states in telling the EPA that its new stream pollution rules will hurt the mining industry. (Associated Press)
COAL:
• The last shipment of coal is expected to come in by freighter this month to a west Michigan plant that’s soon to be closed. (MLive)
• Residents in an eastern Michigan city are allowed to buy up parcels of a former coal mine as part of a plan to redevelop the blighted property. (MLive)
BATTERIES:
• Progress on getting energy storage to the right performance and price targets has been “frustratingly slow,” but many hope it will ultimately make renewables competitive with fossil fuels. (ClimateWire)
• An Iowa utility is turning to battery-powered trucks for some of its fleet to save fuel costs. (Radio Iowa)
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VOLKSWAGEN SCANDAL: A new MIT study says the automaker’s cheating on emissions tests will lead to 60 premature deaths in the U.S., though recalling vehicles will prevent hundreds more. (MLive)
COMMENTARY:
• A Michigan lawmaker says expanding the state’s electric choice market will save ratepayers and taxpayers money. (MLive)
• Minnesota needs to develop a more robust public policy to expand the use of combined heat and power. (MinnPost)
• Energy companies are not to blame for diverting nuclear site clean-up funds for storage. (Racine Journal Times)