SOLAR: Iowa solar installers say the expiration of a statewide solar tax credit will make projects a tougher sell to residential and small business customers. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: Developers hope to start construction next month on a nearly 15 MW solar project in northeastern Indiana. (The Star)
***SPONSORED LINK: Vote Solar is hiring a Regional Director to lead their legislative campaigns and support their regulatory work in Michigan and Minnesota. Location flexible but preference given to applicants rooted in either state. Applications due June 7.***
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Ohio’s Mahoning Valley near the Pennsylvania border is being touted as “Voltage Valley” as local officials look to capitalize on electric vehicle manufacturing. (Allegheny Front)
NUCLEAR: Results from the latest PJM capacity auction spell trouble for the continued operation of two Illinois nuclear plants for which Exelon is seeking state subsidies to maintain. (Canary Media)
POLITICS: Environmental groups say utility customers in Kansas and Missouri may be paying for utilities’ fossil fuel lobbying through trade group membership dues. (Missouri Independent)
PIPELINES: Indigenous activists say the Line 3 pipeline threatens wild rice farming in northern Minnesota as protests against the project gear up this week. (Inside Climate News, Associated Press)
COAL:
• A coalition of labor unions, utilities and local officials urge Illinois lawmakers to exempt some coal plants from having to shut down early as part of sweeping energy reforms under consideration. (State Journal-Register)
• DTE Energy officially closes a southeastern Michigan coal plant that operated since 1956. (FOX 2)
CLEAN ENERGY:
• A retired Xcel Energy official now uses various clean energy sources to power his farming operations in Minnesota. (Brainerd Dispatch)
• A Wisconsin congresswoman says investing in clean energy projects would benefit children and low-income communities in Milwaukee. (Milwaukee Independent)
BIODIESEL: Developers want to build a facility in western North Dakota that could process 100 million gallons of renewable diesel and aviation fuel per year made from agricultural feedstock. (Williston Herald)
GRID: FirstEnergy is in the middle of a three-year program to install smart meters across its Ohio service territory under a broader $250 million grid modernization effort. (Cleveland.com, subscription)
OIL & GAS:
• A 43% rise in U.S. crude oil prices this year has made a growing number of land parcels attractive to buyout firms that could help landowners sell property and pay down debt. (Reuters)
• DTE Energy’s plan to spinoff its midstream pipeline and natural gas business into a new publicly traded company moves forward. (Crain’s Detroit Business)
COMMENTARY:
• Minnesota utilities are incentivized to build major power plants that return an investment for shareholders rather than act in the best interests of their customers, says a clean energy and consumer advocate. (Star Tribune)
• “Massive misinformation campaigns” against wind energy development are costing rural Kansas communities millions of dollars in new tax revenue, a clean energy advocate says. (Kansas Reflector)