SOLAR: Evergy customers in Kansas with solar panels on their homes will get refunds in the coming weeks for unconstitutional charges the utility required them to pay but a court later struck down. (Kansas Reflector)

PIPELINES:
• Minnesota police arrest 69 people protesting the Line 3 pipeline outside the governor’s mansion in St. Paul. (Pioneer Press)
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers extends the timeline for a key environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline by six months. (Bismarck Tribune)

COAL: Ameren will likely mothball its second-largest coal plant instead of installing costly pollution controls ordered by federal courts, experts say. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

UTILITIES: An effort by Minnesota’s largest electric cooperative to drop its membership with a power plant operator highlights an emerging clash as some co-ops seek a faster transition to clean energy. (Inside Climate News)

STORAGE: University researchers in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula present plans to potentially reuse a mine as an underground pump-hydroelectric energy storage facility. (Marquette Mining Journal)

NUCLEAR: The imminent retirement of two Exelon nuclear plants in Illinois that don’t receive state subsidies is expected to boost coal and natural gas generation and make it more difficult to achieve carbon-reduction targets. (S&P Global)

WIND:
• Xcel Energy plans to install larger, more efficient turbine blades at wind projects in South Dakota and Minneapolis. (Star Tribune)
• The operator of an Indiana port terminal on Lake Michigan is seeing an increase in the number of large turbine blades being shipped through the dock. (Inside Indiana Business)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle startup Rivian officially filed to become a publicly traded company last week. (Associated Press)

CLIMATE: A Kansas State University researcher says “time is running out” to take climate change action and mitigate impacts to the state. (Manhattan Mercury)

GRID: North Dakota’s electricity generation grew by more than 3% in 2020 while exports increased 2.5%, according to a new state report. (KFYR)

OIL & GAS: Cleanup continues of an oil spill reported last week on a 160-acre lake in southeastern Ohio. (Marietta Times)

UTILITIES: South Dakota regulators allow three utilities to stop publicly reporting their pandemic-related expenses. (KELO)

COMMENTARY:
• An Iowa mayor says building climate-resilient infrastructure should match the urgency and boldness of building the U.S. interstate highway system decades ago. (Des Moines Register)
• A university official in southeastern Michigan says recent infrastructure failures show “now is the time for Lansing and utilities to accelerate Michigan’s energy transition.” (Crain’s Detroit Business)