PIPELINES: Keystone XL pipeline construction began over the weekend at a border crossing in northern Montana as critics call for delays due to the coronavirus. (Associated Press)
ALSO: Alberta’s $1.1 billion investment and $4.2 billion in loan guarantees for the Keystone XL pipeline, which the private sector was reluctant to fund, highlights Canada’s vulnerable oil sands industry. (InsideClimate News)
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POWER PLANTS: Xcel Energy is selling a 760 MW natural gas plant in southern Minnesota for $30 million more than it paid for the plant three months ago. (Star Tribune)
OIL & GAS:
• A company that runs gas generators at oil drilling sites in North Dakota installs high-speed cloud computing units for use by researchers in other states as they work on coronavirus vaccines. (Bismarck Tribune)
• A North Dakota economist anticipates that it won’t take as long for the Bakken region to recover from the current oil price collapse as it did following the 2015 downturn. (Bismarck Tribune)
TRANSPORTATION: Minnesota will delay plans to adopt California’s stricter tailpipe pollution standards due to the coronavirus. (E&E News, subscription)
SOLAR:
• Construction is completed on three solar projects at facilities owned by Indiana utility NIPSCO. (Solar Power World)
• The city council in Iowa City considers leasing publicly owned prairie land to MidAmerican Energy for a 3 MW solar project. (Iowa City Press-Citizen)
RENEWABLES: Analysts expect renewables to continue growing in 2020 and next year as oil, gas and coal companies struggle financially. (New York Times)
COAL: Lower export volumes contributed to large sales and revenue declines in 2019 for Missouri-based Foresight Coal. (S&P Global)
CLIMATE: Officials in Ann Arbor, Michigan, release the city’s 2030 carbon neutral plan in the midst of a global pandemic, “But we really didn’t have a choice.” (E&E News, subscription)
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BIOFUELS: With fuel demand plummeting due to stay-home orders, the operating environment for ethanol is “fast becoming catastrophic.” (Seeking Alpha)
UTILITIES: DTE Energy is raising awareness about federal business loan programs while also helping businesses reduce power demand to lower bills to weather the coronavirus pandemic. (CBS Detroit)