RENEWABLES: Local officials in a northern Michigan city approve a plan to meet all of the city government’s electric needs from renewable energy by 2020. (Midwest Energy News)
POLICY: Advocates see a mixed bag on clean energy policy as legislatures in Michigan, Illinois and Ohio close out 2016. (Midwest Energy News)
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EFFICIENCY: Energy efficiency provisions and dynamic-pricing models in Illinois’ new energy bill will particularly help low-income families. (Midwest Energy News)
MINNESOTA: As Republicans take control of both chambers in the Minnesota legislature, solar and electric vehicle policies will likely still be part of the conversation, though advocates say there may be little room for climate progress. (Midwest Energy News, Minnesota Public Radio)
WIND: Researchers at Iowa State University find slight weather differences upwind and downwind of wind turbines. (Radio Iowa)
COAL: Though several coal plants are planned to close across the Midwest in the coming years, whether they will be needed to be kept online for reliability purposes remains a secret. (EnergyWire)
UTILITIES:
• A new report card gives a Madison, Wisconsin, utility a D+ across six categories, including customer satisfaction and pursuing renewable energy. (Isthmus)
• The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is considering forming a tribal utilities commission to govern infrastructure projects on its land. (Bismarck Tribune)
SOLAR:
• Grid operator MISO incorporates the first solar project — a 100 megawatt installation outside of Minneapolis — into its wholesale market. (RTO Insider)
• A new mixed-income, solar-powered housing community is being planned in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (MLive)
• After its first year, a solar project at the University of Illinois is meeting its generation targets. (Champaign News-Gazette)
NUCLEAR:
• Four companies have been selected to test sites for storing nuclear waste far below ground in South Dakota, Texas and New Mexico. (Associated Press)
• A new report shows the U.S. nuclear industry is “making good on its ambitious effort to become more efficient and see nuclear power plants better valued financially as part of America’s critical infrastructure.” (Transmission & Distribution World)
PIPELINES: A lawsuit from two Sioux tribes looking to block the Dakota Access pipeline is put on hold as a separate court battle is settled. (Associated Press)
CLEAN TECH: Uncertainty hangs over the U.S. Department of Energy as officials remark on the clean tech innovation it led over the past eight years and where it is headed. (Washington Post)
OIL AND GAS: Four oil and gas drillers pay $1.7 million for leasing rights in part of Ohio’s only national forest. (Columbus Business First)
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GRID: Work is complete on a $50 million, 35.5-mile high-voltage transmission line that looks to improve grid reliability in northern Wisconsin. (Transmission & Distribution World)
COMMENTARY:
• Given where key Michigan lawmakers started out on clean energy policy two years ago, “things could have been much, much worse.” (Michigan Environmental Council)
• Gov. John Kasich has until Dec. 28 “to do the smart thing for his state’s economy and the well-being of Ohioans” and veto a plan to make clean energy standards voluntary for two years. (Natural Resources Defense Council)