CLEAN ENERGY: Lima, Ohio — a city long tied to fossil fuel development — joins a statewide coalition that helps connect local governments with resources to facilitate clean energy projects. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: Customer and investor demand for renewable energy, along with falling prices, have been key drivers of Wisconsin’s clean energy transition, utility executives say. (Green Bay Press Gazette)
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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A nonprofit car-sharing program will launch this spring to expand access to electric vehicles and charging infrastructure in Minneapolis and St. Paul low-income neighborhoods. (Sahan Journal)
SOLAR:
• A bipartisan group of Michigan lawmakers reintroduce legislation backed by clean energy advocates that would eliminate caps on utility distributed generation programs. (MiBiz)
• Residential solar is gaining attention in a northwestern Indiana city, prompting local officials to reconsider zoning regulations for small-scale projects. (Times of Northwest Indiana)
COAL: Multiple bills to support North Dakota’s coal industry gain traction with lawmakers ahead of the planned closure of the Coal Creek plant next year. (Minot Daily News)
MICROGRIDS: Officials in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, push for the creation of microgrids as a secondary power source in Cleveland to help boost reliability. (Cleveland.com)
POLICY: Multiple bills have surfaced in Ohio to address the state’s controversial power plant subsidy law, ranging from partial repeal to completely revoking HB 6. (WOSU)
BIOFUELS: The U.S. EPA reverses course and will support the ethanol industry in a lawsuit over biofuel waivers granted to oil refineries during the Trump administration. (Associated Press)
OIL & GAS:
• Indiana, Iowa and Kansas are among a dozen states this year pursuing legislation that would preempt local governments from adopting natural gas bans. (NPR)
• Minnesota residents could see heating bills spike as natural gas demand surged during last week’s cold weather in southern and Great Plains states. (Star Tribune)
BIOGAS: Developers plan to build a renewable natural gas plant next year at a Wisconsin landfill to replace a combined heat and power facility. (Appleton Post-Crescent)
PIPELINES:
• Resolving an early disagreement over the Keystone XL pipeline will likely be a priority as President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hold their first bilateral meeting. (Reuters)
• The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa asks pipeline protesters who are not band members to respect the tribe’s sovereignty after concerns over a potential explosive device related to Line 3. (Star Tribune)
STORAGE: A North Dakota solar installer says increased focus should be on energy storage to bolster the grid during extreme weather events. (Prairie Public Radio)
NUCLEAR: All six Exelon nuclear plants in Illinois operated at nearly full capacity last week as cold weather gripped much of the U.S. (Clinton Herald)
GRID: Ameren Illinois begins work on a $2.7 million substation expansion project to help improve reliability and bring service to new customers in southeastern Illinois. (WTWO)
TRANSPORTATION: North Dakota lawmakers advance a bill to raise the state’s gasoline tax by 3 cents to pay for infrastructure improvements. (Bismarck Tribune)
COMMENTARY:
• Nebraska’s grid would benefit from more clean energy investments to improve reliability during extreme weather events, says a solar developer and former University of Nebraska regent. (Omaha World-Herald)
• Minnesota’s state government needs to set a “coordinated, well-supported, statewide climate adaptation effort,” writes a former state lawmaker. (MinnPost)