SOLAR: Nonprofit institutions across Wisconsin are taking advantage of third-party financing to help pay for solar energy installations, despite the lack of a clear statewide policy on the issue. (Midwest Energy News)

ALSO:
• A southern Michigan community moves forward with plans for a solar project near the site of a former foundry. (WTVB)
• A $2 million estate for sale in western Michigan is equipped with a solar installation that supplies most of the home’s electric needs. (MLive)

RENEWABLES: Republican Midwest governors are among GOP leaders nationwide that are embracing renewable energy from an economic development perspective. (E&E News)

MINNESOTA: With targeted investment in companies and policies focused on improving energy efficiency, Minnesota’s energy sector could grow to support 26,000 jobs a year, according to a new report. (Midwest Energy News)

RATES: An increase in AEP Ohio’s renewable energy surcharge is bringing scrutiny to a broader set of riders that appear on customer bills. (Columbus Dispatch)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Advocates tout the benefits of — and potential funding opportunity for — electric school buses at stops in Michigan and Ohio. (MLive, Columbus Dispatch)

WIND: An elementary school in Illinois removes a wind turbine from its property after a series of problems since it was installed five years ago. (WREX)

BIOFUELS: An Illinois researcher’s recent findings that corn would be better grown for food than ethanol stirs controversy among farmers and industry groups. (Champaign News-Gazette)

OIL AND GAS:
• After an eight-week moratorium on industrial water permits, North Dakota officials allow the oil industry to draw water from the Little Missouri River for hydraulic fracturing. (Bismarck Tribune)
• North Dakota’s economy is slowly rebounding after avoiding a complete bust during the oil industry’s downturn. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

PIPELINES: The additional environmental review of the Dakota Access pipeline will focus on the project’s impact on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. (Associated Press)

EFFICIENCY: U.S. Department of Energy researchers find that maximizing electricity-use controls in commercial buildings could cut energy usage 4 to 5 percent nationwide. (Phys.org)

COMMENTARY:
• The president of a major hotel on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan calls on state officials and Enbridge to find an alternative route to the company’s Line 5 pipeline. (Detroit Free Press)
• An Ohio editorial board says the “pieces have aligned at the Statehouse to make the needed correction” to restrictive wind turbine setback requirements. (Akron Beacon Journal)

Andy compiles the Midwest Energy News digest and was a journalism fellow for Midwest Energy News from 2014-2020. He is managing editor of MiBiz in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was formerly a reporter and editor at City Pulse, Lansing’s alternative newsweekly.

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