NOTE TO READERS: Midwest Energy News is taking a break for Independence Day. The email digest will return on Tuesday, July 5.
SOLAR: A Wisconsin appellate court allows a utility to scale back the size of a credit program for customers who generate their own solar energy. (Associated Press)
ALSO:
• A municipal utility in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula begins discussing changes to its solar rates for self-generating customers. (Marquette Mining Journal)
• An Indiana utility will bring four new solar projects online this year. (South Bend Tribune)
• A Wisconsin electric cooperative introduces sheep to its solar installation to manage vegetation. (WEAU-TV)
• Two Duke Energy solar projects come online in Indiana. (WTHI-TV)
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EFFICIENCY: A University of Chicago researcher discusses the vast energy efficiency potential through the sharing of energy-use data. (Midwest Energy News)
PIPELINES:
• Enbridge begins surveying for a twin pipeline along one of its existing routes in Wisconsin. (WiscNews)
• A federal appeals court rejects a challenge by the Sierra Club over an oil pipeline passing through northern Michigan. (Associated Press)
OIL AND GAS: A Nebraska judge overturns a state oil and gas commission’s decision to allow a company to dispose drilling wastewater in an abandoned well. (Scottsbluff Star Herald)
WIND:
• Bolstered by recent high-profile endorsements, developers of the Grain Belt Express submit a new application for approval of the transmission project with Missouri regulators. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• Xcel Energy is finding ways to tame the variability of wind generation. (Forbes)
• A wind developer continues to withhold data about one of its projects in Ohio. (WKSU)
MERGER: Westar Energy and Great Plains Energy detail plans for a $12.2 billion merger in a formal filing with Kansas regulators. (Topeka Capital-Journal)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Corporate executives in Columbus, Ohio, will be encouraged to drive electric vehicles as part of a federal “smart city” grant awarded to the city. (Columbus Business First)
GRID: Indiana regulators approve a settlement plan between Duke Energy and consumer advocates to modernize the utility’s grid. (Transmission & Distribution World)
POLITICS: Candidates in a U.S. Senate race in Ohio continue attacking each other’s record on coal. (Washington Examiner)
GASOLINE: More tanker trucks and Great Lakes shippers are expected to alleviate any potential gas shortages in Wisconsin caused by a shuttered pipeline. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
COMMENTARY: Utilities in Michigan and Kansas are showing a commitment to providing infrastructure for electric vehicles. (Natural Resources Defense Council)