SOLAR: Rooftop solar could meet up to two-thirds of Wisconsin’s electricity needs, according to a new study, though less than 2% of that potential is likely to be installed under current market conditions. (Wisconsin State Journal)

ALSO: DTE Energy starts construction on a 20 MW solar project in southeastern Michigan that will be the utility’s first community-based model to which customers can subscribe. (Daily Energy Insider)

EFFICIENCY:
• Energy efficiency advocates in St. Louis and Kansas City establish resource centers to help building owners upgrade properties amid more stringent energy efficiency policies. (Energy News Network)
• City officials in Kalamazoo, Michigan, explore a partnership with Consumers Energy on an energy benchmarking program that’s meant to reduce electricity usage in large buildings. (MLive)

POLICY: Solar energy subscriptions and electric vehicle rebates are among ways that Illinois utility customers can save money under the state’s new sweeping clean energy law. (Chicago Tribune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• General Motors tells investors that it plans to rapidly scale up electric vehicle production as part of a plan to double revenues to $280 billion by 2030. (Detroit News)
• GM and General Electric agree to develop a supply chain of rare early materials that help make electric vehicles and renewable energy components. (Associated Press)
• A Cleveland-based startup is developing an electric motorcycle that company officials expect to be in demand as local clean energy targets expand. (WOIO)
• The first two electric buses in Columbus, Ohio’s regional transit authority fleet will be in use next week. (Axios)

COAL: Springfield, Illinois’ municipal utility will permanently retire and decommission one of its coal-fired units two years ahead of schedule following a new estimate on what it would cost to get it running again. (State Journal-Register)

CLEAN ENERGY: Residents in Naperville, Illinois, raise concerns about the city’s reliance on coal power through a contract with a municipal power agency and encourage local officials to set clean energy goals. (Daily Herald)

UTILITIES: Top Illinois lawmakers want to hold public hearings with natural gas utilities over anticipated natural gas price spikes that could increase customer bills by up to 50% this winter. (FOX 32)

GRID: Grid operator PJM and Exelon call on federal energy regulators to reconsider new rules that critics say unfairly limit power plant owners’ ability to make capacity market bids that fully reflect financial risks. (Utility Dive)

PIPELINES: A Kinder Morgan subsidiary plans to build a 2.9-mile, $5.4 million pipeline to connect to the Dakota Access pipeline and reach “various mid-continent markets.” (Bismarck Tribune)

COMMENTARY:
• A new climate change research center at the University of Minnesota can “spotlight ways in which our region might be able to help the wider effort to avert the worst of the crisis,” an editorial board says. (Star Tribune)
• Clean energy advocates say energy efficiency is the “unsung hero” of Illinois’ new sweeping clean energy law that will be a “critical tool for under-resourced communities and communities of color.” (Natural Resources Defense Council)

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.