Amazon’s $15 billion Indiana data center plan

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

DATA CENTERS

• Amazon plans to invest an additional $15 billion in data center capacity in northern Indiana, while utility NIPSCO plans to add 3 GW worth of new natural gas generation and battery storage. (Utility Dive)

• The deal will test NIPSCO’s strategy to create a separate entity that owns power plants for large energy users in an attempt to shield ratepayers from additional costs. (E&E News)

• Michigan’s Democratic attorney general raises concerns that state regulators will rubber stamp DTE Energy’s proposed power supply contracts involving a planned hyperscale data center. (Bridge)

• Missouri regulators approve Ameren Missouri’s proposed rates for data centers and other large power users that have backing from tech giants, environmental groups and consumer advocates. (St. Louis Public Radio)

COAL

• County officials outside Cincinnati, Ohio, raise concerns about potential drinking water contamination from coal ash storage at the site of a former large coal plant along the Ohio River. (WCPO)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Developer Geronimo Power plans to build a $4 billion data center in rural southwestern Minnesota that would be accompanied by three wind and battery projects as well as a solar and battery installation. (Star Tribune)

GRID

• Regions of the country with large numbers of data centers are at higher risk of outages during extreme weather events this winter, according to the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (Detroit Free Press)

• Wisconsin regulators approve rate increases for three of Wisconsin’s largest utilities that companies say are needed to pay for grid infrastructure upgrades and new power generation. (Wisconsin Public Radio)

• Missouri utilities file a patchwork of response plans for wildfires that threaten the state’s power grid as state regulators look to create a more unified approach. (Missouri Independent)

EMISSIONS

• A coke plant outside Detroit that heats coal in an oxygen-free environment to produce the raw material used in steelmaking is exempt from Biden-era pollution standards for two years under a new Trump administration order. (Planet Detroit)

UTILITIES

• President Trump’s recent denial of federal disaster aid for northern Michigan electric utilities in the wake of a devastating ice storm in March could cost residents tens of millions of dollars in grid repairs. (E&E News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Connecticut’s pioneering model for publicly owned, small-scale solar — Jeff St. John

• Small but mighty grid batteries take root in Virginia amid energy crunch — Elizabeth Ouzts

• T1 Energy is betting big on all-American solar, even under Trump — Julian Spector

• Aluminum giants hit major milestone with low-carbon production — Maria Gallucci