Battery production comes onshore

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

BATTERIES

• LG Energy Solution opens a Michigan factory producing lithium ion phosphate-based batteries for grid-scale energy storage applications, onshoring battery production that had been mostly done in China. (Canary Media)

SOLAR

• A central Michigan solar project will be the first to go through a state-level permitting process under a new law after local officials refused to approve the project. (MLive)

• Indiana Evangelical churches increasingly install solar projects with a focus on reducing energy costs and following biblical mandates, but avoid talking about the politically charged topic of climate change. (Indianapolis Star)

• Nautilus Solar will relocate its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to downtown Chicago to tap into Illinois’ fast-growing market. (Chicago Sun-Times)

DATA CENTERS

• ComEd wants to significantly increase the refundable deposit required for data center developers looking to build projects in Illinois to discourage speculators from wasting the utility’s time and engineering resources on grid studies. (Crain’s Chicago)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• A federal judge orders the Trump administration to release billions of dollars for EV charging stations in 14 states, though it denied the release of funding for Minnesota, saying it lacked evidence that it faced irreparable, immediate harm. (Associated Press)

COAL

• The Trump administration is moving quickly to approve coal mining on about 800 acres of public land in North Dakota under a plan that would feed the state’s largest coal plant but faced resistance from the Biden administration. (E&E News)

• Environmental groups worry that the Trump administration’s order to temporarily keep a large Michigan coal plant online will be extended beyond the initial 90 days. (Bridge)

NUCLEAR

• Wisconsin lawmakers pass bills to establish a board that would organize a state summit on nuclear energy and to mandate a study on potential sites of new nuclear plants. (Wisconsin Public Radio)

WIND

• A Nebraska county zoning official will soon release findings on whether a proposed wind project in the state’s Sandhills region can move forward. (News Channel Nebraska)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Ohio’s largest business group joins city leaders and clean energy advocates to call on Congress to preserve federal clean energy tax credits that have created nearly 15,000 jobs and resulted in $10.6 billion in investment in Ohio alone. (Center Square)

OIL & GAS

• Iowa officials are investigating an oil spill into the West Nishnabotna River from a truck stop that had previous petroleum leaking incidents. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

NEW FROM CANARY

• New York legislators vote to repeal a decades-old rule that guaranteed building owners a free gas hookup if they were within 100 feet of a line, which advocates hope will incentivize home electrification, Alison F. Takemura reports.