Billions for Midwest nuclear plants

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.

NUCLEAR

• Google will pay for $4.3 billion in nuclear plant upgrades that will boost output at Constellation Energy facilities in three states, including 450 MW at four plants in Illinois, under a long-term power purchase agreement. (Utility Dive, Crain’s Chicago)

• The Perry and Davis-Besse nuclear plants in Ohio will expand their existing capacity by 293 MW total as part of a $4.2 billion conditional loan approved by the U.S. Department of Energy for Vistra. (Utility Dive)

GRID

• MISO’s proposal to speed up its long-delayed interconnection queue, which has about 71 GW of projects, receives widespread support from renewable energy developers and state regulators. (Utility Dive)

• The need to modernize Nebraska’s electric grid to help meet rising demand from data centers and other large users could clash with residents who are already paying for higher electric costs. (Nebraska Public Media)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Minnkota Power Cooperative plans to build a roughly $1 billion natural gas plant in North Dakota to take advantage of a new gas pipeline from the Bakken region to the eastern part of the state. (North Dakota Monitor)

• A news analysis finds natural gas has largely backfilled the generation capacity lost in Ohio after thousands of megawatts of coal-fired power shut down over the past decade. (Cleveland.com)

SOLAR

• Clearway Energy Group starts construction on a 650 MW solar project on portions of a former strip mine in Missouri. (Solar Power World)

PIPELINES

• Enbridge breached a northern Wisconsin aquifer while constructing a reroute for Line 5 and was pumping excess water into tanker trucks, weeks after the company reported a leak of natural gas liquids for the same reroute project. (Northern News Now)

UTILITIES

• The city council in Ann Arbor, Michigan, votes 10-1 authorizing the city attorney to challenge the legality of a local ballot proposal to create a municipal utility. (MLive)

DATA CENTERS

• Leaders with the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska begin crafting policies to protect natural resources before a hyperscale data center developer potentially pursues tribal land for a project. (Nebraska Public Media)

• Ohio utilities are planning for a major influx in power demand from data centers by investing in infrastructure, though those costs could be passed on to ratepayers if proposals fail to materialize. (Cleveland.com)

OVERSIGHT

• Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds appoints a former GOP state representative to a vacant seat on the state Utilities Commission, which has faced increasing public attention in recent years as it has considered carbon pipeline proposals. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)