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Cities get creative with utilities to add solar

By Andy Balaskovitz

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SOLAR: Cities in Michigan and Wisconsin are contracting with large utilities to provide solar power after encountering financial and logistical challenges with building rooftop solar installations. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:

  • A developer announces plans to build a 350 MW portfolio of distributed solar projects in Illinois and New York. (PV Magazine)
  • Advocates from more than 30 clean energy groups call on Michigan lawmakers to pass community solar bills that continue to face opposition from large utilities. (The Gander)
  • A Wisconsin school district expects to complete construction next year on a solar-plus-storage microgrid that would be the largest in the state and save about $190,000 a year in energy costs. (PV Magazine)

GRID:

  • South Dakota regulators brace for the potential grid implications of a series of hyperscale data centers as utilities emphasize a need for coal and gas to maintain reliability. (South Dakota Searchlight)
  • Clean energy groups say PJM’s proposal to rush fossil fuel generation projects through the interconnection queue to maintain reliability could jeopardize state-level clean energy targets. (Inside Climate News)

OIL & GAS: Nearly all of the 600 public comments sent to Ohio regulators in response to proposals to open a state park and two wildlife preservation areas to hydraulic fracturing oppose the plans. (Cleveland.com)

COAL: The Sierra Club criticizes Wisconsin utilities’ plan to keep open a coal plant for three years longer than previously planned, saying that it delays the clean energy transition and exposes residents to more harmful pollutants. (Wisconsin Examiner)

TRANSPORTATION: A majority of the recipients of a new Minnesota electric bike tax rebate went to residents making more than $100,000 a year while less than 40% of the rebates went to low-income residents. (Minnesota Reformer)

BATTERIES: A developer breaks ground on a $110 million mixed-use housing and hotel project that would connect to a nearby $7.5 billion central Indiana battery manufacturing plant. (Indianapolis Business Journal, subscription)

POLITICS: Establishing a fee for Minneapolis’ largest carbon emitters was one of multiple policies that the city’s mayor unsuccessfully attempted to veto in a disagreement with the more left-leaning city council. (MPR News)

COMMENTARY:

  • Minnesota consumer advocates and rural electric utilities call on state lawmakers to expand a statewide utility assistance program to benefit ratepayers year round. (Star Tribune)
  • Michigan regulators should do all they can to facilitate construction on new high-voltage transmission projects to support economic growth, says the head of a conservative clean energy group. (State Journal)

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