Coffee roasting goes electric

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.

ELECTRIFICATION

• A Minneapolis coffee roaster is among just a handful of shops in the U.S. using a commercial-scale electric roaster, though a growing number of smaller roasters are going electric as an alternative to gas-powered models. (Canary Media)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Illinois’ largest utility, ComEd, deploys a handful of community leaders to help raise EV awareness among Chicago residents and businesses and reach a target of 1 million EVs on the road by 2030. (Canary Media)

• Rivian sues the state of Ohio, claiming its law barring all automakers except Tesla from selling directly to consumers is unconstitutional. (Columbus Dispatch)

CLEAN ENERGY

• Michigan’s two large investor-owned utilities are in talks with data centers that could significantly increase their demand load, raising concerns among advocates that it would derail the state’s clean energy targets and shift costs to residents. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR

• A Minnesota appeals court upholds a decision allowing Xcel Energy to retroactively reduce the rate community solar subscribers are compensated, a move that school districts and other entities have said could cost them millions. (Minnesota Reformer)

• A southeastern Iowa county enacts a year-long moratorium on utility-scale solar and storage projects to take time to craft local zoning regulations. (Southeast Iowa Union)

STORAGE

• Adding about 11 GW of batteries in the MISO grid region could save the system about $27 billion in costs by 2035, the American Clean Power Association finds. (Utility Dive)

• Consumers Energy plans to bring online two battery storage systems totaling 75 MW in eastern Michigan next year to help manage peak demand. (Power Engineering)

OIL & GAS

• An Ohio law that required a state agency to increase spending on plugging orphan oil and gas wells led to an uptick in activity, with 1,200 wells plugged in the last five years. (Ohio Capital Journal)

OVERSIGHT

• Some members of Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s own party criticize her latest appointee to the state’s utility oversight board. (Detroit News)

COAL

• Environmental groups claim AES Indiana continues to pump contaminants into a river near a coal ash containment site in violation of federal law. (Indianapolis Star)

UTILITIES

• A longtime ComEd lobbyist is sentenced to a year in prison for his role in a bribery scheme that involved providing jobs for associates of Illinois’ former House speaker in exchange for favorable legislation. (Capitol News Illinois)

WIND

• Minnesota Power plans to start construction next year on a 200 MW wind project in central North Dakota. (Inforum)

BIOGAS

• A Minnesota landfill is working on a $100 million project to process 75,000 tons of food waste and other organic material a year to help meet the state’s clean energy goals. (WCCO)

CLIMATE

• The Trump administration has canceled or plans to cancel about $75 million in grants and loans for Wisconsin climate projects through executive orders and the One Big Beautiful Bill. (Wisconsin Examiner)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• This Massachusetts town banned gas — and housing boomed anyway — Sarah Shemkus

• Used EV batteries could upend the race for long-duration storage — Julian Spector