ComEd launching rate program to shave peak demand

GRID

• ComEd prepares to roll out a voluntary time-of-use program, when customers pay steeper prices during high demand periods and significantly less overnight, after a four-year pilot saved participants money and reduced peak demand. (Canary Media)

• A PJM official raises concerns that spiking demand from data centers, including in Ohio, could cause supply shortages in the coming years without more thermal and renewable energy sources coming online soon. (Ohio Newsroom)

SOLAR

• Solar companies Suniva and Heliene reach an agreement with chipmaker Corning to domestically produce solar modules made with various U.S.-made components, including polysilicon produced at a sprawling facility in Michigan. (Manufacturing Dive)

• Illinois nearly doubled the amount of solar in operation across the state last year with 2.5 GW added to the grid, an amount that trailed only Texas, California and Florida. (Chicago Tribune)

• Construction is expected to start soon on a 150 MW southern Illinois solar project that was approved in 2023 but still faces pushback from some neighbors. (FOX 2)

• A developer secures $509 million in financing for two large-scale Missouri projects totaling 430 MW of capacity. (PV Magazine)

CLIMATE

• Minneapolis will open a plant this summer that converts Xcel Energy’s wood waste into biochar, which locks in carbon dioxide that would have otherwise been emitted and can be reused for a variety of applications. (WCCO)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Microsoft says it’s open to deploying natural gas with carbon capture technology to power the company’s rising electricity needs for data centers. (CNBC)

PIPELINES

• A former Greenpeace employee tells jurors that he and the organization backed nonviolent approaches during the Dakota Access pipeline protests in 2016 as the pipeline operator claims the nonprofit encouraged protesters to cause millions of dollars in damage. (North Dakota Monitor)

BIOFUELS

• A Nebraska Congress member is increasingly confident that lawmakers will lift seasonal restrictions on higher blends of ethanol as they build an alliance with oil interests over shared worries about electric vehicles. (E&E News)

TARIFFS

• The premier of Ontario, Canada, says he apologized to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for retaliating with 25% tariffs on electricity exports into the U.S., which were then suspended on Tuesday. (UpNorthLive)

COMMENTARY

• Illinois’ congressional delegation must work to protect clean energy investments under the Inflation Reduction Act and work across the aisle on permitting reforms this year, a writer and climate advocate says. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• A Missouri bill allowing utilities to charge customers for power plants that haven’t been built undermines opportunities to create more competition among power companies to keep rates stable, a former utility regulator writes. (Missouri Independent)