Detroit’s untapped energy savings potential

EFFICIENCY: A growing number of Detroit commercial building owners adopt energy efficiency measures to reduce energy waste, costs and emissions, while experts see significant potential to do more across the city. (Energy News Network/​Planet Detroit)

OIL & GAS:
• Federal environmental officials respond to a spill of thousands of gallons of oil-like material into the Flint River in eastern Michigan. (MLive)
• North Dakota’s oil and gas production dropped 20% in April from the previous month, though state officials say rig counts are slowly increasing. (Minot Daily News)

GRID:
• Amid sweltering temperatures and widespread power outages, Ohio utilities ask customers to conserve energy and shut off power to some areas to prevent wider blackouts; state regulators are expected to meet with utility leaders this week to discuss how to prevent similar problems in the future. (WTOL, Columbus Dispatch, WBNS)
• Michigan utility officials and regulators say the state’s grid is ready for a coming heat wave, though climate change is expected to increase challenges on the system. (Bridge Michigan)
• A federal energy lab will study how climate change is likely to threaten power grid infrastructure, starting with ComEd’s system in Illinois. (E&E News)
• Grid operator PJM proposes a ​“first-ready, first-served” interconnection process meant to clear a backlog of pending generation projects. (Utility Dive)

COAL: County officials discuss next steps after an environmental group won a lawsuit that will require Duke Energy to amend its plan for cleaning up a southern Indiana coal ash pond. (Reporter-Times)

SOLAR:
• Central Indiana county officials reject a developer’s request for a land designation that would have opened the potential for tax incentives on a 1,600-acre solar project. (Journal Review)
• County officials in central Ohio approve a resolution giving townships authority to ban future commercial solar projects. (Union County Daily Digital)
• Alliant Energy is poised to be the largest owner and operator of solar generation in Wisconsin as regulators greenlight a 414 MW project. (PV Magazine)

CLIMATE: Wisconsin’s natural resources secretary says the state is paying close attention to climate change impacts that are already being felt across the state with warming temperatures and more precipitation. (Wisconsin Examiner)

NUCLEAR: The Beyond Nuclear campaign leads an effort urging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to abandon a strategy to reopen the shuttered Palisades nuclear plant in southwestern Michigan. (RTO Insider, subscription)

COMMENTARY: A Sierra Club representative says Iowa should ​“balance its electrical grid by adding more solar to its best-in-class wind energy” while reducing dependence on volatile fossil fuel prices. (Des Moines Register)