Ford’s ​‘Model T moment’

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.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Ford’s $5 billion investment in its Universal EV Platform that will produce an affordable EV and underpin future models started with an engineering team in California that the automaker says will benefit workers across its U.S. footprint. (Detroit News, CNN)

• Gotion will start producing EV batteries next month in Illinois as part of a $2 billion project announced two years ago. (Crain’s)

UTILITIES

• Minnesota clean energy and environmental groups are divided over a private equity company’s proposed acquisition of the state’s second-largest utility — a deal some advocates say could provide capital to transition from fossil fuels. (E&E News)

CLIMATE

• Illinois researchers launch a first-of-its-kind study on how climate change is affecting hail, an ​“underappreciated peril” that causes millions of dollars in losses annually. (Inside Climate News)

PIPELINES

• Testimony begins in the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s case in Wisconsin seeking to stop Enbridge’s planned extension of Line 5. (Wisconsin Examiner)

STORAGE

• An energy storage developer eyes property in western Michigan for a four-hour, 100 MW project that could be the company’s first of several projects in the state. (MLive)

NUCLEAR

• Indiana Gov. Mike Braun says small modular nuclear reactors can be the key in driving data center development in the state. (WANE)

WIND

• The head of the American Clean Power Association questions whether Iowa’s success in growing its wind industry over the past 20 years could stall under the Trump administration’s successful effort to end clean energy tax credits. (Radio Iowa)

GRID

• Michigan’s two large investor-owned utilities say they have signed or are in advanced talks of signing deals to supply hyperscale data centers as advocates worry about the potential grid strain and reliance on fossil fuels. (MLive)

SOLAR

• Michigan had awarded just $14 million of its $156.1 million in federal Solar for All funding, including for projects in the state’s Upper Peninsula, before the Trump administration announced the cancellation of the program. (Bridge, WBUP)

EFFICIENCY

• Developers are divided over a newly adopted climate action plan in Michigan’s second-largest city, as critics worry the plan could lead to more energy-efficient building requirements while supporters call it a key step in lowering emissions. (Crain’s)

BIOGAS

• CenterPoint Energy signs an agreement to buy renewable natural gas produced from food, yard, and farm waste produced in Minneapolis and surrounding areas. (MPR News)

COAL

• State and local officials join environmental activists in calling on the Trump administration to allow plans to close a large western Michigan coal plant to proceed. (Michigan Advance)

COMMENTARY

• Jigar Shah, a clean energy investor and former director of the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office, backs the proposed sale of Minnesota Power to private investors for the potential to provide capital for next-generation technologies. (Utility Dive)

NEW FROM CANARY 

• Trump admin reopens $5B EV charging program after losses in court — Jeff St. John

• States look to unleash wind and solar boom while tax credits still exist — Maria Gallucci

• Trump’s push to mine deep-sea battery metals draws ire from allies — Clare Fieseler

• NYC utility tests portable home batteries to dull AC’s impact on the grid — Samantha Maldonado, THE CITY