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Funding certainty for Minnesota solar installers

By Andy Balaskovitz

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SOLAR: Minnesota lawmakers extend funding for a solar rebate program through 2035, giving installers more certainty for investing in longer-term marketing and outreach, including for low-income communities. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:

  • A Minnesota sheep farm begins contracting with solar developers to provide grazing services at project sites, which company owners say is mutually beneficial. (MPR News)
  • Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announces a $30 million clean energy job training program that aims to create 1,000 solar jobs in low-income communities over the next three years. (CBS Chicago)
  • An Iowa biofuels plant expects to cut its electricity use in half with an onsite solar installation. (Brownfield Ag)
  • An Ohio manufacturer of thin-film solar panel material will cease operations and research and development immediately after a series of legal disputes involving its technology. (Solar Power World)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

  • A free electric bus provided to a small, rural Nebraska school district becomes a flashpoint for a community resistant to the clean energy transition. (New York Times)
  • A Michigan panel rescinds more than $600 million in incentives previously awarded to a Ford battery manufacturing plant after the company downsized the project. (Bridge)
  • The U.S. Department of Energy offers a $1.2 billion conditional loan to a company building an Indiana factory that provides crucial components for EV batteries. (Reuters)

PIPELINES: A federal judge rejects Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s request to dismiss a case Enbridge brought against the state’s attempt to terminate an easement for Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. (Michigan Advance)

CARBON CAPTURE: North Dakota officials push for carbon capture and storage to be included as an eligible technology under Minnesota’s carbon-free power standard, which they contend may be unconstitutional. (E&E News, subscription)

TRANSPORTATION: Illinois may soon follow Minnesota in enacting a fee on retail deliveries from services like Amazon as a way to generate transportation revenue when vehicles become more efficient and electrified. (Stateline)

NUCLEAR: Federal nuclear regulators seek public input on plans to restart a shuttered nuclear plant in southwestern Michigan. (MLive)

UTILITIES:

  • The fate of four people convicted in a bribery conspiracy involving ComEd and top Illinois lawmakers will remain unclear as a judge weighs the effect of a recent Supreme Court decision. (Sun-Times)
  • Illinois consumer advocates raise concerns about gas utility Peoples Gas using ratepayer for revenue for outside attorneys fees and club memberships. (ABC 7)

CLIMATE: At an event in western Michigan, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announces $120 million in new federal funding to help tribes combat problems linked to climate change. (WOOD-TV)

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