How grid operators back Trump’s coal rescue

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

COAL

• The Trump administration’s latest push to keep retiring coal plants, including in Michigan, online longer has been bolstered by grid operators that say existing generation is the easiest path to meet demand growth. (Inside Climate News)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Environmental groups and oil and gas producers raise concerns over Ohio bills that would give the state oversight over carbon sequestration wells and potentially speed up development. (Athens Independent)

• Illinois lawmakers send a bill to Gov. J.B. Pritzker that would require the state to pay landowners if their property is disturbed by carbon capture projects. (WAND)

HYDROELECTRIC

• Consumers Energy is in negotiations to sell its fleet of 13 hydroelectric dams across Michigan that it says have become too costly to operate. (MLive)

• A state-backed demonstration project will test the viability of micro-hydroelectric cycling systems on a river in Rockford, Illinois. (Rock River Current)

NUCLEAR

• Holtec International plans to use lessons learned from deploying small modular reactors at the decommissioned Palisades nuclear plant in southwestern Michigan to duplicate efforts across the country. (Reuters)

• A Nuclear Regulatory Commission report details how a 2023 incident at an Illinois nuclear plant caused workers to be exposed to radioactive coolant, and discusses employees’ attempt to cover up the incident. (KWQC)

• Wisconsin lawmakers advance legislation to perform a nuclear siting study within two years after the bill is signed into law. (Center Square)

GRID

• Analysts say requiring data center operators to secure new generation for their projects could help avoid overwhelming PJM’s grid and balance market conditions. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR

• Iowa State University researchers are one year into a study to determine whether varying solar panel heights affect crop production on agrivoltaic projects. (PV Magazine)

OIL & GAS

• An Ohio proposal would slash the state’s parks and recreation budget over the next two years and have the gaps backfilled by revenue from hydraulic fracturing royalties on public land. (WOSU)

COMMENTARY

• A fifth-generation Iowa corn grower says Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds can uphold her legacy by signing a bill that restricts the use of eminent domain for carbon pipelines. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

• Michigan ratepayers will likely pay for the higher maintenance and fuel costs associated with keeping a large coal plant online past its planned retirement, clean energy analysts write. (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Analysts say the Trump administration’s industrial decarbonization funding cuts will cost it the chance to produce cleaner and cheaper materials in the U.S., and will in turn cede jobs overseas, Alexander C. Kaufman reports.

• California curtailed 3,400 GWh of solar power this year, showing the state has the capacity to increase demand via electrification or could build out transmission lines to send that power elsewhere, Dan McCarthy reports.