Indiana aluminum recycler raises $45 million

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.

CLEAN TECH

• Indiana startup Sortera Technologies raises $45 million in growth capital to advance its technology that uses AI to find high-value alloys in scrap aluminum. (Canary Media)

COAL

• The Trump administration orders a Michigan coal plant to stay online for a third time, citing an energy emergency that regulators and grid operators dispute. (Canary Media)

• Michigan’s attorney general files a motion to halt the Energy Department’s order to keep the coal plant open, saying a new report shows the region has sufficient energy supplies this winter. (MLive)

OIL & GAS

• An Ohio environmental group sues a state agency, claiming it used outdated and less protective rules to approve permits for two wells that store hydraulic fracturing waste. (Cleveland.com)

STORAGE

• NextEra Energy is planning a 500 MW battery storage project along western Michigan that would make it the largest of its kind in the state. (Crain’s)

• NextEra is also pursuing North Dakota’s first battery storage project that would store excess wind production and is under consideration by state regulators. (North Dakota Monitor)

UTILITIES

• Ohio regulators issue a $250 million penalty against FirstEnergy for the utility’s role in the HB 6 power plant bailout and bribery scandal. (Ohio Capital Journal)

PIPELINES

• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration asks the U.S. Supreme Court to consider whether the state has immunity from lawsuits involving an order to revoke Enbridge’s Line 5 easement in the Straits of Mackinac. (Michigan Advance)

SOLAR

• The Ohio House passes a bill to create a framework for community solar projects that has faced opposition from utilities. (WTOL)

• Ohio regulators approve a 199 MW solar project with dozens of conditions aimed at protecting local agriculture and other landowner concerns. (WTOL)

GRID

• Environmental groups file separate lawsuits against federal regulators for approving MISO and Southwest Power Pool fast-track interconnection plans that they claim would give certain projects an unfair advantage and improperly add ratepayer costs. (Utility Dive)

• A PJM Interconnection board fails to reach agreement over an interconnection plan for data centers and other large load users as officials weigh resource adequacy and rising ratepayer costs. (Utility Dive)

DATA CENTERS

• Developers are publicly pursuing large data centers in at least 10 Michigan communities while others are in confidential negotiations to buy power from the state’s large utilities. (Bridge)

• A developer pulls out of plans for a northern Michigan data center that would have included an on-site gas plant with carbon capture capabilities, while a central Michigan town enacts a six-month data center moratorium after pushback over a $1 billion proposal. (MLive; WXYZ)

CLIMATE

• At least 22 Minnesota local and tribal governments have published climate action plans in the face of a growing number of costly climate events and as the Trump administration rolls back federal efforts. (Minnesota Reformer)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Electrify your home with our handy roundup before tax credits expire — Alison F. Takemura

• Chart: EVs are ascendant — and gas cars are past their prime — Dan McCarthy

• Brookfield inks hydro contract with Microsoft in latest Big Tech deal — Alexander C. Kaufman