Meta’s low-carbon cement investment in Missouri

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.

DECARBONIZATION

• Meta signs a deal to help startup Fortera build its first commercial low-carbon cement plant that will be located in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, and produce 200,000 tons of cement for which Meta would buy environmental attribute certificates. (Canary Media)

ELECTION

• Ballot proposals in Michigan to ban utility political campaign contributions statewide, as well as a local measure to create a municipal utility in Ann Arbor, are among top ballot proposals nationwide with potential clean energy implications. (Canary Media)

RENEWABLES

• Xcel Energy plans to build 9.2 GW of renewable energy and 2.3 GW of energy storage as part of a five-year, $70 billion capital plan. (Utility Dive)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Alliant Energy receives a $5.1 billion federal loan to invest in new gas plants, pipelines, and battery storage in Iowa and Wisconsin, as Iowa’s second-most populous county fights the utility’s plan for a 720-MW gas plant there. (Iowa Public Radio)

DATA CENTERS

• A northeastern Minnesota city council approves Google’s plans for a 1.7 million-square-foot data center outside Duluth that brought strong public opposition. (MPR News)
• Alliant Energy expects to sign 1 GW of power supply contracts with data centers of varying sizes over the next six months, adding to 3.4 GW of existing contracted data center demand. (Data Center Dynamics)

STORAGE

• A $5.9 million, 1-MW University of Minnesota pilot project will test the commercial viability of long-duration zinc grid storage batteries. (Star Tribune)
• Central Indiana township planners recommend rejecting a rezoning for Jupiter Power’s pair of proposed grid storage batteries following concerns over size and fire risks. (Indiana Public Radio)
• Southeastern Michigan township officials approve a technology company’s battery storage facility that will test microgrids for future use by data centers and other applications. (MLive)

GEOTHERMAL

• Drilling gets started for a 20-story geothermal-powered affordable housing project in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (WXYZ)

UTILITIES

• Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) directs state utility regulators to fast-track rate-reducing proposals after two utilities recently filed plans for customer bill reductions from data center development. (WISH) 

SOLAR

• Minnesota regulators decline to reconsider a dispute between a farm and its electric co-op over the price of excess solar power sent back to the grid. (West Central Tribune) 

COMMENTARY

• Minnesota regulators show how states can curb utilities’ large gas-plant investments to prepare for data center projections that may not happen and potentially burden ratepayers, clean energy advocates write. (Utility Dive)