Michigan utilities, regulators push back on summer grid outage concerns

GRID: Executives at Michigan’s two largest utilities as well as the state’s top energy regulator continue to push back against grid operator MISO’s warnings about increased risk of rolling blackouts this summer, saying they do not expect widespread outages during high demand periods. (Detroit Free Press)

PIPELINES:
• A developer seeks to repurpose 392 miles of abandoned gas pipeline to carry carbon dioxide from potential sources in Nebraska and Kansas. (S&P Global)
• A group of South Dakota landowners asks state regulators to deny a developer’s request for an application extension involving a proposed carbon capture pipeline. (Aberdeen News)

COAL: A former Illinois coal plant will receive $40.7 million over 10 years to help transition the site to a battery storage facility under a state coal-to-solar program. (WSIL)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Ford’s CEO expects more consolidation among automakers and suppliers as the transition to electric vehicles requires large capital investments. (CNBC)
• U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst test drives a concept electric RV while visiting a career vocational center in Iowa. (Globe Gazette)
• Bipartisan support grows to add hundreds of millions of dollars to a Michigan economic development fund that has already helped lure major electric vehicle battery manufacturing sites. (Bridge Michigan)
• Racine, Wisconsin officials clarify that money used to buy electric buses came from Volkswagen settlement funds and couldn’t have been used to hire more police officers. (Journal Times)

CLIMATE: Climate change is disproportionately impacting redlined neighborhoods in Kansas City where industrial centers and highways were developed in communities of color. (KCUR)

TRANSMISSION: Minnesota and Iowa agencies support a complaint led by Alliant Energy that asks federal regulators to reduce transmission-related costs that are passed on to customers. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR:
• A southern Illinois city will install solar panels for its wastewater treatment plant later this year at no upfront cost. (Southern Illinoisan)
• A southeastern Nebraska county extends a moratorium on commercial solar projects indefinitely as local officials craft siting regulations. (News Channel Nebraska)

WIND: The South Dakota Supreme Court rules in favor of a wind developer and a landowner whose father, who is opposed to the wind development, claimed he had the first right to buy back the property. (Press & Dakotan)

UTILITIES:
• Consumer advocates rally outside of Ameren’s offices in Springfield, Illinois, calling for relief from rising electricity prices. (WGEM)
• The CEO of Michigan utility Consumers Energy discusses the utility’s long-term clean energy plan that’s being driven in part by corporate and customer demand. (Crain’s Detroit Business)