MISO approves $10.3 billion grid expansion

GRID: Grid operator MISO approves a $10.3 billion grid expansion to help move clean energy throughout the Midwest, including 18 high-voltage transmission lines set to come online beginning in 2028. (E&E News)

ALSO:
• The MISO projects include three power lines worth $2.2 billion in Minnesota and 110 miles of new lines in Michigan. (Star Tribune, Detroit Free Press)
• State regulators order Ameren Illinois to study the costs and benefits of becoming a member of grid operator PJM rather than MISOMISO rather than PJM. (Utility Dive)
• Rolling grid blackouts are growing increasingly likely across the U.S., including in Detroit where some residents contend with multiple outages a year. (HuffPost)

OHIO: Court documents show former FirstEnergy CEO Chuck Jones told the utility’s executive council about a $4.3 million payment to former regulator Sam Randazzo in December 2018, nearly two years before it was publicly disclosed. (Energy and Policy Institute)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• The United Auto Workers’ president says union representation at large battery manufacturing plants is crucial for the organization’s future. (Associated Press)
• Indiana’s draft plan for siting electric vehicle charging stations through a federally funded program would include stations along all of the state’s interstate highways. (Indianapolis Star)

RENEWABLES: A Michigan startup is producing what it calls the world’s first renewable energy-powered nanogrid for natural disaster relief. (CNBC)

PIPELINES:
• Officials with St. Louis-based gas utility Spire appear optimistic that the company’s embattled STL Pipeline will survive regulatory reviews and prove to be needed. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• Tribal citizens maintain that Enbridge is ignoring treaty rights by continuing to operate the Line 5 pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. (Michigan Advance)
• Local officials look back on the 12-year anniversary of a major inland oil spill in Kalamazoo, Michigan. (FOX17)

WIND: A developer plans to apply this summer or fall for local permits for a 300 MW wind project in central Illinois. (News-Gazette)

CLEAN ENERGY: U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm visits a national research lab in Illinois that recently completed an $815 million upgrade to more closely study clean energy technologies. (Daily Herald)

BIOFUELS: An ethanol producer attempts to put more pressure on state officials to expand the use of E30 ethanol blends in non-flex fuel vehicles to save taxpayer money. (Watertown Public Opinion)

COMMENTARY: A Great River Energy official says insufficient focus has been placed on building local support for the Midwest’s needed transmission buildout. (Utility Dive)