New app helps avoid grid bottlenecks

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.

SOLAR

• Startup software platform MeanderX helps solar developers determine how to avoid grid bottlenecks and interconnection delays in Illinois and seven other states. (Canary Media)

• The Ohio Supreme Court overturns a previously approved permit for a 6,000-acre solar farm because the developers failed to include project renderings in the application. (Signal Ohio)

• A 3-MW solar project that will soon start construction in Minnesota will be among the largest on tribal-owned land and is the latest effort to build sovereignty through clean energy projects. (MPR News)

• Two new rooftop solar and solar carport installations are now operating at the University of Michigan’s Ann Arbor campus. (MLive)

STORAGE

• Startup Antora has started booting up its massive new heat battery in South Dakota, where clean power is tapped to heat carbon blocks that provide steam for industrial processes or on-demand electricity. (Canary Media)

DATA CENTERS

• Indiana’s largest utilities are lining up contracts to serve several data center customers with a portfolio dominated by fossil gas and coal plants, along with a mix of energy storage and renewables, according to filings with state regulators. (Indianapolis Star)

GRID

• Competitive transmission projects are generally built faster and are less expensive than similar projects built by incumbent utilities in four U.S. grid areas, according to an analysis from a free market-oriented think tank. (Utility Dive)

• The report comes as Great Plains states and Illinois regulators push back on utility efforts to limit competition in transmission construction. (E&E News)

MINERALS

• The University of North Dakota seeks federal funding to support a $100 million rare earth minerals mining facility at a former coal mine. (North Dakota Monitor)

COAL

• Indiana utility NIPSCO estimates it has lost $11.5 million so far to keep two coal units online under federal orders, and will soon seek reimbursements from ratepayers. (Times of Northwest Indiana)

EMISSIONS

• Shifting to more perennial crops and reducing fertilizer use are among the major changes that Wisconsin’s agriculture sector will need to to make to reach statewide net-zero emissions targets, a clean energy group says. (Wisconsin Public Radio)

HYDROELECTRIC

• Consumers Energy’s proposal to sell 13 hydroelectric dams across Michigan raises concerns that hundreds of millions of dollars in dam liabilities will be turned over to a less accountable private equity owner. (Detroit Free Press)

NUCLEAR

• Minnesota lawmakers authorize $500,000 to commission a study examining options for building new nuclear plants to meet future energy demand. (MPR News)

COMMENTARY

• Illinois’ Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act that prioritizes fast-to-market solar and energy storage will help the state respond to increased demand better than others that are prioritizing new gas plants, a solar advocate writes. (Utility Dive)