North Dakota sours on wind

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.

WIND

• Wind energy development has fallen out of favor in North Dakota, as residents grow tired with the presence of turbines in rural areas despite decades of economic benefits from the industry. (Canary Media)

SOLAR

• The Obama Presidential Center will serve as an anchor tenant for several nearby community solar projects — a move that executives hope will spur residents to join the programs and reduce their energy costs. (Canary Media)

NUCLEAR

• Realta Fusion and Madison Gas and Electric plan to build a 200 MW nuclear fusion plant in Wisconsin by the 2030s, but will first construct prototype devices to commercialize the technology. (Wisconsin State Journal)

PIPELINES

• Enbridge will temporarily stop construction on a Line 5 reroute project in northern Wisconsin after 31,000 barrels of natural gas liquid leaked when the pipeline was struck by an unoccupied vehicle. (Wisconsin Public Radio)

GRID

• Watchdog groups warn that prolonged outages in Gary, Indiana, last month that lasted up to two weeks should serve as a warning to utilities to prioritize grid upgrades over profits. (Chicago Sun-Times)

• MISO proposes a set of requirements that large load customers, like data centers, must meet to support reliability planning and understand risks. (Utility Dive)

• Indiana lawmakers may launch their own investigation into NIPSCO and pursue legislation in 2027 in response to prolonged outages in Gary last month. (Indiana Public Media)

DATA CENTERS

• A Democrat running for a seat on South Dakota’s Public Utilities Commission calls for a one-year moratorium on new AI data centers, while his Republican opponent calls the move ​“reckless and pandering,” arguing state regulations are sufficient. (South Dakota Searchlight)

UTILITIES

• Electric bills are rising in Minnesota during an unusually hot summer, while customers’ rates are also increasing as utilities invest to modernize the power grid. (MPR News)

HYDROELECTRIC

• Dry conditions and low snowpack are lowering water levels in Nebraska reservoirs, limiting hydroelectric power production and irrigation. (Nebraska Public Media)

• Michigan regulators weigh varying viewpoints — from residents and businesses looking to keep reservoirs from being decommissioned to state officials’ public safety concerns — on Consumers Energy’s proposed sale of 13 hydroelectric dams to a private equity firm. (Michigan Advance)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Meet the super PAC working to crush clean energy’s political foes — Julian Spector

• Fervo and Google sign world’s largest deal for next-gen geothermal power — Maria Gallucci

• California declines to fund its biggest virtual power plant — Jeff St. John

• The US built more grid batteries last quarter than ever before — Julian Spector

• Trump’s $4B in offshore wind buyouts spur legal blowback from states — Maria Gallucci