Ohio considers slashing rooftop solar benefits

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

• Ohio regulators later this year will decide whether to keep the state’s net metering program intact or scale back incentives as requested by the state’s largest utility, AEP. (Canary Media)

• The Ohio Supreme Court has the power to decide the future of Ohio’s commercial solar development as it weighs arguments about whether projects serve the public interest. (Cleveland.com)

• Dutch solar panel manufacturer Solarge considers sites in northern Illinois and Kansas for its first U.S. facility to produce lightweight panels and employ 500 people. (Chicago Tribune)

• Three solar projects totaling 450 MW of new capacity are expected to come online in southern Michigan this year. (WTVB)

• Consumers Energy begins operating a 250 MW solar project at a wastewater treatment plant in western Michigan, marking the utility’s largest to date. (MLive)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Battery maker LG Energy Solution agrees to sell its stake in an Ohio EV battery plant to its joint venture partner Honda for $2.85 billion. (Utility Dive)

PIPELINES

• Iowa’s new Republican Senate Majority Leader plans to propose legislation allowing pipeline developers to amend planned and approved routes to enter into voluntary easements with landowners and avoid eminent domain — an attempt to overcome gridlock over carbon pipeline development. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

NUCLEAR

• Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds creates a nuclear energy task force to advise state leadership on opportunities with the industry as a planned plant restart moves forward. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

• Holtec delays its anticipated restart of a shuttered Michigan nuclear plant by about four months as critics point to the industry’s recent history of cost and time overruns. (E&E News)

STORAGE

• Rural western Michigan township officials vote to advance plans for a commercial battery storage project despite concerns from landowners. (Holland Sentinel)

OIL & GAS

• North Dakota oil and experts don’t expect developments in Venezuela to affect the state’s oil production in the near term, though it will take time to determine whether U.S. companies move to tap the country’s reserves. (Inforum)

UTILITIES

• A loophole in Michigan campaign finance law has allowed utilities to make financial contributions without requiring the donation to match the date that a campaign committee reports receiving it. (The Guardian)

• A new GOP-backed bill in Wisconsin seeks to shield ratepayers from rising utility bills while allowing the state to benefit economically from data centers. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

• Peoples Gas files a $202.3 million rate increase request with Illinois regulators to retire old gas infrastructure in Chicago, a proposal consumer advocates call an outrageous cash grab. (Capital News Illinois)

GRID

• Minnesota Power files plans for 67 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines in northern Minnesota that the utility says is needed to bolster reliability. (Northern News Now)

• ComEd has secured commitments from eight large power users that guarantee they will pay for billions of dollars in electricity over the next decade as the utility seeks to shield customers from large grid expansion costs. (Crain’s Chicago)

NEW FROM CANARY

• ‘Win by time’: How Poland is preparing for the death of coal — Alexander C. Kaufman

• 7 numbers that explain why the future of buildings is all-electric — Alison F. Takemura

• PJM needs flexible data centers. Here’s a blueprint. — Jeff St. John