Ohio couple sues over solar fees

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

• An Ohio couple sues the city of Bowling Green, claiming its municipal utility’s monthly charge to purportedly prevent cost shifting is an unlawful tax or penalty that will nearly double the payback period of their investment. (Canary Media)

BATTERIES

• The state of Michigan seeks to recover and cancel $175 million worth of incentives for Gotion’s $2.4 billion electric vehicle and energy storage battery plant, effectively killing the project. (Crain’s Detroit)

FOSSIL FUELS

• AES Indiana’s long-term energy plan would rely on more natural gas as a backup strategy if large-load data centers are built in its territory. (Indianapolis Star)

CARBON CAPTURE

• Google signs an agreement to buy power from a 400 MW Illinois gas plant that will capture 90% of the plant’s carbon emissions to support its data centers. (Data Center Dynamics)

DATA CENTERS

• OpenAI and Oracle will operate a massive $15 billion data center campus in Wisconsin under the Stargate program, which is drawing new opposition from landowners concerned about a transmission line to support the project. (Wisconsin Public Radio)

GRID

• PJM’s new fast-track interconnection process could bring a wave of new gas plants as well as 2.3 GW of new battery storage to help avoid the need for peaker plants. (Utility Dive)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Executives of major convenience store chains say their investments in EV charging stations are not paying off as charging activity plateaus. (C-Store Dive)

UTILITIES

• Missouri ratepayers brace for a spike in energy costs under a new state law that allows utilities to recoup electric infrastructure costs before projects are completed, along with provisions in the federal budget that would remove federal clean energy incentives. (Missouri Independent)

• Residents in a Columbus, Ohio, suburb will vote on a citizen-initiated charter amendment that would force the city to offer analog electric meters based on refuted claims that smart meters cause health issues and put their data at risk. (Columbus Dispatch)

COAL

• Coal’s share of North Dakota’s power mix is less than half compared to 25 years ago and is narrowly ahead of wind generation as a leading utility looks to diversify its portfolio. (KFYR)

WIND

• A local board recommends denying plans for a central North Dakota wind project as local officials and residents say they’re growing fatigued with turbines already in operation. (Bismarck Tribune)

PIPELINES

• A rural South Dakota couple sues Summit Carbon Solutions for surveying their property for a proposed carbon pipeline without their permission. (South Dakota Searchlight)

• An Iowa woman who was convicted of vandalizing the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016 and 2017 has been released from prison. (Radio Iowa)

CLIMATE

• Minnesota is updating its three-year-old climate action plan with new modeling for greenhouse gas scenarios while adding new goals around commercial and residential building emissions. (Duluth News Tribune)

• Republican attorneys general across the country urge President Trump to skip the COP30 climate summit in Brazil next month because of its anti-fossil fuel platform. (E&E News)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Trump claims ​‘wind mills’ kill whales but quietly torpedoes the science — Clare Fieseler

• Chart: Solar is driving renewable energy to new heights around the globe — Dan McCarthy

• North Carolina mulls how to manage power demand from data centers — Elizabeth Ouzts