Ohio court case has high stakes for solar developers

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Midwest Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

SOLAR

• In a case that could have deep consequences for rural solar development, a solar developer argues before the Ohio Supreme Court that state regulators’ rejection of a large, rural solar farm failed to properly consider whether pushback to the project was rooted in fact. (Canary Media)

PIPELINES

• Michigan pipeline activists raise conflict of interest concerns over Enbridge’s pick of a major Trump donor to replace Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. (The Guardian)

• Closing arguments are scheduled to start today in a $300 million defamation lawsuit against Greenpeace over the nonprofit’s alleged role in attempting to derail construction on the Dakota Access pipeline. (South Dakota Searchlight)

• Inadequate inspections and quality control may have caused the manufacturing of a faulty Keystone XL pipeline that cracked and caused a major crude oil spill in North Dakota in 2019, according to a newly released report from regulators. (Grand Forks Herald)

UTILITIES

• Ann Arbor, Michigan’s city council will begin considering an ordinance today to create a sustainable energy utility that would allow residents to opt in and host solar and battery storage projects. (WEMU)

• Ann Arbor advocates also plan a petition drive to ask city voters in 2026 whether to study the potential for creating a full municipal utility after officials rejected a plan to move forward. (WEMU)

GRID

• Excluding the Grain Belt Express transmission project led MISO to overstate the benefits of the grid operator’s planned $32.3 billion transmission buildout plan, according to an analyst who claims MISO is biased in favor of over-building transmission. (Utility Dive)

NUCLEAR

• North Dakota farmers and environmental advocates push back against a bill that would allow state-backed research on nuclear waste disposal as lawmakers explore the potential to build nuclear plants. (Bismarck Tribune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• The failed rollout of a fuel-efficient GM model produced in Ohio in the 1970s offers a lesson in bad planning as U.S. automakers struggle to compete with China and lose money on EVs. (The New Republic)

• Iowa House lawmakers pass a bill that would require a new state training program and certification process for people involved with recycling batteries from EVs. (Radio Iowa)

STORAGE

• Detroit-based utility DTE Energy issues a request for proposals for roughly 450 MW of new standalone energy storage projects that would start commercial operations by the end of 2028. (PV Magazine)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Two electric transmission cooperatives buy a 720 MW gas-fired power plant in northern Indiana as an alternative to building a new facility. (WNDU)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• California introduces the first statewide plan to boost heat pump sales as it aims to deploy 6 million of the electric appliances by 2030, Alison Takemura reports.