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Ohio set to consider massive, Bill Gates-backed solar project

By Andy Balaskovitz

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SOLAR: Ohio regulators are scheduled to consider plans next week for a $1 billion, 800 MW solar project with 300 MW of storage on thousands of acres partially owned by Bill Gates. (Columbus Dispatch)

ALSO:

  • A conservative lawmaker from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula joins an Ann Arbor Democrat to sponsor community solar legislation they say would ultimately benefit ratepayers. (WMUK)
  • A U.S. solar manufacturing executive urges congressional lawmakers to make tax code changes that prevent Chinese solar companies from benefiting from Inflation Reduction Act incentives. (Utility Dive)

RENEWABLES: Nebraska clean energy supporters cry foul over a bill that would require wind and solar projects to receive approval from a siting board appointed by the governor. (Nebraska News Connection)

PIPELINES:

  • A four-week trial ends in North Dakota, in a case to determine whether the state or federal government should pay $38 million in policing costs for Dakota Access pipeline protests, though a judgment isn’t expected for weeks . (North Dakota Monitor)
  • Court documents in the Dakota Access case show that up to 10 FBI informants were embedded during the protests in late 2016 and early 2017, far more than the single one that had been confirmed until now. (Grist)
  • Great Lakes tribal leaders, along with federal judges, are waiting for the Biden administration to state its position on whether the Line 5 pipeline should be shut down on tribal land in northern Wisconsin. (Michigan Advance)

OIL & GAS: North Dakota’s oil and gas production has fully recovered from double-digit declines during a cold weather snap in January. (S&P Global)

BIOMASS: Environmental groups are concerned that the federal Inflation Reduction Act could create tax incentives for wood-to-energy biomass projects and potentially worsen climate emissions. (Inside Climate News)

CARBON CAPTURE: Western Michigan University lands a $2.25 million federal grant to advance research to capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (WOOD-TV8)

OVERSIGHT: Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers appoints a regional grid expert and a former engineer to a vacancy on the state’s Public Service Commission. (Journal Sentinel)

EFFICIENCY: An Ohio college receives $250,000 in state energy efficiency funding to install new heating and cooling systems in residence halls and cut utility costs in half. (News Journal)

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