Study: Wisconsin clean energy transition would save costs, lives

CLEAN ENERGY: Fuel savings and avoided health care costs would more than offset the roughly $100 billion cost of a statewide shift to clean energy in Wisconsin, according to a study commissioned by clean energy groups. (Wisconsin State Journal)

ALSO:
• Winona State University in Minnesota celebrates the completion of a series of on-campus solar installations as well as energy efficiency measures. (WXOW)
• A northern Ohio county delays action on a resolution to ban utility-scale wind and solar projects. (WTVG)

CLIMATE: A $25 million U.S. Energy Department grant will help Chicago community leaders, academics and scientists study the effects of climate disruptions across the city. (Inside Climate News)

SOLAR: A northern Minnesota tribal college’s solar certification program is training a broad spectrum of students for solar installation jobs as the industry experiences continued growth. (Sahan Journal)

PIPELINES: Once in opposition over the development of oil pipelines, South Dakota farmers and tribes now stand together against proposed carbon dioxide pipeline projects. (NBC News)

OIL & GAS: Chicago natural gas utility Peoples Gas appears likely to again exceed the budget and timeline for a multi billion-dollar distribution infrastructure replacement project. (Crain’s Chicago Business, subscription)

GRID: A northern Michigan municipal utility considers offering customers a demand response program that would help reduce power use during peak times. (Traverse City Record-Eagle)

POLITICS:
• The two candidates for Michigan governor differ widely on environmental issues, including the future of the Line 5 pipeline and the use of tax incentives to lure electric vehicle manufacturers to the state. (Bridge Michigan)
• Candidates make their case for two vacant positions on the Omaha Public Power District board of directors as the Nebraska utility targets long-term carbon emission reductions. (Omaha World-Herald)

UTILITIES: Significant volatility in wholesale and retail electricity markets prompts a Cleveland suburb to delay the start of an electric aggregation program. (Cleveland.com)

BATTERIES: Potential environmental permitting hurdles caused a company to relocate a planned nickel processing plant from northern Minnesota to North Dakota. (Associated Press)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Electric vehicle manufacturer Via Motors will move its headquarters from Utah to southeastern Michigan, where it plans to invest $12.4 million and create up to 300 jobs. (Crain’s Detroit Business, subscription)
• ​“Electric vehicles are coming and the industry is not going to admit it,” an Iowa dairy farmer says about the ethanol industry’s ​“willful ignorance” of the electric vehicle transition. (News Advertiser)