Trump orders won’t slow Michigan coal plant closures

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

COAL

• Michigan’s two large investor-owned utilities say President Trump’s executive orders to prop up the coal industry will not delay their plans to retire large coal plants. (Planet Detroit)

• Two Ameren coal plants around St. Louis receive air pollution exemptions from the Trump administration. (St. Louis Public Radio)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Michigan lawmakers advance a pair of bills that would designate two new Upper Peninsula gas plants as clean energy under a recent state law to potentially avoid their early closure. (Bridge)

RESEARCH

• Michigan’s top two universities join a lawsuit seeking to nullify a Department of Energy policy change they say would jeopardize tens of millions of dollars for advanced energy research. (MLive)

• Wisconsin lawmakers look to support researchers’ work on nuclear fusion technology, which promises an alternative to fission that doesn’t generate nuclear waste. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

STORAGE

• Illinois clean energy trade groups want state regulators to amend a draft report to increase the state’s energy storage targets to meet the state’s grid needs. (Solar Power World)

GRID

• Indiana lawmakers advance legislation that requires companies like data centers to cover 80% of the costs of building new grid infrastructure to meet their needs. (WFYI)

• Kansas lawmakers approve tax incentives to lure hyperscale data centers that include restrictions on facilities’ ability to build their own power plants. (Kansas Reflector)

SOLAR

• Ohio regulators will decide Thursday on a developer’s plans for a 150 MW solar project outside Dayton. (Canton Repository)

• Michigan awards $8.1 million in grants to support four local governments’ efforts to encourage solar development. (WOOD-TV8)

• Detroit-based DTE Energy starts construction on a 100 MW solar project that will supply power for Ford. (Renewables Now)

BATTERIES

• LG Energy Solution plans to manufacture energy storage batteries at a sprawling western Michigan factory once it moves electric vehicle battery production to a new plant in Lansing. (Crain’s Grand Rapids)

COMMENTARY

• Minnesota’s net metering law that allows residents with solar installations to sell excess power back to the grid at retail rates is an outdated subsidy that harms low-income ratepayers, municipal and electric co-op executives say. (Star Tribune)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• Massachusetts regulators approve plans from National Grid and Unitil to offer lower seasonal electricity rates to heat pump owners, with a similar plan from Eversource in the works, Sarah Shemkus reports.

• Making plant-based meals the default at New York City hospitals proves an emission-reducing success, and shows how making climate-friendly options the norm can encourage their adoption, Michael Grunwald writes.