Wisconsin utility extends coal plant

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.

COAL

• We Energies will extend the operation of a Wisconsin coal plant along Lake Michigan for another year through 2026, citing high energy demand, while critics say it will saddle ratepayers with higher costs. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

• Eight utility commissions in MISO’s footprint seek a rehearing challenging a federal order to keep open a Michigan coal plant, saying the agency failed to show an energy emergency exists. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR

• Ohio regulators approve plans for a 120 MW solar project that had become a flashpoint in local politics and attracted opposition funding from fossil fuel interests. (WOSU)

• Southwestern Minnesota county officials raise potential drainage concerns with a proposed solar project. (The Globe)

GRID

• A Nebraska landowner pushes back on a utility’s plan to use eminent domain for a transmission project that would primarily serve a bitcoin mining operation. (Flatwater Free Press)

OIL & GAS

• North Dakota officials brief regulators on plans for a pair of pipelines that would span about 350 miles and move gas from oil fields in the west to industrial users in the east. (Associated Press)

• Federal regulators issue a series of orders to speed up the development of gas pipelines and infrastructure, including in the Midwest. (E&E News)

• North Dakota is in a strong and stable financial position, credit ratings agency Moody’s says, though the state’s reliance on oil revenues could cause budget uncertainty. (Inforum)

OVERSIGHT

• Michigan clean energy advocates worry that major utilities may have influenced Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s potential decision to not reappoint a new member of the state’s Public Service Commission who is sympathetic to renewable energy. (Planet Detroit)

EFFICIENCY

• Homebuilder groups sue the state of Michigan over new residential construction codes that would require more energy efficiency features that supporters say would save owners in the long run. (MLive)

COMMENTARY

• Ohio lawmakers have taken last-minute steps to direct fracking royalties to fund state park operations and help pay for tax cuts to high-income income earners, jeopardizing conservation efforts going forward, an advocate writes. (Ohio Capital Journal)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Denmark and Djibouti top the list of the 10 countries that rely the most heavily on wind and solar power, Dan McCarthy reports.

• A development in an Austin, Texas, suburb includes a geothermal system that taps underground heat to warm and cool its buildings, and plans to connect it to as many as 7,500 planned homes, Terry L. Jones reports.