Wisconsin’s AI boom drives transmission urgency

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.

GRID

• Consumer advocates raise concerns over major Wisconsin utilities’ request to federal regulators to eliminate competition in some transmission projects to speed up projects to meet data center demand, saying it could drive up power prices. (Wisconsin Watch)

• Southeastern Kansas ranchers and rural landowners say Evergy’s plan for a 133-mile transmission line running to southwestern Missouri would disrupt their businesses and way of life. (KAKE)

COAL

• Turbines at an Indiana coal plant that were ordered to stay open past their planned retirement at the end of 2025 did not end up generating power in January. (E&E News)

• The Trump administration’s coal-boosting emergency orders are a misuse of a World War II-era law that undermine utility planning and regulation, legal analysts say. (Inside Climate News)

PIPELINES

• A proposed 647-mile pipeline from the Canadian border through Montana and Wyoming resembles plans for the failed Keystone XL pipeline and would likely end up connecting with Midwest pipelines to the Gulf Coast, critics say. (Inside Climate News)

DATA CENTERS

• Wisconsin is becoming an epicenter for U.S. data center development due to its abundant water, cooler temperatures, and relatively cheap land, raising tensions among landowners over water and energy use. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

• Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and Indiana GOP Gov. Mike Braun join other top state officials in asking PJM to protect customers from higher electricity costs that could arise from data centers by forcing companies to pay for infrastructure and potential stranded costs. (Crain’s Chicago)

NUCLEAR

• The Missouri House passes a bill allowing utilities to charge customers for construction costs of new nuclear plants in a measure that would reverse a 50-year-old law. (St. Louis Public Radio)

SOLAR

• A developer plans to seek permit approval through the state of Michigan for a proposed 200 MW solar project after meeting local pushback, saying township officials did not develop local zoning rules for the project. (FOX 17)

• Chicago-area county officials will re-vote on six solar project proposals they previously denied following court orders to issue special use permits. (Chicago Tribune)

HYDROPOWER

• Michigan natural resource regulators raise concerns over Consumers Energy’s proposed sale of 13 hydroelectric dams to a private equity company, saying the state would lose safety oversight while questioning the economics of the deal. (Detroit News)

• Hydropower production from dams along the Missouri River is expected to be about 20% below average this year as drought conditions persist, federal officials say. (South Dakota Searchlight)