Xcel Energy marks major coal-to-solar milestone

SOLAR: Minnesota officials announce the completion of the first phase of a massive solar project that’s set to replace the retiring Sherco coal plant. (WCCO)

RENEWABLES: Ann Arbor, Michigan, will launch its voter-approved ​“sustainable energy utility” by assembling an initial 20 MW of demand and financing various renewable energy, storage and efficiency projects. (Canary Media)

PIPELINES: Summit Carbon Solutions reapplies for a carbon pipeline permit in South Dakota with significant reroutes after its initial application was rejected last year. (South Dakota Searchlight)

BATTERIES: A company announces plans for a $547 million battery components plant near St. Louis that would serve energy storage and electric vehicle markets. (FOX 2)

GRID: Ratepayer advocates file a complaint with federal regulators seeking changes to PJM’s capacity market design that they say is causing spiking capacity prices. (Utility Dive)

UTILITIES:

• The consumer advocacy group Citizens Utility Board of Illinois has saved ratepayers about $20 billion over the past four decades, but ​“a lot of people don’t know that we exist or what it is that we do,” its leader says. (Chicago Sun-Times)
• Ohio consumer advocates say FirstEnergy’s strategy to use a previous plan and surcharges to cover the utility’s grid investments could backfire and cost the utility at least tens of millions of dollars. (Crain’s Cleveland)

CLIMATE: A firm that helps real estate, insurance and financial companies predict how climate models could result in local impacts develops a tool to measure how resilient and at-risk U.S. cities are to climate change. (Washington Post)

EFFICIENCY: Wisconsin energy efficiency contractors have been promoting an Inflation Reduction Act-funded program that has deployed nearly $75 million to serve the state’s residents. (WUWM)