Xcel Energy to deploy virtual power plants

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

• Minnesota regulators approve Xcel Energy’s first-in-the-nation utility virtual power plant program that will invest $430 million to deploy up to 200 MW of small batteries at customer sites in an effort to bolster power supplies on the grid. (Canary Media)

• Residents across southeastern Minnesota worry plans for a multibillion-dollar transmission buildout to help bring more renewable energy online will scar the rural landscape. (MPR News)

• Nine Midwest utilities ask federal regulators to suspend a policy requiring competitive bidding for new transmission projects, which they argue will help solve supply problems but critics say stifles competition and will raise prices. (E&E News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• Major grid infrastructure upgrades are needed to take full advantage of vehicle-to-grid technology that allows EVs to dispatch excess power to the grid, a University of Michigan researcher says. (Grist)

DATA CENTERS

• Residents in a small Wisconsin city north of Milwaukee vote by a roughly 2-to-1 margin to restrict future data centers, a relatively new approach by opponents that the industry fears could become more common across the country. (Politico)

• Local officials approve rezoning land for a multibillion-dollar data center outside Indianapolis that could span more than a dozen buildings. (WISH)

HYDROELECTRIC

• Consumers Energy’s plan to sell 13 Michigan hydroelectric dams to a private equity firm and buy back the power would allow the utility to collect $270 million in new profits from customers. (Bridge)

UTILITIES

• Michigan’s Democratic attorney general says Consumers Energy’s plan to file a new rate request after just securing a nearly $280 million increase ​“proves how truly broken this system has become.” (Michigan Advance)

COAL

• Democratic attorneys general in Illinois and Minnesota ask a federal appeals court to review Department of Energy orders to keep open two Indiana coal plants that were slated for retirement. (Center Square)

SOLAR

• Officials in Lake County, Illinois, north of Chicago expect to see a drop in new solar projects as federal tax rebates fall off in the coming months. (Chicago Tribune)

• Geronimo Power begins operating a 117 MW solar project in Ohio, bringing the company’s total solar capacity in the state to 675 MW. (PV Tech)

BIOFUELS

• Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker calls on Congress to allow permanent year-round sales of E15 gasoline with higher blends of ethanol to spur domestic energy production and stabilize fuel markets. (St. Louis Public Radio)

NEW FROM CANARY

• This program pays nonprofits to take the time to consider solar — Sarah Shemkus

• Trump’s offshore wind opposition was never really about the whales — Maria Gallucci

• Where does balcony solar stand in your state? — Sarah Shemkus

• Bay Area startup introduces flat-rate, single-room heat pumps — Alison F. Takemura