The path to 100% clean energy in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula

CLEAN ENERGY: Michigan regulators have until Dec. 1 to recommend adjustments to the state’s clean energy standard to accommodate the Upper Peninsula region, where a sparser population and high energy costs add to the challenge of achieving 100% clean energy by 2040. (Grist/Interlochen Public Radio)

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ALSO:

• Iowa clean energy advocates say if utilities aggressively took advantage of federal incentives they could reduce costs and transition to 100% renewable generation within 5-10 years. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
• The clean energy economy has attracted billions of dollars in investment and annually generates more than $20 million in state and local tax revenue in Nebraska, according to an advocacy group’s new analysis. (Fox Nebraska)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Automaker Stellantis says it will spend $406 million to retool three Michigan factories to make electric vehicle or battery parts, including its first battery-electric light duty pickup truck. (Associated Press, Bridge Michigan)
• U.S. school districts are slowly but surely switching to electric school buses as Michigan research suggests academic benefits from ditching diesel. (Yale 360)

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GRID:

• An Illinois gas plant previously scheduled to close next year will now continue operating, its owners say, following record prices in grid operator PJM’s recent capacity auction. (Heatmap)
• Federal regulators dismiss complaints from a utility and regional grid operator MISO against the Southwest Power Pool over equipment that’s being chronically stressed by a North Dakota cryptocurrency facility. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A Canadian man pleads guilty to charges related to shooting at an electric substation and pipeline infrastructure in the Dakotas. (South Dakota Searchlight)

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BUILDINGS: An Indiana contractor is building a passive home and plans an environmental resilience training center on the same property. (Indiana Public Media)

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BIOFUELS: The fledgling sustainable aviation fuels industry faces high expectations and big questions as it gathers for a national summit in St. Paul this week. (Star Tribune)

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PIPELINES: Iowa Republican lawmakers suing state regulators over their approval of the Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline call the project an attack on landowners’ “God-given” Fifth Amendment rights. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

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CARBON CAPTURE: A new Kansas State study shows how natural fertilizer and no-till farming methods can improve soil health and sequester more carbon. (Kansas Reflector)

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