17 March 2025 • Supported by

SOLAR

• In a case that could have deep consequences for rural solar development, a solar developer argues before the Ohio Supreme Court that state regulators’ rejection of a large, rural solar farm failed to properly consider whether pushback to the project was rooted in fact. (Canary Media)

PIPELINES

• Michigan pipeline activists raise conflict of interest concerns over Enbridge’s pick of a major Trump donor to replace Line 5 in the Straits of Mackinac. (The Guardian)
• Closing arguments are scheduled to start today in a $300 million defamation lawsuit against Greenpeace over the nonprofit’s alleged role in attempting to derail construction on the Dakota Access pipeline. (South Dakota Searchlight)
• Inadequate inspections and quality control may have caused the manufacturing of a faulty Keystone XL pipeline that cracked and caused a major crude oil spill in North Dakota in 2019, according to a newly released report from regulators. (Grand Forks Herald)

UTILITIES

• Ann Arbor, Michigan’s city council will begin considering an ordinance today to create a sustainable energy utility that would allow residents to opt in and host solar and battery storage projects. (WEMU)
• Ann Arbor advocates also plan a petition drive to ask city voters in 2026 whether to study the potential for creating a full municipal utility after officials rejected a plan to move forward. (WEMU)

GRID

• Excluding the Grain Belt Express transmission project led MISO to overstate the benefits of the grid operator’s planned $32.3 billion transmission buildout plan, according to an analyst who claims MISO is biased in favor of over-building transmission. (Utility Dive)

NUCLEAR

• North Dakota farmers and environmental advocates push back against a bill that would allow state-backed research on nuclear waste disposal as lawmakers explore the potential to build nuclear plants. (Bismarck Tribune)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• The failed rollout of a fuel-efficient GM model produced in Ohio in the 1970s offers a lesson in bad planning as U.S. automakers struggle to compete with China and lose money on EVs. (The New Republic)
• Iowa House lawmakers pass a bill that would require a new state training program and certification process for people involved with recycling batteries from EVs. (Radio Iowa)

STORAGE

• Detroit-based utility DTE Energy issues a request for proposals for roughly 450 MW of new standalone energy storage projects that would start commercial operations by the end of 2028. (PV Magazine)

FOSSIL FUELS

• Two electric transmission cooperatives buy a 720 MW gas-fired power plant in northern Indiana as an alternative to building a new facility. (WNDU)

NEW FROM CANARY MEDIA

• California introduces the first statewide plan to boost heat pump sales as it aims to deploy 6 million of the electric appliances by 2030, Alison Takemura reports.