Kalamazoo, Michigan, is tempering a vision for rooftop solar in favor of large, more distant solar projects built and owned by a utility. Milwaukee and other cities are taking a similar approach.
Author Archives: Kari Lydersen / Energy News Network
Kari has written for Midwest Energy News since January 2011. She is an author and journalist who worked for the Washington Post’s Midwest bureau from 1997 through 2009. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, Chicago News Cooperative, Chicago Reader and other publications. Kari covers Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana as well as environmental justice topics.
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Data centers in Wisconsin and Chicago area offer energy peril and promise
Southeastern Wisconsin and the Chicago area are emerging as major players in the national data center explosion, most notably with Microsoft’s $3.3 billion planned data complex near Racine.
Posted inEnvironment
WE Energies wants $2 billion from Wisconsin ratepayers for new gas plants while still paying off past coal ones
WEC Energy Group in southeastern Wisconsin is planning to significantly expand its capacity for natural gas electricity generation, even as it has vowed to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Posted inEnvironment
Developers hope a balloon-like battery will aid Wisconsin renewable energy efforts
When Wisconsin’s largest coal plant, the Columbia Energy Center, closes in the next few years, a carbon dioxide-filled “battery” developed by the Italian company Energy Dome will take its place.
Posted inEnvironment
Wisconsin coal plants are closing, but ratepayers are still on the hook
Advocates and lawmakers say utilities need to find different ways to deal with coal plant debt — and stop making a profit off it.
Posted inEnvironment, Government
In Wisconsin, federal grants could break bottleneck on climate funding
Wisconsin city and state leaders are glad for a nearly $5 billion federal initiative meant to help states and municipalities advance climate action plans.
Posted inEnvironment
Wisconsin utilities push own policies to compensate solar panel owners, but advocates want a unified approach
Solar advocates say there should be a uniform policy for compensating residential solar generation, rather than allowing “ad-hoc major reforms utility by utility.”
Posted inEnvironment
At rules hearing, U.S. EPA hears human toll of unaddressed coal ash pollution
“My husband and I had plans when I retired to travel; now he’s in the graveyard,” said the widow of a cleanup worker at the infamous 2008 Kingston, Tennessee, coal ash spill.
Posted inEnvironment
Advocates say conditions may be improving for rooftop solar in Wisconsin
A recent regulatory ruling on utility-owned rooftop solar may bode well for third-party-owned arrays.
Posted inEnvironment
Solar for Good: Program enables energy savings for Wisconsin schools, nonprofits
A unique model yields solar energy benefits, despite Wisconsin’s lack of legal clarity around third-party-owned installations.
Posted inEconomy, Environment
Federal climate law changes the stakes in Wisconsin third-party solar fight
The Inflation Reduction Act opens up new opportunities for nonprofits to take advantage of tax credits, but Wisconsin regulators are still vague on what types of projects will be allowed.
Posted inEnvironment
Wisconsin case raises question: Who pays, profits from energy transition?
Critics say a proposed rate hike by We Energies for new solar and natural gas generation pits low-income residents against clean energy advocates, taking too much profit for shareholders