Catch the latest energy news from around the region. Check back for these monthly Energy News Roundups.
Google is going big on nuclear power. The tech giant is partnering with Constellation Energy, the country’s largest nuclear power plant operator, on a $4.3 billion deal to add capacity at existing plants. The partnership calls for “uprates” — meaning upgrades to turbines, generators and other systems — at 11 reactors across six nuclear sites in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, adding 890 total megawatts of generating capacity. Constellation expects to complete these uprates in the early 2030s.
Even more uprates are ahead in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where three nuclear power plants are in line for a $4.2 billion federal loan. Vistra, owner of the Davis-Besse and Perry plants in Ohio and the Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania, is advancing plans to add 433 megawatts of generating capacity, a more than 10% boost. The U.S. Department of Energy said investing in the plants could keep them operating for 20 years beyond their existing licenses, now set to expire in the 2030s and 2040s.
A month after Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline suffered a significant gas leak, construction on a controversial pipeline reroute in northern Wisconsin may have breached an aquifer. An Enbridge spokesperson said in a statement that a flow of water was observed following the installation of a pipe beneath the Marengo River. But the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said last week that the agency hadn’t determined whether the flow of water was due to an aquifer breach, Wisconsin Public Radio reported.
A Minnesota mining firm has bold plans for a lower-carbon steel plant in Iowa. The $15 billion steel mill would process iron ore from Mesabi Metallics’ new mining and processing operation in Minnesota’s Iron Range — Minnesota’s first new iron ore mine in 50 years. Furnaces at the Iowa steel plant would be fed by natural gas and electricity, rather than coal, traditionally a staple of steelmaking.
As for the Trump administration’s emergency order to keep a Michigan coal plant operating past its retirement date? That was illegal, a federal court of appeals has ruled. Administration officials said last year that closing Consumers Energy’s J.H. Campbell plant could cause electricity shortages in the region. The administration has since extended the 90-day order a half-dozen times. Multiple states and environmental groups challenged the original order, arguing the plant’s closure was not, in fact, an emergency and the administration had overstepped its authority. A three-judge panel agreed unanimously that the closure did not qualify as an emergency under federal law. But the plant’s owner said it would continue to comply with the administration’s order while it reviewed the court ruling.
More energy news, in case you missed it:
- Ontario has begun an extensive refurbishment project at the province’s Pickering Nuclear Generating Station that’s expected to take a decade and cost CA$26.8 billion but extend the plant’s life by up to 38 years.
- Ohio regulators have approved what would be the state’s biggest utility-scale solar project following a multiyear battle.
- Michigan’s two largest utilities are proposing to build four total natural gas plants at a cost of $10 billion, citing growing demand for electricity.
- New York is sending energy rebate checks up to $200 to qualifying taxpayers, after expanding eligibility for the state’s opt-in Energy Affordability Program earlier this year.
- The Ann Arbor City Council voted to oppose a citizen-led ballot proposal that would begin the process of creating a municipal utility amid concerns about the proposal’s wording.
