Karen Uhlenhuth
Energy News Network
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Past articles by Karen:
Would Upper Midwest carbon capture pipelines offer a lifeline to coal plants?
The Sierra Club is warning that proposed carbon capture and sequestration infrastructure in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and the Dakotas may help extend the life of fossil fuel power plants. → Read More
Kansas City plans curbside charging for electric vehicles on streetlights
The federally funded pilot project could become a model for other cities looking to close gaps in charging infrastructure. → Read More
Kansas utility continues to collect fee on solar customers despite court ruling
Clean energy advocates want Evergy to cease a demand charge on solar customers that was ruled illegal last spring. → Read More
Kansas City utility’s community solar project a slow starter with customers
Eight months after announcing a 5-megawatt community solar project, Evergy has yet to hit its subscription target. → Read More
Kansas solar installations drop by more than a third after utility adds demand fee
Solar installers say Evergy’s demand fee has made residential solar finances less certain and more complicated. → Read More
Missouri solar installer making strides recruiting and hiring military veterans
Missouri Sun Solar far exceeds the industry average for veteran employment — and its founder isn’t done hiring. → Read More
Midwest utilities ‘overwhelmingly surprised’ by solar subscription demand
The plans, marketed as community solar, have seen warm reception in Nebraska and in Missouri, where one project is “78% oversubscribed.” → Read More
Small Iowa town hopes benchmarking makes big impact on energy efficiency
As the rest of the state retreats from energy efficiency, Bloomfield is betting information can spur improvements. → Read More
Iowa approves slimmed-down efficiency plan for state’s largest utility
MidAmerican Energy’s five-year efficiency plan replaces free in-home energy audits with access to an online tool. → Read More
How Kansas solar customers are trying to hack utility demand charges
One customer used programmable outlet timers cut his peak demand to a third of what it was before he got creative. → Read More
Iowa town’s municipal utility effort is financially feasible, consultant finds
Supporters of an effort to create a city-owned electric utility in Decorah, Iowa, got a boost this week from a consultant’s report that concludes the move is financially feasible. → Read More
Clean energy could get boost from new utility commissioner in Missouri
A Missouri state senator appointed last week to join the state’s Public Service Commission has aroused hopes among the state’s renewable-energy supporters. Ryan Silvey, a Republican from the Kansas City suburbs, was described by several people as being, at a minimum, open to more renewable energy in the state, which historically has done little to […] → Read More
In Kansas, solar installers and utility tilt toward consensus on demand fee
Out in the middle of Kansas, a rural electric cooperative and a couple of solar installers have found common cause in, of all things, a demand fee. → Read More
Iowa solar installer using storage to help customers avoid costly demand charges
In Iowa, a state with some of the highest demand charges in the nation, a solar installer is offering a storage solution that the company claims could cut power bills in half for some large electricity customers. → Read More
New connection technology is cutting cost of solar installation
Customers in Ohio and Nebraska are among those taking advantage of a new and simpler technique for connecting solar arrays and other renewable energy systems to the grid. → Read More
Midwestern poultry farmers cut bills in half with new heating system
Maintaining a tropical temperature for his turkeys, even through a Nebraska winter, used to cost Bill Bevans in the neighborhood of $60,000 annually. Not any longer. → Read More
After first year, on-bill financing by Michigan utility enabling bigger efficiency upgrades
Nearly one year since its inception, an on-bill financing program in a west Michigan city appears to be enabling the deep energy retrofits envisioned at the outset. → Read More
Iowa utility ‘repowering’ to increase production, efficiency of wind turbines
Iowa, already one of the country’s leading producers of wind energy, will move even further out in front of the industry as MidAmerican Energy “repowers” roughly a quarter of its wind capacity. → Read More
Wind developer’s dispute with Iowa utility reveals a broader schism on clean-energy law
A wind developer's dispute with an Iowa utility is part of a larger pattern of resistance to small renewable energy projects, according to advocates in the state. → Read More
Missouri regulators reject new hearing for Grain Belt Express transmission project
In another blow to a long-stymied effort to build a high-voltage transmission line to carry new wind energy to the eastern U.S., the Missouri Public Service Commission this morning rejected the developer’s latest request. → Read More