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The Bad River tribe and environmental groups have made their case that the state should overturn key permits issued to Canadian energy firm Enbridge as it seeks to reroute an oil and gas pipeline around the tribe’s reservation.

The state held a contested case hearing in Ashland last month after the tribe, along with Midwest Environmental Advocates and Clean Wisconsin, challenged permits for the project in December. The proceedings will continue through October 3rd.

In separate challenges, the tribe and environmental advocates argued that the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources failed to comply with state law when it granted a wetland and waterway permit along with a construction storm water permit for Enbridge’s Line 5 relocation project.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has lost 500 positions over roughly two decades, leading to slower permitting times and loss of capacity for habitat management. The head of the agency’s board called the decline a “slow, insidious loss of resources.”

According to Chairman Bill Smith, steady loss of positions combined with inflation means less work being done to protect natural resources and the environment.

“The department is nothing more than a steward that takes care of your resources, your access to the outdoors, your health and welfare,” Smith said. “It’s being affected by this gradual and slow, insidious loss of resources. In very simple terms, every biennial budget, you are losing production (and) you’re losing work.” 

Under the current state budget, the DNR is down 500 positions since the beginning of the 2003-05 biennium when it had nearly 2,975 positions, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

The DNR is authorized to spend more than $1.25 billion under its budget. At the end of the current biennium in 2027, the agency will have nearly 2,474 full-time equivalent employees. That’s the lowest number of authorized positions at the agency since 1981.

The Kegonsa Research Center has been named 2025 North American Agrivoltaics Dual-Use Plan of the Year. The award recognizes the UW-Madison Kegonsa Research Center Agrivoltaics Field, part of Alliant Energy’s Customer-Hosted Renewables program, for “outstanding excellence in innovation, design, performance and/or function of a planned, but not yet constructed, dual-use (agrivoltaics or ecovoltaics) solar development project.” Agrivoltaics is the use of land for both agriculture and solar generation.  

Located on university-owned land just west of Lake Kegonsa, UW-Madison and Alliant Energy partnered on the solar and agricultural research project, raising awareness about opportunities to co-locate renewable energy and agricultural activities.  

At maximum output, the 2.25-megawatt solar project is expected to generate enough energy to power more than 450 homes. UW–Madison will receive renewable energy credits generated by the solar project, which will provide proof that power was generated from a renewable energy resource, distributed to the electric grid and the University is entitled to its attributes.    

The project is advancing sustainability, research and energy goals by allowing students and faculty to study soil, water, plant and animal interactions between the solar array and its immediate area. These studies will help inform costs and benefits associated with future solar energy projects in Wisconsin and beyond.  

The site includes the UW Physical Sciences Lab, a research and development lab that provides a range of services, including the design, fabrication and calibration of scientific instrumentation for research projects.  

The innovative Columbia Energy Storage Project, a partnership between the co-owners of the Columbia Energy Center near Portage, Wisconsin, has received approval from State regulators.

Energy Dome’s CO2 battery located in Sardinia, Italy.

The Columbia Energy Storage Project is the first long-duration energy storage system of its kind to be developed in the United States. The 18-megawatt project is designed to improve grid stability and deliver enough electricity to power approximately 18,000 homes for 10 hours on a single charge.

The added reliability and dispatchability provided by the project will help to further enable Madison Gas and Electric's (MGE's) ongoing transition toward greater use of carbon-free energy. It also will help to manage long-term customer costs because projects like this one enable the partner utilities to store energy to help meet peak demand.

The project will use a revolutionary closed-loop process, designed by Energy Dome, to take energy from the grid and convert carbon dioxide (CO2) gas into a compressed liquid form for long-term storage. Then, when the stored energy is needed, the system will convert the liquid CO2 back to a gas, which will power a turbine to create electricity.

The project will be built south of Portage in the Town of Pacific, near the current Columbia Energy Center, which is co-owned by Alliant Energy, Wisconsin Public Service (WPS) and MGE. MGE is a minority owner of the power plant. This site allows the use of existing electrical infrastructure while the partners work to advance the next generation of sustainable energy.

Construction is expected to begin in 2026 and be completed by the end of 2027.

Google has hosted a special announcement celebration in Cedar Rapids to officially confirm their data center project at Alliant Energy’s Big Cedar Industrial Center. The project is Google’s second data center location in the state of Iowa: the first is in Council Bluffs.

Two data centers will now occupy space at Big Cedar Industrial Center with both Google and QTS locating at the site. QTS announced their project in February 2025.

Beyond the project confirmation, Google also announced an additional $7 billion investment in Iowa. $6.8 billion has already been invested in the state by the company.

Alliant Energy has filed a plan with the Iowa Utilities Commission to add up to 1,000 megawatts of wind energy generation in Iowa. The proposed expansion is part of the company’s strategy to meet growing energy demand while maintaining reliability and affordability for customers, according to the filing.

“This filing marks a significant step in our commitment to an all-of-the-above approach to energy generation,” said Mayuri Farlinger, president of Alliant Energy’s Iowa energy company and vice president of energy delivery. “By expanding our wind energy portfolio, we’re reinforcing our ability to meet customer demand while delivering reliable and cost-effective energy for customers.”

Alliant Energy said it plans to own and operate the new wind projects, which will contribute to its standing as one of the top five utility owners and operators of regulated wind energy in the United States. The projects are also expected to support construction jobs, provide payments to landowners, and generate new tax revenue for counties where the turbines are located, though a location has not yet been specified.

The coal will be burning at the We Energies plant in Oak Creek a year longer than expected. The company has announced that it will extend the operating life of two coal units at the Oak Creek Power Plant to meet high energy demand periods through the end of 2026. The plant was scheduled to retire at the end of 2025.

The Assembly has voted to approve several measures aimed at making Wisconsin the "Silicon Valley" for nuclear power development, showing support for a burgeoning nuclear fusion industry.

One bill would establish a nuclear summit in Wisconsin and establish funding for the event to be hosted in 2028. The Senate approved the bill in June. Another bill would launch a siting study, run by the Public Service Commission, to find the best location for a nuclear power plant to be erected in the Madison area or other areas of the state. The Senate approved that bill in May. The bills have been sent to the Governor for his signature.

The developer behind the largest solar project ever approved in Wisconsin has agreed to a legal settlement with a state conservation group aimed at protecting the habitat of the Greater Prairie Chicken.

The Vista Sands Solar project in Portage County will cover more than 5,000 acres with solar panels, producing enough electricity to power approximately 230,000 homes. The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin approved the project late last year.