Minnesota's Public Utilities Commission yesterday approved an incentive to encourage community solar developers to sign up residential customers for projects over the next two years.

A series of four rulings by Michigan regulators involving the 40-year-old Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act could help spur a surge of new solar development in the Lower Peninsula over the next few years.

With time running out on a proposal to let Vistra Energy Corp. more frequently operate its dirtier coal plants in Illinois, the state's Pollution Control Board offered up a compromise and restarted the clock on a rulemaking process that could take another year.

FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. can shut down 4,000 megawatts of coal- and diesel-fired generation in Ohio and Pennsylvania without hurting electricity reliability, according to regional grid operator PJM Interconnection.

More than 60,000 electric vehicles will be on central U.S. roadways by 2030, requiring utility involvement and regulatory oversight to ensure that all consumers — regardless of whether they own a plug-in car — benefit from the new surge of electricity demand.