Microgrids Bridging The Gap To A Modern Grid by Inside Energy

Desert Microgrid Powers Small Southern California Town by Inside Energy

Two huge new transmission lines for Wyoming wind power were approved earlier this month, setting the stage for construction of the nation's biggest wind farm. In Colorado, Xcel Energy recently received approval from regulators to construct a massive wind farm. And North Dakota is one of a handful of states that gets at least 10 percent of its electricity from wind power. But wind is not just growing on the plains and the Rocky Mountain West. In the waters off of Rhode Island, the first offshore wind energy project began operations this fall. Now developers are pushing ahead in another vast body of water: the Great Lakes. For Inside Energy, Elizabeth Miller of Great Lakes Today has this progress report from Lake Erie.

Freshman Congressman Ryan Zinke from Montana is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Interior Secretary. Last week Zinke said he was “honored and humbled to be asked to serve Montana and America.” The Interior Department oversees one-fifth of federal lands in this country, including national parks from Yellowstone to the Grand Canyon. For Inside Energy, Nicky Ouellet of Montana Public Radio reports.

President-elect Donald Trump appears to have fossil fuels on his mind as makes his cabinet picks. The Governor of Texas at the Department of Energy, an ExxonMobil CEO running the State Department, and Oklahoma’s attorney general for the Environmental Protection Agency. But where do renewables like solar energy fit into this conservative agenda? In places like Arizona. For Inside Energy, Will Stone of KJZZ in Phoenix reports.

Now that the Army Corps of Engineers has denied a permit to complete the Dakota Access Pipeline, parties with a vested interest are wondering what’s next. For thousands of who’ve joined the Standing Rock Sioux’s protest against the pipeline -- should they leave or should they stay? Meanwhile, the oil industry and legal experts are trying to make sense of the decision and what it means for the project’s fate. Inside Energy’s Amy Sisk reports.

The U.S. government’s decision to block construction on the Dakota Access pipeline was a major victory for tribes in the much bigger fight to protect places they hold sacred — even when those projects are located off their reservations. Dan Kraker reports.

President-elect Donald Trump indicated for the first time on Thursday that he supports completion of the Dakota Access pipeline. Protesters have been camped out at the construction site in North Dakota for months, and now winter has arrived, dumping almost two feet of snow on the encampment this past week. The two-day deluge drove out some of the fairer-weather protesters, but most are gearing up to stay. All are waiting to see what happens on Monday, the deadline set by the Army Corps of Engineers for protesters to leave federal land. For Inside Energy, Nicky Ouellet reports.

Tonight in Bismarck, North Dakota, the chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe will host a community forum to discuss the controversial encampment where thousands have gathered to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline. The US Army Corps of Engineers wants to shut the camp down for safety reasons in the next week. Minnesota Public Radio's Doualy Xaykaothao has been visiting the camp since Thanksgiving and takes us inside.

While One Tribe Fights Oil, Another Cautiously Embraces It by Inside Energy