renewable energy

The bill is made up of dozens of policy changes governing how utilities operate in Missouri. Utility companies say they need more power plants to meet expected demand, but critics say the bill will significantly increase costs for customers.

New wind installations aren’t allowed in about one-fifth of Kansas counties, in part to protect the nation’s last, largest swath of tallgrass prairie.

Sedgwick County looked poised to clear the way for the Chisholm Trail solar project. But nearby residents expressed concerns about pollution, pushing regulators to extend a temporary ban on utility-scale solar developments.

The Kansas Sky Energy Center is projected to supply enough energy to power 30,000 homes annually for 25 years. The proposal faces pushback from local landowners over the loss of prime farmland and an overloaded stormwater system.

While solar power increased, wind energy fell in 2023 in Missouri and Illinois, according to a new report from Climate Central, a nonprofit that analyzes and reports on climate science.

As the number of wind and solar farms increases, so does opposition in the rural areas where they’re being built. While more counties and townships passed restrictions in the last year, some states are responding by passing laws making it harder for local governments to say no to wind and solar.

Production of utility-scale solar power in Kansas is expected to increase 34 times over in the next four years. But many rural Kansas communities are skeptical of out-of-state developers. Plus: A writer and photographer return to Independence, Missouri, 40 years after documenting daily life in the city.

Kansas City voters overwhelmingly approved renewing a local sales tax to fund public transit for the next decade, while moderate school board candidates beat out conservative challengers in some big Johnson County districts. Plus: Solar energy is stepping up in Kansas.

For years, Invenergy has been working through regulatory approvals and acquiring land easements to build the 800-mile high-voltage transmission line, which will carry renewable energy from wind-swept western Kansas across Missouri. The transmission line is expected to have the capacity of roughly four new nuclear power plants.

Under an order from the Missouri Public Service Commission, Evergy is expected next month to implement time-of-use pricing, which places a premium on electricity prices at times of high demand. A Missouri state office said it "strongly opposed" the utility's request to make the program voluntary.

The utility, which serves 1.6 million customers in Kansas and Missouri, is drawing criticism from environmental groups for keeping open its oldest coal plant. Evergy also said that Kansas City's clean energy goals are “incredibly aggressive” and too expensive.

In February 2021, Texas and wide swaths of North America were shut down by Winter Storm Uri, which caused massive blackouts and left millions of people without power for days. The winter storms exposed vulnerabilities in our country’s electrical grid, and underlined the pressing need for a more reliable energy system. Is a recent breakthrough in nuclear fusion a possible path forward?