Indiana manufacturers are being asked to fund three separate electricity cost gaps at the same time — coal kept alive past its retirement date, a rate increase landing in January regardless of a pending legal challenge, and a transmission backbone that won't be energized until 2032 at the earliest. None of those costs show up on a single line item that names the exposure clearly. This brief covers five stories from September 23, 2026 with direct consequences for your power costs, your corn inputs, and your capital planning.

POET Bioprocessing Doubles Shelbyville Capacity — With a 45Z Credit Risk Buried in the Investment Thesis

POET Bioprocessing broke ground on June 16th on a $200 million expansion in Shelbyville that doubles ethanol output from 98 million gallons to 193 million gallons annually. The completed facility will buy 70 million bushels of corn per year from farmers across the region, with the expansion alone adding 32 million bushels of new demand from as far as 50 miles out.

What the press release didn't lead with: POET explicitly referenced "emerging carbon capture opportunities" at the ceremony. With Summit Carbon's Midwest pipeline stalled and no CO2 sequestration infrastructure in Indiana, any carbon capture play at Shelbyville is years away — and depends on both 45Z tax credit finalization and a pipeline partner that doesn't yet exist. Green Plains has already disclosed material 45Z credit earnings from its Nebraska carbon capture operations in 2026, which gives POET a concrete performance benchmark to chase.

The USDA finalized its carbon intensity methodology in July 2026. That turns grain farmers supplying Shelbyville into upstream variables in POET's tax credit calculus — not just commodity counterparties. If your facility uses corn-based inputs anywhere within 50 miles of Shelbyville, lock in forward supply contracts before this expansion reaches full production in 2028.

Maple Leaf Foods Consolidates All U.S. Plant Protein Into One Indianapolis Facility

Maple Leaf Foods, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, announced on September 22nd that it will consolidate all U.S. plant protein manufacturing into a single 118,000-square-foot facility in Indianapolis and wind down production at plants in Seattle and Turners Falls, Massachusetts by Q4 2027. CEO Curtis Frank cited "declining volumes" that left the three-plant network substantially underutilized.

The Indianapolis facility was acquired in 2021 for $100 million and was designed for tempeh production at 4.5 million kilograms of annual capacity. The Lightlife, Field Roast, and Yves Veggie Cuisine product lines coming in represent a different process format, and the capital required to retrofit Indianapolis for all three brand families is not broken out in Maple Leaf's 2030 financial outlook.

The structural risk no coverage flagged: post-2027, a prolonged disruption at Indianapolis — a multi-week recall, a strike, or a border action — would degrade or halt Canadian supply for all three brands simultaneously, with no in-country manufacturing fallback. If your own supply chain has single-facility concentration that looks anything like this, that question belongs in your next operations review.

NIPSCO Coal Retention: $38 Million in Q1 Cost Recovery, and Indiana Manufacturers Are in the Allocation Pool

Energy Secretary Chris Wright signed a fourth consecutive Section 202(c) emergency order on September 18th, requiring NIPSCO's R.M. Schahfer Units 17 and 18 in Wheatfield and CenterPoint's F.B. Culley Unit 2 in Warrick County to remain available through December 18th. That is 951 combined megawatts of coal capacity — 847 at Schahfer and 104 at Culley — running at capacity factors of 17% and 14% respectively.

NIPSCO filed roughly $38 million in FERC cost recovery for Q1 2026 alone. At that run rate, the daily cost-recovery tab across the quarter is approximately $420,000. NIPSCO President and COO Vince Parisi testified before the IURC in March that total Schahfer investment could exceed $100 million.

The Michigan benchmark is the number you need to price this against. Consumers Energy spent $254 million keeping the J.H. Campbell plant online under six DOE orders, recovered $119 million in revenue, and filed to recoup $135 million from MISO ratepayers across 11 states — including Indiana. Indiana manufacturers are in that allocation pool.

The December 18th expiration matters. NIPSCO's new gas capacity serving northern Indiana data centers is set to begin delivery as early as January 2027, which removes the reliability argument DOE has used to justify every renewal. Whether that actually closes the door on a fifth order is worth watching. Get someone tracking FERC Docket EL26-36 now, before the Q1 recovery ruling sets the per-quarter precedent.

Q: Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: Who pays for the NIPSCO coal retention cost recovery under the FERC Section 202(c) orders?

A: NIPSCO filed approximately $38 million in FERC cost recovery for Q1 2026 alone, and MISO's allocation formula spreads that liability across ratepayers in 11 states, including Indiana. Indiana C&I customers in NIPSCO territory are in that pool, and a Q1 ruling at FERC Docket EL26-36 will set the per-quarter precedent for every subsequent order.

Q: When does the AES Indiana Phase 2 rate increase take effect, and does the pending rehearing change that?

A: The AES Indiana Phase 2 rate increase hits in January 2027 regardless of the pending rehearing. The evidentiary session is not scheduled until March 2027 and covers the $71 million rate award, the BlackRock and Qatar Investment Authority ownership approval, and the Monrovia Google data center load terms simultaneously — none of which resolves before the January effective date.

Q: What is FERC Docket EL26-36 and why does it matter for Indiana manufacturers?

A: FERC Docket EL26-36 is the cost-recovery proceeding tied to the DOE Section 202(c) emergency orders keeping NIPSCO's Schahfer coal units online. The ruling on NIPSCO's Q1 2026 filing will establish how much coal retention cost flows to MISO ratepayers per quarter and on what allocation basis — which determines how much of that tab lands on Indiana C&I accounts.

Q: How does the I&M 765-kV transmission project affect Indiana manufacturers before 2032?

A: The 185-mile I&M transmission backbone across northeast Indiana is MISO-mandated and not scheduled for energization until 2032–2034. An active FERC complaint filed July 30, 2025 by five state utility commissions challenges the cost-allocation framework, and an adverse ruling could delay project financing before construction begins. Manufacturers in northeast Indiana who are capacity-constrained today should not plan around this line being available before the end of the decade.

What Indiana Manufacturers Should Do Right Now

Today's stories converge on a single structural problem: Indiana manufacturers are funding three energy infrastructure gaps simultaneously, with no single line item on their bill that names the compounding exposure.

Here is what to do with this before the end of the week.

Audit your corn input contracts. POET's Shelbyville expansion reaches full production in 2028. Lock in forward supply now if you are drawing from corn inputs within 50 miles of Shelbyville.

Model both AES Indiana scenarios for 2027. Pull your current AES rate schedule and run both the refund scenario and the fresh-filing scenario. The January rate increase hits either way — the March rehearing determines what comes after it.

Track FERC Docket EL26-36. The Q1 coal cost-recovery ruling will set the per-quarter precedent for MISO allocation. Know your exposure before the number is set, not after.

Evaluate on-site generation or battery storage if you are capacity-constrained in northeast Indiana. The I&M 765-kV backbone is not arriving before 2032 at the earliest, and an active cost-allocation challenge could push that further. If you are running against capacity limits today, 2032 is not a plan.

For more on how coal retention orders and MISO cost allocation reach Indiana C&I bills, read NIPSCO Schahfer Units Offline: FERC Docket EL26-36 Could Push Coal Retention Costs to Indiana C&I Ratepayers.

For context on the AES Indiana rate case and the data center load terms driving Phase 2, read AES Indiana Locks Google Into $1.3B Infrastructure Deal, What Indiana Manufacturers Need to Watch.