Four developments dropped this week that don't sit in isolation — they sit on top of each other. A $59 million steel expansion in DeKalb County that changes the competitive math for Midwest grating procurement. A December 18 legal deadline tied to coal plants that Indiana ratepayers are already funding whether those plants are running or not. A 765-kilovolt transmission line public comment window closing October 9 that determines whether northeast Indiana facilities shape the route or contest it after the fact. And a $7.54 billion federal loan hanging over Kokomo's battery sector while Samsung SDI quietly converts an auto asset into a utility one. This is your TEG Daily Indiana manufacturing news brief for September 20, 2026.

Nucor Vulcraft $59M DeKalb County Expansion — Why Vertical Integration Changes the Procurement Math

On August 13, Nucor announced a $59 million investment to add a steel grating production line at its Vulcraft Indiana facility in St. Joe, DeKalb County. The plant grows to 127,000 square feet, adds 20 new high-wage jobs, and targets completion by end of 2027. That makes Vulcraft Indiana only the second U.S. Vulcraft location producing steel grating.

What the press release doesn't say: this line will draw feedstock from Nucor's own Crawfordsville sheet mill — the facility they spent $290 million modernizing in 2022. Standalone grating producers buy their feedstock on the open market. When hot-rolled prices peak, their margins compress in ways Nucor's internal transfer pricing can buffer. That is a real cost-structure edge in volatile steel markets. Steel Dynamics' fabrication backlog was up nearly 45% year-over-year in Q2. Majestic Steel added decking capacity in June specifically to chase data center and warehouse work. Demand is strong and new capacity is coming online — which is exactly why Nucor is working to lock in regional grating customers now.

If you are procuring grating for industrial construction projects in the Midwest, the question is whether you are still routing through a distributor who will soon be at a lead-time and pricing disadvantage compared to a direct Vulcraft relationship. That conversation belongs at your next procurement cycle, not the one after it.

NIPSCO Schahfer and CenterPoint Culley — What the December 18 Coal Plant Deadline Means for Your Bill

The D.C. Circuit ruled on September 11. Here is what that ruling means for Indiana operators specifically.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers sent a second letter to DOE Secretary Chris Wright warning that the Trump administration's 90-day emergency orders keeping NIPSCO's Schahfer plant in Wheatfield and CenterPoint's Culley plant in Newburgh online could cost Wisconsin ratepayers an estimated $117 million. That number matters to you because a 2025 FERC order requires those operating costs to be spread across all MISO-member state consumers — and that includes Indiana manufacturers.

Here is the detail almost nobody is reporting: NIPSCO's Schahfer Unit 14 — one of the units under DOE order — has been offline for maintenance since February 2026. Indiana ratepayers have been absorbing must-run cost allocations for a plant that was not generating electricity for most of the order period. NIPSCO's own 2024 Integrated Resource Plan, filed with the IURC, identified Schahfer for retirement — meaning the utility itself judged its resource stack adequate without it.

The D.C. Circuit's September 11 Campbell ruling, which unanimously vacated the equivalent Michigan order, is now the direct legal template for Earthjustice's parallel challenge to the Indiana orders. The current orders run through December 18. Plausible outcomes range from letting the orders lapse, to a narrower renewal covering specific units only, to a Supreme Court appeal. Your procurement team should be modeling cost exposure across all of those outcomes — not betting on one.

I&M Lulu-Sorenson 765kV Line — How to Know If Your Northeast Indiana Facility Is in the Corridor

This story is on a tighter clock than either of the ones above. Indiana Michigan Power is advancing a roughly 75-mile 765-kilovolt transmission line — the Lulu-Sorenson project — running from Huntington County to the Indiana-Michigan state line, passing through DeKalb, Whitley, and Steuben counties. Public comment closes October 9. No final route has been selected yet.

This is the northernmost segment of a three-project I&M buildout adding over 150 miles of 765kV infrastructure in eastern Indiana simultaneously. The adjacent Greentown-Sorenson comment window closes even sooner — September 25. I&M is holding open houses at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne on September 23 and the Steuben Event Center in Angola on September 24, both from 5 to 7 p.m.

The transmission structures are approximately 175 feet tall. The right-of-way corridor is 180 to 200 feet wide. Once a route is filed with Indiana regulators after the comment window closes, the burden shifts to you — you are now intervening against a proposed route rather than shaping the options set. It is still possible to influence, but it is slower, more expensive, and typically requires formal intervention at the IURC. Michigan's parallel ITC Holdings siting battle — where landowners reported their input was ignored entirely — is the template for what happens when operators and property owners do not engage before the filing.

If you have facilities, land holdings, or planned expansion sites in DeKalb, Whitley, Steuben, or Huntington counties, find out now whether you are inside that corridor. October 9 is the last point where you are shaping options rather than contesting a filed route.

Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: What does the December 18 NIPSCO Schahfer deadline mean for Indiana manufacturers' electricity bills?

A: The Trump administration's emergency orders keeping the Schahfer and Culley coal plants online run through December 18, and their operating costs are being spread across all MISO-member state ratepayers — including Indiana manufacturers — under a 2025 FERC cost-sharing order. Schahfer Unit 14 has been offline for maintenance since February 2026, meaning Indiana ratepayers have been absorbing those cost allocations without receiving the generation. Your procurement team should model electricity cost exposure across the range of outcomes before that deadline, not after.

Q: How do I know if my northeast Indiana facility is inside the I&M 765kV transmission corridor?

A: The Lulu-Sorenson right-of-way corridor is 180 to 200 feet wide and runs roughly 75 miles from Huntington County through DeKalb, Whitley, and Steuben counties to the Indiana-Michigan state line. No final route has been selected, which means now — before October 9 — is the window to request corridor maps from Indiana Michigan Power and submit a public comment if your facility, land, or planned expansion is near the proposed alignment. After the route is filed with the IURC, your options shift from shaping the route to formally contesting it.

Q: What happens to Indiana battery jobs if the Samsung SDI DOE loan restructuring fails?

A: The StarPlus Energy joint venture in Kokomo was built around Stellantis EV cell demand that no longer exists at the projected volumes. Samsung SDI is now pivoting the asset toward LFP chemistry for grid storage, but the $7.54 billion DOE loan is structured around the original EV production profile. If the restructuring does not close — or closes on terms that reduce facility scale — nearly 7,000 Indiana battery jobs projected by 2030 are at risk. Any supply chain, workforce pipeline, or capital plan tied to Kokomo battery production should be pressure-tested against an LFP grid-storage volume profile, not the original EV cell forecast.

Three Actions for This Week

Indiana's grid infrastructure is being rebuilt at the transmission layer, the generation layer, and the factory floor — all at the same time, all under contested conditions, all with hard deadlines. Here is where to focus:

1. Northeast Indiana facilities and landowners — engage before October 9. Attend the I&M open house in Fort Wayne (September 23) or Angola (September 24), or submit a written comment before the October 9 close. Identify whether your facility or land is inside the Lulu-Sorenson corridor before the route is filed with the IURC.

2. Have your energy procurement team model the December 18 range now. The plausible outcomes for the Schahfer and Culley orders span a wide cost band. That analysis should be on someone's desk before the deadline, not the week after. For background on how MISO cost allocations flow through to your Indiana electricity bill, the fuel adjustment charges explainer for Indiana C&I operators walks through the mechanics.

3. Pressure-test any Kokomo battery assumptions against LFP grid-storage volumes. If your supply chain, workforce pipeline, or capital plan has any connection to the StarPlus Energy facility, the production profile your assumptions are built on — EV cell volume — is no longer the operative scenario.

Daniel Burke is CEO of Tactical Energy Group, an Indiana-based energy management technology provider. TEG Daily tracks the developments that drive up the cost and complexity of making things in Indiana.