NEW ENGLAND POWER GRID OFFICIALS appear to be having little problem meeting future electricity demand, but most of the new power plants coming on line run primarily on natural gas, increasing the region’s reliance on fossil fuels. ISO-New England, which manages the region’s wholesale electricity market, said on Thursday that an auction conducted on Monday […]
Electricity
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Cape Wind mounting comeback
CAPE WIND, the controversial Nantucket Sound wind farm given up for dead last year when it lost a lucrative pair of utility contracts, is trying to mount a comeback. Jim Gordon, the energy executive who has already invested $100 million in the 15-year-old project, asked the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board earlier this week to […]
Posted inUncategorized
Supreme Court upholds demand-response payments
THE US SUPREME COURT ruled 6-2 on Monday that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the authority to pay major consumers of electricity for commitments to use less power during peak demand periods. The so-called demand response payments, which have been used by federal regulators for more than a decade to help curb peak demand, […]
Posted inEnvironment
Eversource, Grid submit gas pipeline contracts to DPU
THE STATE’S TWO MAJOR ELECTRIC UTILITIES are asking state regulators to approve contracts they have negotiated on behalf of their customers to purchase access to proposed natural gas pipelines. National Grid is seeking approval from the state Department of Public Utilities to enter into separate, 20-year supply contracts with the proposed Kinder Morgan and Access […]
Posted inEnvironment
Politics behind the plug
THERE IS A PATTERN that runs through the energy debate on Beacon Hill. The Baker administration wants to bring new natural gas pipelines into the region; utilities are tasked with arranging the financing. The Baker administration wants to bring hydroelectricity down from Canada; the job of soliciting bids for that work falls to the utilities. […]
Posted inEnvironment, Politics
Enviro groups appeal DPU exclusion
SEVERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOLAR GROUPS are appealing a decision by a Department of Public Utilities hearing officer denying them full intervenor status in a rate case filed by National Grid. The hearing officer, Marc Tassone, ruled on Dec. 17 that the groups could file comments in the case but did not deserve full party status. […]
Posted inOpinion
Clean energy industry: Job numbers solid
By Emily Reichert The December 3, 2015 article “Do clean energy jobs add up?” in Commonwealth Magazine raises questions about the methodology of counting jobs in Massachusetts in the annual report on the clean energy sector prepared for the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. At Greentown Labs based in Somerville, MA, we can speak to what we see […]
Posted inUncategorized
Grid operator confident about this winter
THE POWER GRID OPERATOR IN NEW ENGLAND said it expects to have sufficient supplies of electricity this winter despite concerns about the inadequate capacity of natural gas pipelines coming into the region. Officials at ISO-New England said they have secured obligations for 31,058 megawatts of power this winter, well in excess of what they are […]
Posted inOpinion, Uncategorized
Net metering is not a subsidy
CONTRARY TO UTILITY ASSERTIONS, net metering is not a subsidy. It’s mechanism that allows solar owners to receive credit, similar to rollover minutes on a cell phone plan, for power they feed into the grid. In Massachusetts, the Department of Public Utilities has determined the value of solar power to be near retail electricity rates. S […]
Posted inEnvironment
Lawmakers go home, turn lights out on solar bill
THE HOUSE AND SENATE failed to agree on net metering legislation Wednesday night and recessed until next year, leaving the state’s fast-growing solar industry stalled in a regulatory limbo. Solar developers have been pressing the Legislature for more than six months to raise the cap on net metering before the holiday recess, warning that failure […]