Energy News for week ending May 11, 2018

Grid Mod in MA | Duck Curve Arrives | All Turbines Mapped

Happy Friday afternoon.

This week we begin with grid mod as the topic and a State House News Service story in the Sentinel and Enterprise that Massachusetts “State officials on Thursday issued an order authorizing utilities to spend $220 million statewide on upgrades to the electrical grid over the next three years, and set up a process that could result in some smart meter investments ushering in more dynamic ways of pricing power. The grid upgrades would be targeted at preventing future outages, allowing areas to more quickly bounce back from a power outage, and better accommodating renewable energy generation…Installing smart meters for every residential ratepayer would cost $1.5 billion, according to the Baker administration, which has opted instead to set up a process that could result in using smart meters in situations where they would render the highest benefits for the least cost, according to an official.”

All of those solar installations out there have brought something bird-like to New England that, from a US perspective, is mostly seen in California. From PV Magazine, “As solar comes to more regions of the United States, it is beginning to alter the dynamics of electricity supply and demand. These are most noticeable on weekend days in the spring, when solar output is high but electricity demand is lower than during the week and not inflated by air conditioning use, as it is in the summer.

The result of this is the “duck curve”, as documented in California. There the output of solar is suppressing mid-day demand, with a steep ramp-up in demand that must be met by other resources as the sun goes down. When coupled with a lack of sufficient flexibility in the rest of the electricity fleet and operation of the grid, this can result in negative prices and curtailment of resources…New England’s grid operator has reported that on April 21 behind-the-meter solar met sufficient demand that for the first time net daytime demand fell to a lower level than overnight demand…the increase in solar led to a fall in the region’s wholesale electricity price to -$2.65 per megawatt-hour around 3 PM.”

We end this week with an article from the Washington Post titled, “Every one of America’s 57,636 wind turbines, mapped.” From the article, “To create the database, the USGS partnered with the Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the American Wind Energy Association. The organizations merged their individual data sets to create a new database that was more accurate and comprehensive than previous efforts. Once they compiled the new database, researchers attempted to visually verify the precise location of each turbine using satellite imagery. They intend to update it periodically in the coming years as the wind industry grows.” The piece not only gets into geographical reasons for why wind is more popular in some parts of the country than others, but also speaks to political climates that create certain disparities.

As always you can find events at Northeast Energy News. Have a great weekend.

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

Energy giant sues Weymouth over pipeline station, saying federal law overrides zoning, Boston Globe

Burner Tips: Collaboration between utilities and environmental groups might not be the norm, but in Massachusetts, the two sides have come together to find mutual solutions, American Gas Magazine

Reducing Methane Emissions Amidst a ‘National Leadership Void,’ BrinkNews.com

CT regulators ignore health and climate destroying methane leaks, Stratford Star

Connecticut Senate votes to gut net metering, extend renewable energy mandate, pv magazine USA

Rick Perry suggests using ‘national security’ to override opposition to pipelines, ThinkProgress

Weymouth compressor station opponents seek stories of illness, Wicked Local

Renewables/Climate Change/RGGI

State Clean Energy Laws Make New England Grid More Resilient, Natural Resources Defense Council

Commission reduces fees for popular renewable energy program, vtdigger.org