Energy News for week ending June 15, 2018

Deepwater wins again | DAC can work, but… | Pricing Carbon | Save the bees

Good Friday Afternoon.

The awarding of offshore wind contracts continued this week, with Connecticut selecting a proposal from Deepwater Wind. From Renewables Now, “Regulators in Connecticut have selected a proposal by Deepwater Wind to supply 200 MW of offshore wind power to the state, it was announced on Wednesday…The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) said in a press release that 824,830 MWh of power will be sourced from the Revolution Wind complex between Montauk, New York, and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, which could be later paired with FirstLight Power’s 1,168-MW Northfield Mountain pumped-storage facility to allow it to act like a baseload resource. Construction works on the project could start in 2022, with completion targeted in 2023…”

This week, Dave Roberts at Vox.com looks at the pitfalls and possibilities of pulling carbon dioxide out of the air in what’s known as “Direct Air Capture” or DAC. His piece is long and detailed but worth a read. In general he concludes, “DAC itself is a bit of a Swiss army knife, useful in virtually any decarbonization scenario, so the technology seems likely to find a way forward one way or another. In the end, DAC, like most clean energy technologies, is neither a silver bullet nor bull [sugar honey ice tea]. It’s just a promising development in a world that needs all the promising developments it can get.” (My apologies to Mr. Roberts for that edit — but one needs to get past email filters…)

The Massachusetts Senate this week approved an energy bill that Bruce Mohl at Commonwealth Magazine writes, contains, “what is essentially carbon pricing but called it a “market-based compliance mechanism” instead. Massachusetts, as part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, already puts a price on carbon in electricity generation, but the Senate bill would extend that approach to the rest of the economy, including transportation.” Mohl notes that the legislation is supported by National Grid, which released a white paper in which, “The utility said most of the emissions reductions to date have come in the electric generation sector. While progress there needs to continue, Grid said, the bulk of future reductions will need to come in the transportation and heating sectors, where progress has been minimal.”

The last tidbit for this week comes from the News and Observer in New York where Governor Cuomo has a bill waiting on his desk that “will encourage solar farm operators to incorporate bee-friendly vegetation on their properties…the measure would require state agricultural to create new standards for solar energy farms including guidelines for vegetation that attract and protect bees and other pollinating species.”

You can find more events at Northeast Energy News. Have a great weekend.

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

End of the ‘gas rush?’ Renewables, storage reaching cost parity, report finds, Utility Dive

Eversource seeks to revive New England Access Northeast natgas pipe, Reuters

LaFleur defies FERC majority, will consider broad climate impacts of pipelines, Utility Dive

Gas pipeline developers to press build-out hopes in New York, New England, Platts

PUC allows contentious Mariner East 1 pipeline to restart, philly.com

Weymouth: Officials Challenge Waterways Permit for Proposed Compressor Station in Federal Court, WATD-FM

Assessing the Aftermath of Marshall County Pipeline Explosion, The Intelligencer

A Community Cracked Open by Fracking, New York Times

Court rejects fracking company’s appeal in “rule of capture” decision, State Impact

Renewables/Climate Change/RGGI