Energy News for week ending November 2, 2018

Offshore Wind Impacts | Delay Granted | New Flow

Happy Friday afternoon folks. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been reading this week.

From WorkBoat.com, “A four-year study of planned wind energy areas off the East Coast found that building and operating offshore wind energy arrays could affect some of the region’s most commercially valuable fish species. The report by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was written to help the federal Bureau of Offshore Energy Management to evaluate development plans for eight offshore wind energy leases issued by the agency…High on the list of potential impacts are habitat for black sea bass and Atlantic cod, which use patches of gravel and rougher bottoms on the largely sandy outer continental shelf. Sea scallops, the highest dollar value species on the East Coast, are found in all the WEAs with the most significant overlaps in New England, according to the report. Surf clams and ocean quahogs – harvested for canned chowder, frozen clam products and other processed seafood – are found in most of the WEAs. Advocates for the sea clamming fleet have insisted BOEM needs to set minimum distances of two nautical miles between wind turbine towers or their boats will effectively be shut out of fishing those areas.”

The Worcester Telegram via the State House New Service reports that “Environmental activists in Maine are celebrating a decision by regulators in that state to delay consideration of the transmission line project that Massachusetts officials are counting on to deliver hydropower from Canada. Intervenors in the Central Maine Power Company transmission line case before the Maine Public Utilities Commission asked the panel this week to suspend hearings, citing documents recently submitted by the company that ‘are highly relevant to critical issues in the proceeding and contradict statements in the record that have been made by CMP.’…Sue Ely, a Natural Resources Council of Maine attorney, said the delay was ‘a welcome acknowledgment that this process has been moving too fast for a thorough analysis of this massive, incredibly complex and flawed project.’”

You know we love to bring you news of new energy technologies so the last tidbit for this week comes from Science. “Batteries already power electronics, tools, and cars; soon, they could help sustain the entire electric grid. With the rise of wind and solar power, energy companies are looking for ways to keep electrons flowing when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind ebbs. Giant devices called flow batteries, using tanks of electrolytes capable of storing enough electricity to power thousands of homes for many hours, could be the answer. But most flow batteries rely on vanadium, a somewhat rare and expensive metal, and alternatives are short-lived and toxic. Last week, researchers reported overcoming many of these drawbacks with a potentially cheap, long-lived, and safe flow battery. The work is part of a wave of advances generating optimism that a new generation of flow batteries will soon serve as a backstop for the deployment of wind and solar power on a grand scale.”

Have a great weekend! Oh, and don’t forget to “fall back” and replace your smoke and carbon monoxide detector batteries.

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

Burrillville power plant project dealt another blow, Providence Journal

The Energy 202: Why New York’s new climate lawsuit against ExxonMobil is different, Washington Post

Gas pipes damaged in Mass. with alarming frequency, Boston Globe

Pro-offshore oil group chaired by LePage is run by energy lobbyists, Portland Press Herald

Regulators order work stopped on pipeline that exploded near Monaca last month, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

NJ Senate approves bill to ban fracking waste, NJBiz

Gas Explosions Take Center Stage In Congressional Debate, USA Patch

Council slams gas-safety hearing no-shows, Boston Herald

Coal’s Next Big Thing Could Be the Mini Power Plant, Bloomberg Environment and Energy

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