Energy News for week ending April 5, 2019

IMBY| Maine Boost| Duck Hunting

Welcome to the April 5^th edition of the Northeast Energy News.

This week we start in New Hampshire where the Monadnock Ledger Transcript reports, “A well-known New Hampshire entrepreneur wants to create an home-sized power plant that can provide electricity, heat and hot water using a type of engine that has been around for a century but never really commercialized…Steve Walker, founder of New England Wood Pellet and innovator in the biomass industry, who has founded a tiny company in Peterborough that just got $3 million in federal research money to develop a mini power plant that can fit in your home using a Brayton cycle engine…Walker has assembled a small team and formed a company called IMBY, which stands for “In My Back Yard.” Their goal is to put a Brayton engine combined with a heat pump in a single unit that creates both electricity and heat – known as “combined heat and power,” the most efficient way to generate energy for buildings – and to make it available for about $15,000 installed in a single-family home. If such a unit could provide a home’s electricity, heat, air conditioning and even hot water, as well as act as a backup generator during power outages and possibly make a little money by selling power back into the grid, then there’s definitely a market.”

Now we move east to Maine, where according to the State House News Service via the Worcester Business Journal, “The staff of the Maine Public Utilities Commission has recommended a key certificate for a major hydropower project that could bring major economic and environmental benefits to New England, though staffers acknowledged “adverse and significant” effects on scenic and recreational values in areas near the project. Maine’s Public Utilities Commission staff on Friday night recommended a certificate of public convenience and necessity for New England Clean Energy Connect, a 1,200 megawatt transmission line project running 145 miles from the Canadian border to Lewiston, Maine that is designed to move Hydro Québec power into the region.”

With respect to that bit about “’adverse and significant’ effects on scenic and recreational values,” be sure to check out the Editorial/Opinions section for several items related to that topic.

Our last stop this week is Massachusetts, where PV Magazine reports that we have really lousy weather, especially in the winter, at least when it comes to solar. “Massachusetts goes duck hunting. The state has unveiled a straw proposal of its new Clean Peak Standard, which appears to focus on mitigating future “duck curve” effects, as well as meeting winter peak energy demand. And this is good news for solar + battery storage…the administration of Governor Charlie Baker (R) has compelling reasons for designing the policy whose first draft which was unveiled today in Boston: the Clean Peak Standard. This policy is designed to incentivize energy sources that not only supply zero-carbon electricity, but supply it when it is needed.”

That’s the recap for this week. Have a great weekend!

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

Statewide review of natural gas systems part of budget bill, Boston Herald

Moulton, Trahan: Act now on gas-pipeline safety, Eagle Tribune

New State Regulation Could Cut Emissions From Natural Gas Leaks In Half, Report Says, WBUR

Citizens speak out during Tennessee Gas Pipeline hearing, Reminder Publications

Renewables/Climate Change/RGGI

Get Ready For 1.5¢ Renewable Electricity, Steven Chu Says, Which Could Unleash Hydrogen Economy, Forbes.com

Goodbye to Arguments Against Renewables. New Studies Find them as Reliable and Cheap as Fossils, Microgrid Knowledge

Siting of Renewables Divides Rhode Island’s Land and People, ecoRI news

Wind

We Checked President Trump’s Dubious Claims on the Perils of Wind Power, New York Times