Energy News for week ending June 7, 2019

Crowd-sourcing | Permit denied | Transformation

Happy beautiful Friday afternoon folks.

Let’s get to the news.

From CommonWealth Magazine, “Crowd-sourcing energy efficiency. Eversource Energy on Wednesday began offering businesses and homeowners incentive payments ranging from $20 to $1,000 a year if they allow the company to tap into devices that would allow the utility to remotely retrieve electricity stored by customers or lower their energy usage at peak demand periods. Developed as part of the state’s $2.8 billion, three-year energy efficiency program, Eversource said the incentive payment program would target customers with electric vehicle chargers, battery storage devices, or wireless thermostats. Customers with vehicle chargers or battery storage systems would allow Eversource to remotely link to the devices ‘a few hours a month,’ drawing electricity that would be shifted on to the regional power grid at peak demand periods. For homeowners with wireless thermostats, Eversource would remotely turn down the temperature on very hot days and help reduce demand on the power grid. By aggregating the devices of several thousand customers, Eversource estimated it could reduce the need for new power plants and transmission facilities. The company described the energy impact of the program as the equivalent of taking 20,000 homes off the power grid at peak demand times.”

Another pipeline permit is denied according to a story from Crain’s NY Business, “NJ joins NY in denying permits for hotly contested natural-gas pipeline. New Jersey regulators followed New York’s in denying key permits for the Williams Transco pipeline Wednesday, prompting its developer to promise to reapply in the Garden State. The proposed $1 billion pipeline, from Tulsa-based William Cos., would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania through New Jersey, under a bay and the ocean to New York. The company says the pipeline is necessary to ensure adequate heating fuel for the New York region. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection rejected the permits—including one for waterfront development and wetlands works—without prejudice, meaning the company can try again. The company was similarly rebuffed by New York regulators for a water-quality permit last month. The developer has reapplied there as well. In the meantime, National Grid has stopped processing new applications for natural-gas hookups in its Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island service territories until the project is approved.”

The last highlight for this week is a story you can read or listen to and comes from WBUR, “New England’s Electric Power Grid Is Undergoing A Transformation. Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association, says the region has a problem: ‘It’s really hard to be half pregnant, but we’re trying.’ The problem: We’re creating a hybrid power grid, an electric-generating network that runs on a changing combination of fuels and technologies. He says the system is more complex and less predictable than the grid we had just a few years ago.”

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

Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling

Offshore drilling ban gets airing, Salem News

Healey intervenes in suit over oil transport, Cape Cod Times

Latest Federal Pipeline Safety Proposal Looks To Fix Problems Revealed In Merrimack Valley Gas Fires, WGBH

DEP Shows New Air Quality Data in Compressor Case, Associated Press

Weymouth compressor foes have more time to vet new air quality data, Wicked Local

Williams expects to overcome environmental concerns on Northeast Supply natgas pipe, Reuters

New Jersey joins New York in denying permits for hotly contested natural gas pipeline, Crain’s New York

Latest Federal Pipeline Safety Proposal Looks To Fix Problems Revealed In Merrimack Valley Gas Fires, WGBH

Water a big concern for utilities, but coal ash risk in billions, Bloomberg L.P.

Michael Bloomberg Promises $500 Million to Help End Coal, New York Times