Northeast Energy News

Round 3 | Shutesbury Solar | Sweat Energy

Happy Friday folks.

I hope everyone has had a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather the past couple of days.

Two big pieces of news out of Massachusetts this week. The first from Jon Chesto at the Boston Globe, “Governor Charlie Baker’s administration has kicked off the state’s third round of bidding for offshore wind energy contracts, and this one has the potential to be the biggest yet. State officials are soliciting bids for up to 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind electricity this time around. To put that in perspective, the Vineyard Wind development team won the state’s first round of offshore wind energy bids in 2018, to deliver 800 megawatts to Massachusetts electricity customers. That was enough power for more than 400,000 homes. The Mayflower Wind team won the second round in 2019, with a similarly sized proposal. State officials hope that by offering the opportunity to go bigger, economies of scale can help control costs and logistics for the industry, particularly with regard to power lines to bring that electricity to the mainland. The rules for the new round of bidding were filed with the Department of Public Utilities on Wednesday.”

And out of Western Mass, Shutesbury to be exact, we have a story from Scott Merzbach at the Daily Hampshire Gazette, “Five solar projects that combined would become possibly the largest such renewable power source in the state — and which would also bring significant revenue to the town — are being proposed for development. Amp Energy of Ontario, Canada, is taking the initial steps to use up to 190 acres of forested land, owned by W.D. Cowls Inc., for the arrays that would generate 45 megawatts of power. That’s enough power to serve 5,000 households, the company said. ‘To my knowledge, this would be the largest in Massachusetts,’ Evan Turner, a representative for Amp, told the Select Board and Planning Board during a presentation earlier this month. Turner said the company already holds a lease option for the sites for the ‘very large proposal as a group of projects.’  Before moving forward with the plans, though, the company would like to pursue what is called a municipal partnership model that would generate $450,000 for the town in the first year of payment in lieu of taxes.”

And in what could be bad news for the makers of anti-perspirants, we have this from Microgrid Knowledge, “Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a wearable microgrid that harvests and stores energy from the human body to power small electronics. It consists of three main parts: sweat-powered biofuel cells, motion-powered devices called triboelectric generators, and energy-storing supercapacitors. All parts are flexible, washable and can be screen printed onto clothing.”  Hmmm. Whatever happened to “Never let them see you sweat?”

That’s the recap for the week. Enjoy the weekend and stay safe!

Climate Change

Republican delays action on climate change bill, CommonWealth Magazine

U.S. must slash emissions by at least 57% to meet Paris climate target: report, Reuters

Biden Is Betting His Whole Climate Agenda on Infrastructure, Greentech Media

Rising Sea Levels Inundating Coastal Economies Four Times Faster, Bloomberg Green

Senate to include some Baker ideas into climate bill, WWLP

Arlington Sets 30-Year Plan To Reduce Greenhouse Gases To Zero, Arlington Patch

6 months of summer? Researchers say it’s possible, E&E News (subscriber content)

Renewables/RGGI/TCI

84% of New US Power Plants This Year Will Be Carbon-Free, Intelligent Living

Finding work in the green energy sector, Greenfield Recorder

Conn. Officials Push Back on ‘Gas Tax’ Label of TCI-P, RTO Insider

Wind

Mass. starts round three of bidding for offshore wind energy contracts, Boston Globe

Offshore Wind Pricing Plan Stirring Crosscurrents, State House News Service (subscriber content)

Biden’s interior acts quickly on Vineyard Wind, WWLP

Offshore wind permitting bottleneck expected to ease as Interior completes review of first US large project, Utility Dive

NH Bill Envisions 600-800 MW in OSW Bids, Net Zero Insider

US Offshore Wind Industry Suffers Through Severe Case Of Déjà Vu All Over Again, Again, CleanTechnica

BOEM chief pledges new US offshore wind leases ‘as quickly as we can,’ Recharge

Solar

Proposed combined solar projects in Shutesbury possibly state’s largest, Daily Hampshire Gazette

Lawmakers, including some Democrats, worry Maine’s solar policies too generous, Press Herald

White Plains Installing More Than 1,000 Solar Panels As Part Of Push To Increase Renewable Energy, CBS New York

A Triple-Decker For The 21st Century: Airtight And Solar-Powered, WBUR

Efficiency/Storage

Poll: Home energy upgrades could be challenge, CommonWealth Magazine

Building a better home for Middletown’s MARC a joint effort, Middletown Press

Global climate models may vastly overstate energy savings from efficiency measures, analysis finds, Utility Dive

Federal bills creating standalone storage tax credit raise hopes for significant boost, akin to solar, Utility Dive

The Rise of Energy on Wheels, Microgrid Knowledge

EVs

Electric Vehicles Are the U.S. Auto Industry’s Future—if Dealers Can Figure Out How to Sell Them, Wall St. Journal

U.S. lawmakers propose giving USPS $6 billion for electric delivery vehicles, Reuters

DOE will spend billions on electric vehicle R&D in jobs fight with China, Granholm says, Utility Dive

Electric Cars Are Coming. How Long Until They Rule the Road?, New York Times

Nuclear

What’s the Role for New Nuclear Power in the Fight Against Climate Change?, Greentech Media

PSEG says without $300M ratepayer nuclear subsidy, it will close South Jersey plants, NJ Spotlight News

‘There’s No Town Left’: Fukushima’s Eerie Landscapes, New York Times

Natural Gas/Pipelines/Oil/Drilling

Weymouth councilors seek involvement in compressor station process, Patriot Ledger

Market/Grid/Policy/Prices

Why every state is vulnerable to a Texas-style power crisis, Vox

A Microgrid You Can Wear? Yep. And You’re the Energy Source, Microgrid Knowledge

A total mindshift’: Utilities replace gas peakers, ‘old school’ demand response with flexible DERs, Utility Dive

US climate targets ‘unreachable’ without high-voltage trunklines: FERC chief, Recharge

New York Transco begins construction on 54.5 mile transmission line in upstate NY, Daily Energy Insider

Deregulation Aimed to Lower Home-Power Bills. For Many, It Didn’t, Wall St. Journal

Analysts point to $500B investment gap in climate resilience for electric utilities, Utility Dive

U.S. power use to rise in 2021 as governments ease lockdowns: EIA, Reuters

Not Wanting to Become Texas, New Jersey Grants $4 Million for Microgrid Studies, Microgrid Knowledge

Opinion

3 Massachusetts myths about offshore wind, CommonWealth Magazine

There’s no time to waste — Baker, Legislature must enact the climate bill, Boston Globe

Massachusetts 2020: A warming state, Amherst Wire

Palmer Renewable Energy can’t greenwash its emissions away (Guest viewpoint), MassLive

Keep state’s nuclear plants operating to secure future, Woodstock Independent