Century Old | Slow to go | Beware your A/C and Water Heater
Good Friday afternoon.
This week the first two stories we bring you are law related.
First, in Rhode Island the Providence Journal gives us, Century-old state law may decide case involving Invenergy, Burrillville, Johnston and the future of energy in Rhode Island. “The crux of a lawsuit over a water deal between the Town of Johnston and Chicago-based power plant developer Invenergy may come down to six words in a century-old state law. Those words — “other ordinary municipal water supply purposes” — either allow Johnston to sell some of its Scituate Reservoir water to the $1-billion power plant that Invenergy wants to build in Burrillville, or they forbid it, depending on how the phrase is interpreted…The case before Judge Michael A. Silverstein was brought by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Town of Burrillville…They say… [the law] does not allow for trucking water to the proposed power plant in Burrillville. But lawyers for Johnston and Invenergy say just the opposite. The 1915 law leaves room for the sale of water for industrial purposes, and subsequent decisions by the General Assembly and the state Public Utilities Commission do not expressly prohibit agreements of the type between their clients.”
The second story with legal implications comes to us from Massachusetts where the Cape Cod Times reports, Second Falmouth turbine may be slow to go. “Two wind turbines at the town’s wastewater treatment plant have been under a court order since June 2017 never to spin again. While plans are being made to haul Wind 1 off the site, allaying fears of neighbors who have battled the town in court for years, Wind 2 may remain where it stands for some time…Falmouth Town Counsel Frank Duffy said Wind 1 and Wind 2 do not share the same legal status and therefore will not share the same fate…‘Wind 2 exists today without a special permit from the ZBA and it is too late to mount a challenge to its existence,’ he wrote. Moriarty’s decision prevents Wind 2 from operating on the site due to nuisance, ‘but its removal has not been ordered and there are no grounds to do so at this time,’ Duffy wrote.”
The last story for the week comes to us from CSO Magazine Botnet of smart air conditioners and water heaters could bring down the power grid. “If smart appliances that can be remotely controlled over the internet were to be compromised and used in a botnet, attackers could cause local power outages or even large-scale blackouts, according to a presentation given by Princeton University researchers at the USENIX Security Symposium. This new class of attacks was dubbed MadIoT (Manipulation of demand via IoT) by researchers from Princeton’s Department of Electrical Engineering. Instead of directly attacking the supply side of the power grid, attackers could enslave high-wattage IoT devices in a botnet to manipulate the demand side of the grid. While Wi-Fi-enabled high wattage appliances can make life handy, such as being able to remotely kick on the AC or oven before you arrive home after work – either via an app or home assistant such as the Echo’s Alexa or Google Home – devices remotely controlling the appliances could be used by attackers to manipulate the power demand. After considering that air conditioners, space heaters, electric water heaters and electric ovens use between 1,000 to 5,000 watts of power, the researchers came up with three attack types which were tested on state-of-the-art simulators of real-world power grid models. The results ranged from causing local power outages to large-scale blackouts.”
That’s all for this week. Have a great weekend.
Natural Gas/Oil/Pipeline/Drilling
Century-old state law may decide case involving Invenergy, Burrillville, Johnston and the future of energy in Rhode Island, Providence Journal
Rivera: ‘Plenty of fault to go around’ for gas leak, The Eagle-Tribune
Generators, electric utilities spar over pipeline funding in FERC fuel security docket, Utility Dive
Intervenors Slam New England EDCs’ Gas Play at FERC, RTO Insider
Midwest Utility Turning to Cows, Landfills for a Gas Alternative, Bloomberg L.P.
Quincy mayor halts National Grid permits until company ends worker lockout, Patriot Ledger
National Grid lockout of 1,200 workers drags on, CommonWealth Magazine
Agencies play tug of war over pipeline protection, E and E News
Renewables/Climate Change/RGGI
BREAKING: EPA moves to replace Clean Power Plan with modest carbon regulations, Utility Dive
Can New York meet its own energy initiatives?, City and State NY
Will MA hydro contract increase, or decrease, emissions?, CommonWealth Magazine
Advocates say clean energy bill falls short, The Eagle-Tribune
Vermont’s Role In Carbon Storage And The Emerging Carbon Markets, VPR Digital
Smoke, carbon monoxide from California wildfires drifting all the way to the East Coast, CBS News
Fossil-free ‘opt up’ to renewable energy gaining traction in Somerville, Wicked Local Somerville
Rollback of Clean Power Plan means NH utilities may avoid expensive retrofits, New Hampshire Union Leader
Green Development Holds Job Fair, Looks to Hire Hundreds of Contractors and Employees, GoLocalProv
Vermont’s Renewable Energy Use Increases, But Not Enough Says Report, The Bridge
Wind
The U.S. is on the verge of an offshore wind revolution, Yale Climate Connections
Wind energy potential dwarfs today’s electricity use, report says, Press of Atlantic City
U.S. Wind Power Is ‘Going All Out’ with Bigger Tech, Falling Prices, Reports Show, Inside Climate News
Savoy wind turbine project concedes defeat, Berkshire Eagle via National Wind Watch
New quieter hammer for offshore wind farms tested, BBC
NYS Exposed: Cuomo critics say Rochester, upstate, will bear burden for L.I.,N.Y.C. wind power, WHEC
Second Falmouth turbine may be slow to go, Cape Cod Times
Cattaraugus County Legislature asks IDA to limit wind project tax breaks, Olean Times Herald (NY)
Connecticut Finally Makes a Commitment to Offshore Wind, Connecticut Magazine
Fishing Report: So far, so good for anglers near Block Island Wind Farm, Providence Journal
Ratepayer-funded offshore wind a boon to state’s labor, air quality, Press of Atlantic City
Solar
Tesla Batteries and Solar Panels Create Energy Islands in Vermont, The Bridge
Here comes the sun: How Hampshire College moved to 100 percent solar energy, PRI
490-acre solar farm proposal raises concerns in Farmington, Kennebec Journal
New Milford Pulls Tax Benefits From Solar Power Company, USA Patch
Maine’s top court says appeal of changes to solar incentives must go to lower court, Portland Press Herald
State officials celebrate 10.2 megawatt solar farm in Wareham, Wareham Village Soup
Ameresco, BlueWave Solar complete 16.2MW of community PV projects in Massachusetts, PV Tech
New York unveils new toolkit to drive solar on brownfields, Utility Dive
Energy Efficiency/Storage
How power storage technologies are about to disrupt the energy industry, Capgemini
Boston councilor wants new buildings to be more energy efficient, Boston Herald
ACES Award winners in MA show diversity in energy storage solutions, Daily Energy Insider
EVs
Surging Demand for Electric Vehicles, Bloomberg L.P.
Nuclear
Are Coastal Nuclear Power Plants Ready for Sea-Level Rise?, Hakai Magazine
NRC finishes inspection of Seabrook nuclear plant, Daily News of Newburyport
NRC Takes No Issue With Aging Concrete at Seabrook Nuclear Plant After Inspection, NHPR
Markets/Grid/Policy/Prices/Etc.
Why “crashing the grid” doesn’t keep cyber experts awake at night, Axios
Botnet of smart air conditioners and water heaters could bring down the power grid, CSO
The Utility Industry Marvels at the ‘Profound’ Impact of Economy-Wide Electrification, Greentech Media
Mitsubishi subsidiary buys pair of Boston energy companies, Boston Business Journal (subscriber content)
Energy companies dominate list of top spenders on lobbying in Mass., Boston Globe
Group that helps shape electricity markets in New England wants to keep its meetings secret, Concord Monitor
Otis Microgrid Nearly Ready and Poised to Make Some Energy History in Massachusetts, Microgrid Knowledge
NEPOOL Debates Fuel Security, Cost Allocation, RTO Insider
Sides square off on Seacoast transmission-line plan, New Hampshire Union Leader
Officials ask CMP to compensate Franklin County as part of transmission line deal, Portland Press Herald
National lab eyes blockchain for energy grid security, GCN
Experts fear new EPA regulations can create higher pollution levels in Maine, WMTW
Editorial/Opinion
Another View — Patricia Martin: BIA is looking backwards in backing Granite Bridge, New Hampshire Union Leader
My Turn: Kevin Cleary: Preserving our pristine environment, Providence Journal
How’s the climate treating you?, The Martha’s Vineyard Times
As I See It: Tired arguments and urgent need relegate anti-renewable energy arguments to dustbin, Telegram
The need remains for Northern Pass, New Hampshire Business Review
Quebec hydro isn’t a good fit for Mass., CommonWealth Magazine
Voters take issue with solar projects, Daily Hampshire Gazette via Energy Central
Lockout harms new facility’s completion, Lowell Sun
Northeast Energy News 