Big money for the future of fusion

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Northeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

NUCLEAR

• Massachusetts’ Commonwealth Fusion Systems raises an additional $1 billion — for a total of $4 billion, so far — as it aims to bring its first reactor online next year. (Canary Media)

• The nuclear plant at Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island is on track to start producing power again by the middle of next year, but many neighbors are still worried about the safety of restarting the facility famous for a partial meltdown in 1979. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

• Researchers at the University of Maine are developing sensors that can endure the extreme heat and radiation created by nuclear fusion. (WFVX Bangor)

CLIMATE

• A federal judge seems to express skepticism about the legal underpinnings of New York’s ​“climate superfund” law, which would require fossil fuel companies to pay a total of $75 billion toward dealing with the impacts of climate change. (E&E News)

THERMAL ENERGY

• Some of Boston’s most energy-intensive institutions are collaborating on a project testing out the possibility of using the ocean’s thermal energy stores to heat and cool their buildings. (WGBH)

STORAGE

• A New York developer plans to build a 500-MW battery storage facility in a Massachusetts suburb. (Lowell Sun)

• Maryland labor leaders and lawmakers rally to support several planned battery storage developments, even as a group of locals argue that one of the proposals, a 500-MW facility, would mar the landscape and could compromise water quality in a nearby creek. (WBAL, Maryland Matters)

DATA CENTERS

• Federal regulators approve the sale of an old Maryland coal plant to a company planning to convert the facility to run on natural gas to power a massive data center. (Baltimore Banner)

• Residents of Lowell, Massachusetts, ask courts to rule that the state violated their rights by failing to hear community feedback before signing off on an air quality permit for a local data center’s plan to add more diesel backup generators. (WBUR)

TRANSPORTATION

• Maine adds a diesel-electric hybrid car ferry — the first in New England — to its fleet. (Midcoast Villager)

SOLAR

• Two months after New York state lawmakers passed a bill authorizing plug-in solar, officials and advocates are pushing Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to sign the measure into law. (PV Magazine)

WORKFORCE

• Hochul announces $13 million in funding for clean energy workforce development. (Brooklyn Eagle)