Can Maine meet its climate targets and keep expanding highways?

TRANSPORTATION: Maine officials want to pair a proposed toll road outside Portland with other projects meant to reduce driving, but advocates and experts say a bigger shift in thinking is needed if the state intends to achieve its goals for reducing transportation emissions. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: JetBlue says it will soon start to receive regular deliveries of blended sustainable aviation fuel for its operations at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. (news release)

BATTERIES: The announcement of a new $147 million federal grant to create the world’s largest long-term energy storage facility in a small town north of Bangor, Maine, has come as a surprise to local officials there. (Bangor Daily News)

FOSSIL FUELS: A private equity firm plans to buy an independent power producer with 5.3 GW of gas-fired capacity across the ISO New England, PJM Interconnection and ERCOT markets for roughly $3 billion, citing plans to ​“meaningfully grow” the generator through gas, renewable and battery storage development. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR:

• Although New York doesn’t appear to be on track to achieve many of its official climate goals, the state is very close to hitting its 6 GW of solar by 2025 target. (The City)
• All of the power from Rhode Island’s largest capped landfill solar project, which was recently brought online, will go to the state’s largest power consumer, a plastics company. (PBN)
• Connecticut’s energy project siting council rejects a 1.5 MW solar project because of the eight acres of trees that would have to be chopped down. (New Haven Register)
• A big New York apple grower and distributor adds enough rooftop solar to completely power its entire facility. (Produce News)
• Rhode Island’s governor is scheduled to sign into law new consumer protections around solar energy sales. (WLNE)

GRID: Eversource begins work to upgrade 30 transmission towers across five central Connecticut towns, aiming to increase reliability and resiliency. (Hartford Courant)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Rhode Island launches a new $750,000 rebate program to help residential properties add electric vehicle charging infrastructure, with just under half of the total funding earmarked for low-to-moderate-income residences. (PBN)

REGULATION: Although the legislative session is over, Massachusetts’ governor urges lawmakers to continue working on energy siting reforms, pointing to $389 million in federal funding announced for the region to undertake transmission and energy storage projects. (Boston Herald)

HYDROPOWER: Burlington, Vermont’s municipal utility will purchase 54 GWh of hydroelectricity through 2025 from FirstLight’s Shepaug Generating Station in Connecticut as part of its goal to source 100% of its power from renewables. (news release)

WIND:

• Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island decide to delay their joint offshore wind solicitation to factor in new federal grid resilience funds that would help interconnect such projects. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• While still in early days, public comment periods and new state laws are laying the foundation for a new Delaware offshore wind industry. (DBT)
• Ørsted is giving $2.5 million to the University of Rhode Island to track biodiversity and abandoned fishing gear for three years at their nearby under-construction project. (PBN)