Controversial gas pipeline breaks ground in New York

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.

FOSSIL FUELS

• Trump administration officials attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a controversial $1 billion pipeline intended to carry natural gas from Pennsylvania, under waters off New Jersey, and into New York. (New York Times)

• The Philadelphia Gas Commission delays a vote on allowing the city’s gas utility to build a new liquefied natural gas plant, a plan the commission staff and public advocate both recommended rejecting. (WHYY)

AFFORDABILITY

• Maryland’s Democrat-controlled legislature passes a major energy bill that will pare back state energy-efficiency efforts and allow competitive suppliers to offer longer contracts in an attempt to save money for consumers. (Maryland Matters, Maryland Matters)

• Maine will develop a pilot program aimed at educating consumers about how to save money by shifting their power use to times of day when electricity prices are lower. (Maine Public)

NUCLEAR

• New York state expects to select a community to host a new 1-gigawatt nuclear plant some time this year. (Bloomberg)

• Massachusetts activists urge state lawmakers to remove from a pending energy bill provisions that would make it easier to develop nuclear power plants. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

GEOTHERMAL

• A Vermont affordable housing development will be home to the state’s first neighborhood-scale geothermal loop despite losing federal funding for the project. (Canary Media)

• The U.S. Department of Energy announces a $14 million project testing the potential of enhanced geothermal power in Pennsylvania, including the conversion of a horizontal shale gas well to geothermal. (news release)

GRID

• PJM Interconnection proposes a plan to hold a one-off procurement for 14.9 GW of new energy resources in order to avoid electricity shortfalls due to data-center demand growth. (Utility Dive)

DATA CENTERS

• Bangor, Maine, passes a six-month moratorium on data center development to allow city councilors to learn more about potential impacts on energy and water infrastructure. (Bangor Daily News)

TRANSMISSION

• Federal regulators approve market rules for a new 1,250-MW transmission line set to begin delivering Canadian hydropower into New York City next month. (Utility Dive)

COMMENTARY

• New England should build more nuclear capacity alongside solar, wind, and storage projects, to help stabilize the power supply as the region heads into a clean-energy future, says a Massachusetts-based climate advocate. (WBUR)n

NEW FROM CANARY

• This Ohio county put a ban on wind and solar. Will voters reverse it? — Kathiann M. Kowalski

• Stegra lands funding to complete world’s first major green-steel mill — Maria Gallucci

• Georgia Power will now let data centers bring their own clean energy — Jeff St. John