Empire Wind gets final green light

WIND: New York regulators give the developers of Empire Wind, an 810 MW facility off the Long Island coast, the last state-level certificate needed to begin construction this month. (Newsday, news release)

ALSO:

• Federal records show a specific soil type could derail installation of a significant number of turbines for the New England Wind project, although developer Avangrid says it can mitigate the risk. (New Bedford Light)
• The University of Maine, a federal lab and a composites firm join together to use one of the largest 3D printers on the planet to print wind turbine blades. (news release)

NUCLEAR: On an earnings call, the owner of Three Mile Island calls the recommissioning of Michigan’s Palisades nuclear plant ​“brilliant” and does not rule out a similar move for the Pennsylvania plant. (PennLive)

MINING: Maine regulators change state mining laws to make it possible for a couple to operate a small-scale mine of a large deposit of a lithium-rich mineral in Newry. (Maine Monitor)

SOLAR:

• New York utility commissioners adopt a solar and storage program to automatically provide community solar bill credits to ratepayers in disadvantaged neighborhoods in the state’s energy affordability program. (Spectrum News 1; E&E News, subscription)
• Maryland kicks off new incentives for low-income households, providing up to $7,500 per household for solar panel installation. (news release)
• A solar panel manufacturer developing an upstate New York facility celebrates new federal tariffs being imposed on Chinese imports. (WWNY)

UTILITIES:

• New York lawmakers are introducing a bill to facilitate a public takeover of a Hudson Valley utility that has been accused of overbilling customers. (New York Focus)
• A Massachusetts town considers selling its local municipal utility to Eversource because the larger utility pays out a higher net metering energy billing rate for and would help expand solar installations, among other reasons. (The Reminder)

EMISSIONS: Rochester, New York, scores rather low on a national nonprofit’s clean energy scorecard despite several programs and policies in place to spur climate action. (Democrat & Chronicle)

GRID:

• Some ISO New England planning committee members say it’s too expensive to undertake a $491 million refurbishment of a deteriorating power line on the New Hampshire-Vermont border that was only just repaired in 2008. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• ISO New England reelects three current board members for additional three-year terms. (RTO Insider, subscription)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: New York City’s top fire official praises the advancement of a federal-level e-bike battery oversight bill, saying that it will ​“essentially ensure that lithium-ion batteries in the American market are safely manufactured.” (The City)