Massachusetts company aims to build first commercial fusion plant

FUSION: A Massachusetts company plans to build a 400-MW fusion power plant in Virginia, aiming to be the first commercial-scale fusion generator in the country. (Boston Globe)

SOLAR:

• Cambridge, Massachusetts, signs a deal to buy power from a 135 MW solar development in Illinois, choosing to support a clean energy project in a location where it could displace more emissions than in New England. (Utility Dive)
• Though New York hit its 2025 distributed solar target a year ahead of schedule, the state must make sure to keep up the momentum in the face of growing challenges, environmentalists say. (City Limits)

OFFSHORE WIND:

• A Delaware county denies a wind developer’s request for a permit to build a substation just a week after the project received approval from state environmental regulators. (Delaware Online)
• Maryland county commissioners attempt to buy two parcels of harborfront land to prevent a wind developer from turning them into an offshore wind operations and maintenance facility. (WMDT)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: A Massachusetts fund that collects alternative compliance payments from electricity suppliers unable to meet renewable energy requirements has ballooned to $500 million thanks to an ongoing shortage of available renewable energy certificates. (RTO Insider, subscription)

EMISSIONS: Massachusetts new climate law includes a provision climate activists hope will derail plans to expand private jet facilities at a suburban airport. (Energy News Network)

UTILITIES: Maine regulators approve Unitil’s $72 million purchase of a smaller gas utility in a deal including requirements for the company to monitor and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from its pipelines. (Portland Press Herald, subscription)

CLIMATE:

• Maine’s draft climate plan update calls for the state to get all of its power from renewable sources by 2040 to reduce emissions and lower energy costs for residents. (Maine Public)
• Maryland creates a panel to study ways to reduce the climate impact of the investments made by the state pension and retirement system. (Maryland Matters)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• New York communities are resisting a state mandate to buy only electric school buses by 2027, saying the costs are too high and the needed electric infrastructure isn’t in place. (New York Focus)
• The Quebec-based company that supplied nine Maine school districts with electric school buses rife with safety and mechanical problems plans to file for the Canadian equivalent of bankruptcy, two weeks after laying off 400 employees and shuttering an assembly plant. (Portland Press Herald, subscription)

COMMENTARY:

• With the growth of offshore wind, southern New England is on the verge of an ​“environmental industrial revolution” that will be mutually beneficial for the fight against climate change and labor unions, says a Rhode Island union boss. (Providence Journal)
• Raising Maryland’s gas tax would help address a deficit in the state’s transportation trust fund, allowing the state to improve its transportation infrastructure while also fighting climate change, says an area editorial board. (Capital Gazette)