Microgrids spread in Massachusetts

Editor’s note: Northeast Energy News is taking a break for the Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll be back Nov. 27.

GRID: Construction hasn’t yet started on a pair of community microgrid projects in Massachusetts, but they’re already inspiring similar projects across the state. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:

• PJM Interconnection says the Maryland grid may be too unstable if the state’s largest coal-fired power plant closes in 2025, but the operator hasn’t yet agreed to take payments to keep it running for three more years. (E&E News)
• New York’s grid operator says it will keep two gas-fired peaker plants online beyond their mandated retirement date over power shortfall concerns in New York City. (RTO Insider, subscription; Reuters)
• Two Massachusetts offshore wind farms face pushback from Cape Cod residents over, among other concerns, unsubstantiated health concerns related to power cables’ electromagnetic fields. (Boston Globe)

BUILDINGS:

• The council of Burlington, Vermont, passes a carbon-impact fee for new or updated buildings heated with fossil fuels and approves a plan to decarbonize a major medical center, but opponents decry the city’s continued reliance on biomass. (Seven Days)
• Maine’s top Democratic lawmaker says he’s working to rescind some heat pump rebate rules that require residents to completely disconnect from back-up fossil-fuel heat sources. (Bangor Daily News)

OFFSHORE WIND:

• A company looking to build an offshore wind farm will spend $10.6 million to invest in New Jersey’s supply chain and ocean tech startup scene. (Associated Press)
• The first turbine has been installed at the 130 MW South Fork Wind farm off the coast of Montauk, New York. (news release)

SOLAR:

• Commercial operations begin at a 10 MW community solar landfill project in central New Jersey. (news release)
• The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority signs an offtake agreement with a 402 MW solar project in Pennsylvania. (news release)

WORKFORCE: In Vermont, a collaboration of business- and energy-focused entities will soon kick off a mentoring program to connect business coaches with energy business owners, helping them overcome workforce and strategy challenges. (Bennington Banner)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Over a year after promoting new hubs to help safely power up delivery workers’ e-bikes, New York City has yet to finish building one. (Streetsblog)

NUCLEAR: Vermont’s Yankee nuclear plant is about two years away from completed decommissioning, but the leftover spent fuel still needs a permanent home. (VT Digger)

COMMENTARY: ​“Rather than signaling the end of the road for public power in Maine,” two professors write of the state’s failed public power ballot measure earlier this month, ​“this vote could be the beginning of a sustained conversation about transforming our utilities.” (Energy News Network)