New England grid sees 82% emissions-free power

CLEAN ENERGY: The vast majority of power on New England’s grid on March 30 — 82% — came from emissions-free energy resources, primarily wind and solar power, a feat considered unheard of just a decade ago. (Concord Monitor)

OFFSHORE WIND: Federal tax credits encourage wind project owners to repower their turbines and boost energy output, as is the case at the Twin Ridges Wind Farm near Pittsburgh. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

NUCLEAR: PSEG tells federal energy regulators it will file for license renewals in 2027 for two nuclear plants — a four-year extension for Salem’s units and a 20-year extension at Hope Creek. (World Nuclear News)

GRID:

• Federal energy regulators let PJM Interconnection provide planning expertise to help New Jersey’s public utilities board with its second offshore wind transmission solicitation. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• New England climate activists say federal energy regulators should cancel the results of the regional grid operator’s most recent forward capacity auction for being overly fossil fuel-friendly. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A committee of New England Power Pool participants votes in favor of a two-year delay to the regional grid operator’s next forward capacity auction so it has time to implement new capacity accreditation rules. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Con Edison Transmission and National Grid Ventures propose a transmission build-out to carry 6 GW of offshore wind from New Jersey’s Sea Girt National Guard Training Center to Howell Township. (news release)
• A New York-supported, manufacturing-focused climate tech program selects a Rochester startup creating on-site energy storage solutions for its next technical assistance cohort. (news release)

SOLAR: A farm resort near Scranton, Pennsylvania, receives federal rural energy funds to install enough solar on a building’s roof to power 15 homes. (WVIA)

COAL: The Army Corps of Engineers says it should be able to open a limited-access channel by the end of the month to access Baltimore’s port, through which a notable chunk of the country’s coal exports pass. (BisNow)

UTILITIES:

• Lawmakers in New York’s Monroe County, which includes the city of Rochester, will vote today on studying the feasibility of forming a nonprofit public utility and whether it would lower rates and spur climate action. (Rochester Beacon)
• In Maryland, lawmakers advance a utility transparency bill that would make power utilities publicly detail their votes in PJM Interconnection committees, although an earlier provision to have utilities explain their positions was removed. (Maryland Matters)

BUILDINGS: As some municipalities fight Massachusetts’ transit-oriented development rezoning plan, officials debate how far to take the policy and where to draw the line. (CommonWealth Beacon)

EQUITY: New York City releases a new environmental equity report finding that almost half of city residents deal with ​“disproportionate” pollution burdens and symptoms of climate change. (The Guardian)

TRANSIT: Although New York City is implementing congestion pricing, it’s unlikely to happen soon in Washington, D.C., where the city’s mayor still refuses to release a 2019 city study on the matter. (Axios DC)

COMMENTARY:

• A young Maryland member of a conservative environmentalists’ group writes that his peers can ​“bridge the partisan divide on climate issues” by supporting nuclear power like Larry Hogan, the state’s former governor turned U.S. Senate candidate. (Maryland Matters)
• The Sierra Club’s executive director writes that ​‘tireless activism” and ​“incremental wins” are behind the planned closures of New England’s last coal-fired generation units. (Sierra Magazine)