New Hampshire biomass plant files for bankruptcy

BIOENERGY: A New Hampshire biomass power plant files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ends its power offtake contract with Eversource after years of high ratepayer costs. (NHPR)

ALSO: A Vermont dairy farm plans to use federal funds to begin construction this year on four anaerobic digesters. (WCAX)

GRID:

• National Grid seeks state permission to buy liquefied natural gas from Massachusetts’ Everett terminal and keep the facility open while environmentalists and regulators debate whether regional reliability would falter without the facility. (CommonWealth Beacon)
• Maine will use $4.4 million in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds to bolster grid resilience by undergrounding power infrastructure, weatherization and other measures. (news release)
• Scattered power outages in southern New England are expected tomorrow due to a strong wind storm sweeping the region. (WCAX)

CARBON CAPTURE: A Nebraska-based company developing an underground carbon capture and sequestration hub across southwest Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio and West Virginia is sending representatives around to strike deals with landowners for project acreage. (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

SOLAR:

• State officials and residents of the town of Tyre, New York, say they worry a proposed 128 MW solar farm would take up a lot of prime farmland. (Finger Lakes 1)
• The developer of a proposed 80 MW solar farm in Pennsylvania’s Venango Township appeals the local board’s decision to deny its conditional use application, calling that initial rejection ​“arbitrary” and ​“capricious.” (Erie Times-News)
• The New York Power Authority wants developers to file proposals for a 5.2 MW solar project with battery energy storage capacity across two parcels at the State University of New York at Oneonta. (news release)

BUILDINGS: A climate advocacy group’s analysis suggests new buildings constructed in Massachusetts with all-electric systems could help customers save $4,000 every year by 2055 compared to gas users. (RTO Insider, subscription)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Six rest stops along the Massachusetts Turnpike now have new electric vehicle chargers after years of complaints that the originally installed devices should be replaced because they were unreliable. (Boston Globe)
• Three southwest Pennsylvania school districts, including that of Pittsburgh, will collectively use federal funds to buy 75 electric school buses. (Trib Live)

CLIMATE: In Maine, dozens of amphibians and reptiles are seeing climate change and land development destroy their habitats, and the fate of the state’s popular game animals is intertwined with theirs. (Bangor Daily News)