New Jersey AG: Trump’s anti-wind stance ​“just makes no sense”

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Northeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each morning.

OFFSHORE WIND

• New Jersey’s attorney general explains that he is participating in the 17-state lawsuit against President Trump’s offshore wind actions because the executive order is unlawful, unconstitutional, and ​“just makes no sense.” (Canary Media)

• The University of Maine plans to launch an experimental floating wind turbine next week, despite the Trump administration cutting $12.5 million in federal funding for the project. (Maine Public)

FUSION

• In the suburbs of Boston, a Massachusetts company builds a prototype nuclear fusion power plant with the goal of opening a full-scale generation facility in Virginia by the early 2030s. (CNN)

AFFORDABILITY

• As New Jersey residents face electric bill increases of up to 20% next year, the state legislature advances a package of measures intended to make energy more affordable by establishing a beneficial electrification program, investigating the possibility of small modular nuclear reactors, and requiring new AI data centers to get all their power from renewable sources. (WHYY)

• Customers of a Philadelphia gas utility and environmental advocates ask regulators to reject a requested rate increase and to direct the company to do more to address the climate crisis. (WHYY)

DATA CENTERS

• Constellation Energy shifts its focus to data center projects that connect directly to the grid, rather than co-locating with power plants, months after federal regulators rejected a request for an Amazon data center to draw more electricity from a Pennsylvania nuclear plant. (Reuters)

SOLAR

• Former Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson wants to lease 33 acres of property around his Maryland home to solar developers, but faces stiff opposition from community members who worry the project will destroy scenic farmland. (Baltimore Banner)

• At a hearing on clean energy siting in western Massachusetts, activists ask the state to prevent construction of solar or battery storage projects on previously undeveloped land or too close to residential areas. (WWLP)

EMISSIONS

• Researchers install more than 80 air quality sensors in Chelsea, Massachusetts to give residents real-time information about the pollution levels in the city, which is next to a major highway and is home to several trucking operations. (CommonWealth Beacon)

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• Economic development organizations in southern New York release a plan to expand renewable energy storage and clean transportation manufacturing in the region. (FingerLakes1)

GRID

• Grid operator PJM, clean energy trade groups, and other organizations ask federal regulators to dismiss a complaint asking for do-over of the region’s last capacity auction after it yielded prices that will increase power bills by as much 20%. (Utility Dive)

NEW FROM CANARY

• Startup Inlyte Energy will partner with utility Southern Co. to test whether 1980s-designed iron-salt battery technology can work on a large scale. Julian Spector reports.

• Prisma Photonics’ technology utilizes existing fiber-optic cables to detect disruptions along high-voltage transmission lines, helping utilities avoid the timely, expensive task of building sensors from scratch, Jeff St. John reports.