New Jersey allows offshore wind project pause

WIND: New Jersey utility officials allow Leading Light Wind to temporarily pause development of its planned up-to-100-turbine wind project off of Long Beach Island as the company works to secure a blade manufacturer. (Associated Press)

ALSO: The mayor of Ocean City, Maryland, and several town residents say the structure of a public meeting held this week by federal ocean energy officials about the potential wind development off their shores didn’t allow them to provide input. (WBAL)

GRID:

• A new analysis from PJM Interconnection’s market monitor says faulty market design added unnecessary billions to the latest capacity auction, although the grid operator took issue with several points made in the report. (Utility Dive)
• A Consolidated Edison-commissioned report weighs the problems and opportunities with allowing utilities to own generation in New York, finding it could speed up new development. (RTO Insider, subscription)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Philadelphia agency seeks proposals from companies to install electric vehicle chargers on curbsides and in parking lots for the 11,000 EVs registered in the city, specifying that the work should be done without taxpayer cost and that the city will expect a cut of the revenue. (Billy Penn)

TRANSIT:

• The board of New York City’s transit agency authorizes a massive new five-year capital spending plan, despite a huge funding gap left after the governor paused the traffic congestion tolling plan that was intended to cover it. (The City)
• The state transportation agency releases a new study showing it would cost at least $1.3 billion to expand a highway in the Catskills to save drivers between one to six minutes, a plan that transportation planners and local environmentalists say makes no sense with the state’s decarbonization goals. (NY Focus)

FOSSIL FUELS: Little work has been conducted on long-ignored and extensive pollution in a New Jersey river, but observers worry about the future of 20,000 cubic yards of polluted material generated by a former gas plant. (NJ Spotlight)

BUILDINGS: The founder of a New York City building retrofit startup talks about applying insulated panels embedded with HVAC systems to the outside of older multifamily buildings and the challenge of mass building decarbonization. (Volts)

RESILIENCY:

• A group of Vermont arts and culture organizations gather to learn about how to protect cultural assets and visitors in the face of climate change and natural disasters, including increased flooding. (Seven Days)
• Maine hires its first green schools director, who will handle the sustainability responsibilities typically conducted by a smattering of offices and agencies to implement climate action and resiliency measures. (Portland Press Herald)

EQUITY: In Maine, a new climate plan equity study highlights the difficulty of offering financial incentives for climate action to poorer residents and a need to engage early and often with other vulnerable populations. (Portland Press Herald)

COMMENTARY: Two climate activists write that the collapse of Massachusetts’ climate bill this year will let gas companies keep building soon-to-be-obsolete infrastructure. (Energy News Network)