New Jersey LNG export facility given three more years to build

FOSSIL FUELS: The developers of what would be New Jersey’s first liquefied natural gas export terminal can have three more years to construct the facility, a regional commission decides. (NJ Spotlight)

ALSO:
• Richard Glick, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chair, says New England’s LNG imports are ​“not a sustainable solution,” instead encouraging new transmission lines and energy storage solutions. (E&E News)
• Federal energy regulators met yesterday in Burlington, Vermont, for a winter gas forum that considered looming regional energy cost increases and brought together stakeholders sharing their solutions. (Hartford Courant)

OFFSHORE WIND:
• A federal judge decides that General Electric infringed on Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy’s patent to develop its Haliade-X wind turbines; GE can no longer sell those turbines in the U.S. but can still use them for its current Massachusetts and New Jersey projects. (Reuters)
• In Rhode Island, An organization of recreational saltwater anglers are fighting against plans to bury a power transmission cable from the Mayflower Wind project under a river. (ecoRI)
• A conservation nonprofit and Empire Wind’s developers extend a large whale acoustic monitoring agreement so data can be collected throughout the wind project’s different construction phases in the New York Bight. (news release)

SOLAR:
• Officials in Augusta, Maine, won’t have a chance to weigh in on two solar arrays being installed at highway exits, frustrating some who wanted to have input on the projects. (Kennebec Journal)
• Kent County, Delaware, officials draft an ordinance restricting large solar projects to a small zoning district. (Delaware Business Times)

HYDROGEN: A global industrial gases firm plans to build a 35 MW electrolyzer plant to support hydrogen production at a site in Niagara Falls, New York. (news release)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Pennsylvania puts an income limit on its electric vehicle rebate program but expands the subsidy amounts up to $3,000. (WHYY)

PUBLIC TRANSIT: Within three years, Boston intends to add 100 new public bike share stations, make bicyclist-friendly road alterations and ensure that half the city’s residents are within a three-minute walk to a safe bike route. (news release)

GRID:
• New York grants $16.6 million for long-duration energy storage projects that incorporate renewable energy but announces it will also consider another $17 million worth of such projects. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A large hydroelectric facility in western Massachusetts installs the region’s first vehicle-to-grid bidirectional charging station, as well as two single-direction stations. (Hydro Review)

AFFORDABILITY:
• Volatile gas prices and gas supply transportation constraints are helping drive up energy prices across New England, but those prices are rising unevenly in the region. (WBUR/NHPR)
• A Maryland utility faces pushback from a state consumer advocate over its proposal to hike rates by $37.5 million over three years for infrastructure and customer service projects. (Salisbury Daily Times)