New York won’t offer contracts to latest offshore wind bids

OFFSHORE WIND: New York decides not to offer contracts to several offshore wind projects pitched in a recent solicitation that had received provisional approvals, noting design changes had ​“materially altered” the plans. (Reuters, Politico)

ALSO:

• The mayors of two New Jersey shore towns involved in a lawsuit against the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project express disappointment that the judge dismissed their case for a lack of standing. (The Press of Atlantic City)
• A Delaware legislative committee later this week will discuss a bill and accept public comments on meeting the state’s net-zero goals and soliciting offshore wind power. (news release)

FOSSIL FUELS:

• Pennsylvania’s attorney general files 13 misdemeanor charges against Shell Falcon Pipeline for repeatedly underreporting industrial waste spills during the construction of an ethane cracker in Beaver County. (Allegheny Front, news release)
• Massachusetts energy officials and the state attorney general’s office ask the state utilities agency for more climate planning stipulations for the Everett Marine Terminal before new supply contracts are approved, but stop short of opposing the contracts. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A western New York county cuts taxes for the retired Somerset coal plant, although the agency’s chair noted there has ​“not been a lot of communication” from the plant about its future. (Buffalo News)

GRID: New York’s grid operator launches new market rules setting a minimum 10 kW capacity for distributed energy resources to participate in the wholesale markets, the first-such program of its kind in the country created in response to a 2020 federal regulator’s order. (Utility Dive)

POLICY: New York’s Assembly didn’t include a gas transition proposal known as the NY HEAT Act in the latest state budget, despite seemingly little public opposition. (NY Focus)

INCINERATION: Increasing incineration of shredded tires to power operations at Maine’s two largest paper and pulp mills has led to more zinc-heavy ash pollution. (Maine Monitor)

SOLAR:

• New Jersey’s biggest integrated health network signs a 30-year deal with an infrastructure firm to develop a 30 MW solar array with storage, which will be the largest such project owned by an American not-for-profit health care provider. (news release)
• Lawmakers in Tompkins County, New York, advance plans for a 65-acre solar and battery storage facility on a former landfill in Ithaca. (Ithaca.com)
• The University of Maryland plans to install three solar canopies at its properties by 2026, aiming to save $12 million over a decade by doing so. (Baltimore Business Journal)
• A Massachusetts town will consider new bylaws codifying updates to how solar projects should be designed, constructed, operated and removed at its annual meeting in June. (Greenfield Recorder)
• A Rhode Island-based discount retail chain plans to add rooftop solar to over a dozen stores across the Northeast. (NJ Biz)

TRANSIT: New York City transit reporters say their attempt to understand how a bridge will be tolled under the Manhattan congestion pricing plan led to conflicting answers and ​“bizarre exchanges” with city officials. (Gothamist)

HYDROPOWER: Conservationists say a proposed $2.5 billion hydroelectric pumped storage facility would flood hiking trails, forest land and residential properties in York County, Pennsylvania. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

UTILITIES: Plans to adopt a municipal power aggregation model in Quincy, Massachusetts, could save residents up to 26% on their electric bills. (Patriot Ledger)

BUILDINGS: New England’s building stock is responsible for a lot of the region’s emissions, and solutions to that problem range from building air-tight, well-insulated new homes to deep retrofits of existing properties. (WBUR)