Northeast governors join offshore wind partnership

OFFSHORE WIND: The governors of every Northeast coastal state partner with federal officials to expand workforce and manufacturing-related parts of the regional offshore wind industry. (Associated Press)

ALSO: The country’s first facility for manufacturing offshore wind turbine foundations is expected to create about 500 jobs in a New Jersey town as it recovers from a local refinery cutting back operations. (NJ Spotlight)

GRID:
• Federal regulators begin investigating ISO New England for potential fraud over payments to a now-bankrupt Massachusetts power plant. (Hartford Courant)
• New York regulators approve a permit for a 135 MW battery storage system on the site of a massive New York City fuel oil and gas plant. (Energy Storage News)

UTILITIES: Consumer advocates and Massachusetts’ attorney general express concern that a utility’s plan to purchase three power plants in the Northeast will intensify regional power generation market concentration. (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS: Pennsylvania received over $234 million in gas well impact fees from drillers in 2021, the highest since the pandemic began and slowed down activity. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)

SOLAR:
• An energy developer buys land at a central Maine business park to develop a 3.64 MW solar array. (Mainebiz)
• Organizers of an annual music and renewable energy festival in Vermont find a new home for the event: a plot shared with a planned 2.2 MW solar array. (Rutland Herald)
• In Massachusetts, a solar developer wraps up construction on a 7.3 MW solar farm with a 3.6 MY energy storage system. (news release)

TRANSPORTATION:
• Rhode Island legislators pass a budget that funds a $2.5 million pilot to eliminate fares on a bus route that carries half the state’s riders. (Boston Globe)
• Maine Sen. Angus King has misgivings over a federal gas tax holiday proposal, noting that the tax helps maintain roads. (WABI)

BUILDINGS: A Maryland firm with a large commercial building portfolio in the Washington, D.C., area will purchase renewable energy credits to offset most of its power use in 2022. (WTOP)

BIOMASS: New York lawmakers end their legislative session without addressing a bill to extend an operations contract with a 60 MW biomass facility that powers Fort Drum, leaving its future unclear. (NNY360)

GEOTHERMAL: A much-delayed New York City hotel intends to be the first in the city to be heated and cooled by geothermal energy — if it can overcome new zoning regulations. (Brownstoner)