Northeast prepares for potential outages this weekend

GRID: Although many residents in the Northeast have had their power restored, utilities are preparing for another round of severe winter storms this weekend that threaten further outages. (PowerOutage.US, VT Digger, Boston Herald, NBC5)

ALSO: Constellation Energy’s plan to retire a Massachusetts gas power plant would eliminate the largest customer of the Everett Marine Terminal, highlighting the region’s reliance on the import station for natural gas. (Wall Street Journal, subscription)

POLICY:

• A Delaware court rejects some claims made by the state attorney general in her climate lawsuit against the fossil fuel industry, limiting the scope of the trial but keeping it largely intact. (Associated Press, Bloomberg)
• In testimony to the state senate, experts disagree if current data shows Vermont is on track to meeting its legal mandate to reduce climate emissions. (VT Digger)

REGULATION: A Maryland power and gas supplier has reached a settlement with state regulators to pay $400,000 in customer refunds over allegations of deceptive business practices. (Baltimore Sun)

SOLAR:

• New Jersey regulators reject a waiver request from the developer of a 10 MW floating solar project on the Wanaque Reservoir but approve a waiver for a 5.2 MW solar and battery storage facility on a former Manchester Township landfill. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• The Canton, New York, council will ask for more state funds to be able to further examine a utility-scale solar project. (NNY360)
• The Rotterdam, New York, board extends a utility-scale solar moratorium for another six months as a local committee works to update the town’s solar ordinance. (Daily Gazette)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Maine receives a $15 million federal grant to install almost 600 electric vehicle charging stations across the state. (Portland Press Herald)
• Long Island electric vehicle owners deal with inaccurate or inconsistent charger functionality, availability and pricing across service providers — problems that limit interest in using the vehicles on longer trips. (Newsday)

CLIMATE: This week’s storms battered and partially destroyed a historic Maine lighthouse, raising questions about how to preserve such landmarks amid frequent, intense storms. (Portland Press Herald)

FINANCE: A credit ratings agency downgrades Eversource Energy’s long-term and short-term issuer ratings, as well as its senior debt, over the ​“continuing uncertainty” of the sale of the utility’s three offshore wind projects. (Hartford Business Journal)

HYDROPOWER: A central Maine town debates if it should remove an iconic but long-defunct hydroelectric dam to build a riverfront park and improve fish passage. (Bangor Daily News)