Rhode Island LNG facility granted 5-year extension

FOSSIL FUELS: Rhode Island regulators decide that a liquefied natural gas facility that was supposed to only operate temporarily in a residential Portsmouth area can stay online for another five years, despite the community’s noise, light and climate pollution concerns. (Newport Daily News)

ALSO: The Portsmouth LNG facility’s five-year extension stops short of the permanent license sought by Rhode Island Energy. (Rhode Island Current)

SOLAR:

• A Northeast solar developer says it will bring just under 20 MW of dual-use projects and almost 20 MWh of storage online in Massachusetts by the end of the year. (news release)
• A 2 MW solar project in Palmer, Massachusetts, uses taller, hardier structures to allow for a herd of Angus beef cattle to roam and graze under them. (Mass Live)
• The town supervisor of Clymer, New York, says he expects a decision on a 5 MW community solar project to be made by October, despite delayed votes on the matter since July. (Corry Journal)
• East Bloomfield, New York, grants a special use permit for a 6.41 MW community solar project. (news release)

GRID:

• Eversource’s transmission line rebuild proposal in New Hampshire could cost Maine ratepayers $32 million, even though less than 8% of the line needs to be replaced. (Portland Press Herald)
• Some NYSEG customers say they’ve seen exponentially higher utility bills since the company installed smart meters at their homes, despite little demand increase or on-site solar panels. (WKBW)
• NYSEG touts its installation of over 700,000 smart meters for its electric and gas customers across upstate New York. (news release)

WIND:

• More Pennsylvania wind projects are getting old enough to be worth repowering using turbines with more generation capacity, an easier process than pushing through a new project but one with complications nonetheless. (Clean Technica)
• In Rhode Island, a Newport council member seeks to schedule a public forum for offshore wind opponents to explain their point of view following an event where opponents ​“disrupted” the question-and-answer period and another at which a ​“brief but chaotic verbal al­tercation” occurred. (WUN, Newport This Week)

BATTERIES: An overnight fire at a New York City electric scooter store sends a firefighter to the hospital, the second time a lithium-ion battery fire had broken out at the same shop. (NYDN)

COMMENTARY:

• A Maine activist writes that while an official analysis comparing the cost of developing either Mack Point or Sears Island for an offshore wind hub hasn’t been done yet, ​“the cost of destroying Sears Island’s 100 acres of forests and wetlands to test 10-12 turbines that could fail is incalculable.” (Portland Press Herald)
• A Consumer Energy Alliance executive argues that Massachusetts can achieve status as a long-term clean energy powerhouse if it maintains a reassuring regulatory and investment environment needed for more projects. (CommonWealth Beacon)