Three Mile Island owners seek federal loan for restart

NUCLEAR: The owners of Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear plant are seeking a $1.6 billion, taxpayer-backed federal loan guarantee to help finance its plans to restart and sell electricity to Microsoft. (Washington Post)

ALSO: The Three Mile Island plant will need extensive and rigorous safety inspections if it is to come online again to provide power. (Scientific American)

WIND:

• Central Maine Power, boosted by $425 million in federal funds, will bid to build a long-stalled 111 mile transmission line to carry power from northern Maine wind turbines to the New England grid. (Portland Press Herald)
• Recent procurements by New England states have raised stakeholders’ hopes that the offshore wind industry is starting to stabilize after a wave of project cancellations last year. (RTO Insider, subscription)

GRID: PJM Interconnection refuses to let power generators add battery storage to facilities that have surplus grid capacity, confounding clean energy advocates. (Canary Media)

NATURAL GAS: A proposal to build a natural gas power plant in Newark, New Jersey – the fourth in the same neighborhood – faces intense local opposition from residents who say the plan runs counter to the state’s renewable energy goals. (NJ Spotlight News)

OIL & GAS: A Pennsylvania Republican introduces a bill that would sell state alternative energy credits and use the funds to cap abandoned oil and gas wells. (Pennsylvania Business Report)

SOLAR:

• Maryland has opened applications for a grant program that provides funds to organizations subscribing to community solar and providing the benefits to low-income populations. (The Daily Record)
• A New Hampshire town is taking a second look at whether to allow a solar farm on a long-capped landfill, hearing a proposal for a 2.9-megawatt array. (Seacoast Online)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Electric vehicle ownership in Connecticut is concentrated in wealthy Fairfield County, raising questions about how the state can better encourage more widespread adoption. (CT Post)

TRANSPORTATION: Vermont is holding public meetings as part of its investigation into the possibility of using a cap-and-invest strategy to lower emissions from transportation in the state. (WCAX)

BUILDINGS: A 17-story Boston office building is the first commercial project to use cement made by a Massachusetts company with technology to significantly reduce emissions during the production process. (CommonWealth Beacon)

CLARIFICATION: A Pennsylvania solar bill would not require developers to pay up front for future costs of removing panels. An item in yesterday’s newsletter mischaracterized the bill.