ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Connecticut regulators finalize new rules paving the way for a major expansion of battery storage and electric vehicle charging, part of a broader effort to modernize the state’s electric grid. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: A New York energy office and the city of Lockport will host an electric vehicle test driving event this weekend. (Lockport Union-Sun & Journal)
NATURAL GAS:
• Pennsylvanians may feel they must choose between gas jobs and environmental protection, but activists say that’s a “false choice” as decarbonizing the state will bring plenty of green jobs. (WESA)
• Severe flooding damages a New York State Electric and Gas natural gas system in a small Finger Lakes town, requiring crews to enter every ratepayers’ home to relight appliances. (news release)
GRID: Eversource prepares for unclear but possible grid impacts in Connecticut and Massachusetts as Tropical Storm Henri targets New England. (New Haven Register, WHDH)
SOLAR:
• A New Hampshire energy siting board opts not to review plans to site a 16 MW solar array near a wetland home to endangered species, despite a petition from activists demanding the state take over consideration from local officials. (New Hampshire Public Radio)
• Despite some local opposition, a Long Island, New York, town approves its fifth solar installation, a 22.9 MW array. (Riverhead Local)
COAL: A Pittsburgh-area planning board roundly rejects a developer’s request to rezone a significant amount of township land to accommodate an underground coal mine; the developer says it has the right to build one. (Allegheny Front)
TRANSPORTATION: Washington, D.C., earmarks $10 million to purchase a possible landing sight for a gondola project to connect Georgetown to a busy commercial zone or even a subway station; opponents have derided the gondola plan as an unnecessary luxury transportation option. (Washington Post)
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• A trade group for power plant operators and several labor unions want New York regulators to allow nuclear, hydrogen and “cleaner forms of gas” to take advantage of its clean energy subsidies program. (Times Union)
• In southeastern Pennsylvania, a multi-county planning commission is authorized to hire a consultant to explore renewable energy strategies and long-term power purchase agreements. (WFMZ)
CLIMATE:
• Protecting homes and businesses in New Jersey’s back bays from “climate change-fueled” storm surges may cost $16 billion, according to a federal assessment of plans to install barriers and related protection structures. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
• A 1993 heat wave in Philadelphia killed 118 people in the city’s most vulnerable communities, but lessons learned from that summer have since informed how city officials help residents escape the heat. (Washington Post)
HYDROELECTRIC: Maine officials intend to deny Brookfield Renewable’s Shawmut Dam on the Kennebec River a necessary permit over concerns that endangered Atlantic salmon are among the fish unable to navigate the dam. (Bangor Daily News)
WIND: Vineyard Wind developers select Jan De Nul Group and subcontractor JDR Cable Systems to supply and install its dozens of miles of transmission cables. (news release)
UTILITIES:
• A proposed National Grid rate hike is delayed until at least March while state regulators and the utility work on a settlement agreement. (Times Union)
• Con Edison CEO Timothy Cawley discusses the large investor-owned utility’s climate plans in the context of alarming international climate reports. (NY1)
NUCLEAR: A northern New York nuclear plant receives a federal grant to explore on-site hydrogen production. (Oswego County News Now)