UTILITIES: As large utilities across the country oppose net metering expansion, a small, nonprofit utility in Rhode Island successfully lobbies for the right to buy more solar power from its customers. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: Vermont’s Green Mountain Power has been a leader on microgrids and battery storage solutions, advising other utilities along the way. (Time)
CLIMATE:
• Vermont Climate Council subcommittees present draft recommendations, including adopting a clean heat standard, incentivizing electric vehicle purchases, and taking other steps as part of a climate plan due at the end of the year. (VTDigger)
• Environmentalists claim New Jersey has fallen behind other members of the U.S. Climate Alliance and is failing to live up to emissions reductions promises it made at the start of the Trump administration. (E&E News)
• Environmental advocates praise Massachusetts’ sweeping climate plan passed in March, but say the state needs to focus on taking action to achieve the emissions reductions goals it laid out. (Berkshire Eagle)
OIL & GAS: Brooklyn environmental activists sue to stop construction of a planned National Grid natural gas plant in the borough. (Brooklyn Paper)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission allows moped sharing company Revel to bring a fleet of Tesla taxis to the city after at first blocking the launch. (Gothamist)
• Princeton, New Jersey, approves funding to build four electric vehicle charging stations at its municipal building for shared use with city vehicles. (CentralJersey.com)
• Reading, Pennsylvania, officials plan to select sites to build more chargers in the city by late August, with formal funding requests to follow. (Reading Eagle)
SOLAR:
• Tesla’s solar deployment is on the rise once again, potentially raising fortunes for the Buffalo, New York, SolarCity plant that was meant to produce solar roofs. (Buffalo News)
• Solar and storage installer Sunnova announces a partnership with National Grid to provide voltage support across Massachusetts and Rhode Island. (news release)
TRANSMISSION: The New York Power Authority says its replacement of a 100-mile transmission line in northern New York is one-third complete. (Watertown Daily Times)
NUCLEAR: Federal regulators approve the transfer of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant to a decommissioning company. (Brattleboro Reformer)
TRANSPORTATION: Sea level rise will prove a “grave challenge” for Boston’s public transit system, a study warns, with researchers urging the city to build up its coastal infrastructure to ward off flooding. (Boston Globe)