EFFICIENCY: New Hampshire utilities have ramped up energy efficiency spending in new three-year plans that significantly raise targets over current levels. (Energy News Network)
ALSO:
• Six utilities file plans in New Jersey to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next three years on energy efficiency programs. (NJ Spotlight)
• Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signs a bill that incorporates thermal heating and transportation into the state’s energy efficiency programs. (VT Digger)
STORAGE: Batteries in homes of Green Mountain Power customers in Vermont have saved consumers $3 million this year in lower costs during peak hours of demand. (Rutland Herald)
SOLAR:
• A study of home prices over 15 years in Massachusetts and Rhode Island says solar arrays built on farms and forest land can lower values of nearby homes. (Providence Journal)
• A New York town adopts a zoning law that bans ground-mounted solar panels on residential lots. (Post-Star)
• Opponents of a proposed 400-acre solar farm in New York object to having nearly half of its output contracted to Connecticut. (Albany Times Union)
PIPELINES: A county safety operations director tells Pennsylvania regulators everyone within a half-mile of the Mariner East pipeline could not be evacuated in the event a major leak occurred. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)
OFFSHORE WIND: Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse accuses the Trump administration of “slow-walking” offshore wind permitting to help the natural gas industry. (Greentech Media)
UTILITIES: A utility regulation bill in Connecticut that emerged after allegations of a slow response to Tropical Storm Isaias is stripped of its most draconian measures during a special legislative session. (CT Mirror)
OIL & GAS: Shell says its ethane cracker plant in western Pennsylvania is about 70% complete, though it could not provide a completion date due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Kallanish Energy)
GRID: In anticipation of a federal conference, New York’s grid operator touts carbon pricing as the most efficient way for wholesale energy markets to accommodate the state’s clean energy goals. (Utility Dive)
COMMENTARY: The Sierra Club endorses a proposal to shut down the two remaining coal plants in New Jersey now instead of waiting until their contracts expire in 2024. (NJ Spotlight)