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)

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Bill Opalka

Bill is a freelance journalist based outside Albany, New York. As a former New England correspondent for RTO Insider, he has written about energy for newspapers, magazines and other publications for more than 20 years. He has an extensive career in trade publications and newspapers, mostly focused on the utility sector, covering such issues as restructuring, renewable energy and consumer affairs. Bill covers Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire and also compiles the Northeast Energy News daily email digest.