UTILITIES: Critics of Maine’s investor-owned utilities see a state takeover of the electric distribution system as a way to boost renewables and reliability. (Energy News Network)

OFFSHORE WIND: Analysts say a ruling by federal regulators impacting the price of renewable energy in PJM makes offshore wind inclusion in the capacity market “virtually impossible.”  (E&E News, subscription required)

***SPONSORED LINK: Applications are now open for the Veterans Advanced Energy Fellowship, a yearlong program for high-performing, high-potential military veterans in advanced energy, presented by the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center. Learn more at www.vetsenergyproject.org/fellowship*** 

OIL & GAS: The Delaware River Basin Commission defends its decision to approve a liquified natural gas export terminal in southern New Jersey at an online hearing requested by project opponents. (NJ Spotlight)

RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says the state should invest in renewable energy to recover from Covid-19 as air pollution increases the impact of the disease on disadvantaged communities of color. (Boston Globe)
• A research team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York wins a $2.6 million Energy Department grant to develop risk management tools for the power sector to incorporate renewable energy. (Mirage) 

NUCLEAR:
• A non-profit media outlet won a regional award for its oral history of the Three Mile Island plant’s partial nuclear meltdown in 1979. (StateImpact Pennsylvania)
• The owner of the closed Vermont Yankee nuclear plant says it can decommission the plant with available funds. (Brattleboro Reformer)

STORAGE: Delmarva selects a lead contractor to spearhead its development of a 55 MW virtual power plant with storage to serve an isolated Maryland peninsula vulnerable to outages. (Power Engineering Magazine)

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EFFICIENCY: New Hampshire implements an energy efficiency contract for 20 state facilities along its seacoast. (Energy + Environmental Leader)

COMMENTARY:
• The environmental group that led the move to close Indian Point says one of the plant’s nuclear reactor’s output has been replaced with clean energy and efficiency and programs are underway to replace the other. (Albany Times Union)
• The Pennsylvania AFL-CIO urges caution on the state’s plan to join a regional emissions compact, saying it would cost jobs in the coal and natural gas industries. (news release)
• A former federal energy official says an additional tax on shale gas extraction in Pennsylvania will cripple an industry already reeling from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. (TribLIVE)

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.