GEOTHERMAL: Vermont recently launched incentives to spur installation of ground-source heat pumps, but high costs and logistical challenges still put them out of reach for most homeowners. (Energy News Network)
OFFSHORE WIND: Energy developer Equinor said it planned to use giant concrete foundations when building its wind farm off the coast of Long Island, New York, but construction plans indicate the company is considering driving huge monopiles into the seafloor instead. (Newsday)
UTILITIES:
• Connecticut’s attorney general wants state regulators to reduce Eversource’s residential electricity rates, claiming the utility’s costs have declined enough in recent years to justify a 2.6% cut. (CT Post)
• PPL Electric Utilities prepares for outages in central Pennsylvania that may occur today and tomorrow as a result of residual Tropical Storm Ida-related wind and rainstorms. (WHTM)
• Utility disconnections in Connecticut are scheduled to resume Sept. 15, although an annual winter disconnection moratorium will begin in November. (Patch)
POLITICS:
• New Hampshire’s recently established energy department may help alleviate regulatory gridlock within the state utility commission, but will also give the governor significantly more influence over energy matters. (New Hampshire Public Radio)
• Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker promotes his plan to use federal relief funds on a billion dollars worth of environmental projects. (State House News Service)
OIL: Although a South Portland, Maine, beach reopened over the weekend following a motor oil spill, state environmental officials have started an enforcement case against a still unnamed violator. (Mainebiz)
GRID:
• Eversource and National Grid want to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on programs for smart meter installations in Massachusetts. (North of Boston Media Group)
• A lineworker was electrocuted and seriously injured while working on Eversource power lines in Rochester, New Hampshire; the man was awake and alert when emergency services arrived. (Foster’s Daily Democrat)
TRANSPORTATION:
• The municipal electric utility of Ashburnham, Massachusetts, will install a public electric vehicle charging station after receiving a state grant. (Sentinel & Enterprise)
• A developer seeking to build a high-speed maglev train route connecting Baltimore and Washington, D.C., plans to appeal a judge’s new decision to toss out its eminent domain lawsuit. (Washington Post)
EFFICIENCY: New York wants to replicate an emissions-cutting and cost-effective home insulation system developed in the Netherlands. (NPR’s Morning Edition)
RENEWABLE ENERGY:
• Two northern New Jersey municipalities adopt ordinances to form community choice aggregation programs as they pursue decarbonized electricity targets. (news release)
• A new renewable energy jobs training program will begin operating in early October on Long Island, New York. (CBS New York)
SOLAR:
• Eager to reach their climate goals, officials in Maryland’s Howard County want to cooperate with local farmers on farmland solar installations and set a model across the Mid-Atlantic. (Maryland Matters)
• Officials approve a 2 MW solar array on a rural road in Haverhill, Massachusetts. (Eagle-Tribune)
COMMENTARY:
• A Boston editorial board argues the city needs to “get serious” about decarbonizing buildings, as the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions come not from cars but from homes, offices and hospitals. (Boston Globe)
• A former New York environment official says the conservative lobbying group ALEC, which is linked to a recently filed lawsuit against Vineyard Wind, aims to “have a hand in stopping, or at least delaying” 16 other offshore wind projects. (Triple Pundit)