UTILITIES: Calgary’s public municipal utility, which owns Maine utility Versant Power, has spent $7.5 million to oppose the state’s referendum on converting its investor-owned utilities into a public entity. (Global News)

ALSO: A high-profile critic of Central Maine Power’s contentious transmission line joins Versant Power’s payroll to fight against the public power referendum. (Bangor Daily News)

GRID:
• Thousands of ratepayers across New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey are without power after severe thunderstorms overnight. (PowerOutage.US, WGRZ)
• Massachusetts ratepayers will see smaller bill savings than previously arranged if state lawmakers let the developers of the New England Clean Energy Connect power line to renegotiate. (Franklin Observer)
• New York State Electric & Gas finishes grid resiliency projects, including 15 miles of upgraded distribution lines, that are expected to benefit 2,000 customers. (River Reporter)
• In Pennsylvania, West Penn Power upgrades its grid infrastructure, including the addition of a new terminal at a substation, to connect 220 MW of solar power to the grid. (PV Tech)

SOLAR:
• New Jersey utility regulators reject the results of a solar solicitation and plan a new round, saying the initial projects were too pricey. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A Delaware restaurateur who self-financed a large rooftop solar array with the expectation that it would eliminate his business’ power bill is dismayed with a new state law that will make it harder for him to recoup his investment. (Coastal Point)
• A Vermont town board waits for a developer to answer its concerns about a proposed 3 MW solar array that would be sited on prime farmland. (Rutland Herald)
• Residents of Johnston, Rhode Island, express frustration that a newly proposed solar array appears very similar to a previously rejected project. (Cranston Herald)
• Construction of New York’s largest rooftop solar project to-date — a 7.2 MW community solar project on a medical device company’s building — wraps up. (news release)

CLIMATE:
• In Massachusetts, private donors pledge $100,000 to help farmers impacted by recent floods who are staring down $15 million in collective damages. (Boston Herald)
• New Jersey’s state climatologist explains why rising ocean temperatures are making New Jersey one of the fastest warming states. (Asbury Park Press)

OFFSHORE WIND: President Biden heads to the Philadelphia Shipyard to promote offshore wind development in the Northeast and elsewhere in the U.S. (Workboat)

COMMENTARY: A hiking columnist reflects on how a proposed but unbuilt gas compressor station could’ve impacted some of Rhode Island’s deep, undisturbed woods. (Providence Journal)

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Bridget is a freelance reporter and newsletter writer based in the Washington, D.C., area. She compiles the Northeast Energy News digest. Bridget primarily writes about energy, conservation and the environment. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a degree in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. When she isn’t working on a story, she’s normally on a northern Maine lake or traveling abroad to practice her Spanish language skills.