GRID: The Vermont statehouse is forced to relocate its $400,000 lithium-ion battery back-up out of its basement after its insurer deemed it a fire hazard. (Seven Days)
ALSO:
• Over 100,000 electric customers across New England lost power overnight as a snow-and-ice storm hit the area, although only around 15,000 were still without power as of 6 a.m. (NBC Boston, PowerOutage.US)
• New England states band together with ISO-New England to apply for federal transmission funding. (Center Square)
• Cornell University researchers partner with Avangrid to pilot a payment plan and app that help customers better understand their energy use and options for reducing demand. (news release)
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OFFSHORE WIND:
• A New York City energy developer proposes repowering the Ravenswood fossil fuel-fired generating station in Queens with offshore wind, a project the company says would be a first of its kind in the U.S. (offshoreWIND.biz)
• Federal officials advance plans for a Gulf of Maine offshore wind research site, finding there’s “no competitive interest” for the plot of water where it would be built. (Mainebiz)
FOSSIL FUELS:
• A new EPA decision could require a western Pennsylvania coal-fired power plant to close years earlier than its planned 2028 retirement. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
• A New Jersey township appeals a state decision to let a gas company build a regulator station across from a vineyard and near preserved farmland, a watershed, an elementary school and homes. (Holmdel-Hazlet, NJ Patch)
• A proposal to upgrade a New York gas pipeline’s compressors underscores the tension between serving current demand and meeting climate change mitigation goals. (Times Union)
• A Vermont doctor explains that while research has linked gas stoves and childhood asthma, cause-and-effect with indoor air quality is more complicated. (WCAX)
CLIMATE: New York City’s mayor will soon announce plans to bring municipal composting to all five boroughs, a move sparked the need to fix the city’s rodent problem, reduce trash and mitigate climate change. (New York Times)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• A Maine school district declines to join a federal electric school bus rebate program because of concerns over the cost of charging over using diesel. (Bangor Daily News)
• State officials install the central New York city of Oswego’s first public electric vehicle fast charging station. (NNY360)
CRYPTOMINING: Environmentalists sue a bitcoin miner on the verge of bankruptcy in New York’s Finger Lakes region over its repurposing of a decommissioned coal-fired power plant for its operations. (Rochester Beacon)
TRANSPORTATION:
• The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce says it supports studying whether congestion pricing could help reduce traffic in the area. (Boston Herald)
• Maine lawmakers, nonprofit leaders and the state’s largest car dealership call for enhanced federal clean car standards. (Portland Press Herald)
UTILITIES:
• Customers of Central Hudson Gas & Electric file a class action lawsuit alleging the utility engaged in deceptive and improper business practices that led to inaccurate billing. (Daily Freeman)
• The new head of both Rochester Gas and Electric and New York State Electric and Gas discusses what the companies are doing to rectify customer billing complaints. (Democrat & Chronicle)
AFFORDABILITY: New York’s record-breaking heating oil prices climbed further this week amid the region’s snow-and-ice storm and “dangerously low” stockpiles. (Bloomberg)
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