EXELON GENERATION is threatening to shut down its Mystic Generation Station in mid-2022 unless the operator of the regional power grid offers more money to units that generate electricity reliably […]
Environment
Posted inOpinion
My recipe for embracing renewables
WE’VE COME TO EXPECT the miracle of Moore’s Law from our computer technology – exponential progress in speed, power and efficiency, all while prices drop. Until recently, the world of […]
Posted inEnvironment
Next up, Central Maine Power
MASSACHUSETTS SHIFTED GEARS on its multi-billion-dollar clean energy procurement Wednesday, dropping Northern Pass because of the project’s failure to obtain one last, key permit from the state of New Hampshire […]
Posted inOpinion
The Boston climate trial that might have been
“THE IDEA THAT natural gas combats climate change is a sleight of hand,” writes Bill McKibben in a recent essay that pulls no punches. “No one wants to hear this,” […]
Posted inEnvironment
No decision yet on clean energy procurement
THE STATE’S THREE UTILITIES apparently have decided that a Tuesday deadline means they have until midnight, so there was no word as of Tuesday evening on the winner of the […]
Posted inOpinion
New England’s largest battery
Editor’s note: An op-ed critical of Northfield written by Karl Meyer was published on March 17. AS THE LARGEST BATTERY in New England, FirstLight Power’s Northfield Mountain pumped-hydro storage facility […]
Posted inEnvironment
Deepwater Wind commits to local foundation facility
DEEPWATER WIND said on Tuesday that it would assemble its turbine foundations in Massachusetts if it is awarded a state-authorized contract to build a wind farm off the coast of […]
Posted inEnvironment
State’s top executives push for more natural gas
THE MASSACHUSETTS COMPETITIVE PARTNERSHIP, a group representing the top executives of the state’s largest employers, released a letter on Tuesday urging the state’s top three political leaders to push for […]
Posted inOpinion
This energy storage is tough on Connecticut River
IN APRIL, MASSACHUSETTS will take a big step toward meeting its energy responsibilities in the era of climate change. A company will be selected for the first phase of long-term […]
Posted inThe Download
Underground power
Today’s quiz: What do New England coastal regions and the Caribbean islands have in common? The answer is simple – weather. Sort of. It’s actually more the impact of the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Time running short for N. Pass
NORTHERN PASS, the New Hampshire transmission line selected by Massachusetts as the winner of a clean energy procurement, is running out of time to win a key permit. The New […]
Posted inEnvironment
Study gauges economic impact of offshore wind
MASSACHUSETTS WON’T GAIN MUCH economically by importing hydro-electricity from Quebec into New England, but a new report indicates the Bay State’s upcoming procurement for offshore wind will have a positive […]
Posted inOpinion
We’re not absolutists, we’re realists
AS OUR STATE EXPERIENCED back-to-back 100-year floods, the Boston Globe’s editorial writers were busy this winter honing their case for expansion of natural gas pipeline capacity in New England that […]
Posted inEnvironment
9% of region’s power bill incurred in one week
WHOLESALE ELECTRICITY PRICES in New England hit near-record lows in 2017, but they spiked dramatically during the last week in December when temperatures plunged. The operator of the regional power […]
Posted inThe Download
The great pipeline debate
We heat our homes and light our cities using fuels that come primarily from outside New England, which is part of the reason our prices are among the highest in […]
Posted inOpinion
We need to end energy inequality
CLEAN ENERGY BELONGS to us all. We’re talking about the wind and the sun, sources of power that have graced us since the dawn of time. We’re talking about power […]
Posted inOpinion
Severe storm effects are the new norm
ONLY TWO MONTHS after surging tides and high winds flooded MBTA stations, knocked out power and sent three feet of water into the streets of Boston, it’s all happening again. […]
Posted inOpinion
Utility rate design needs reform
Final in a series. The first installment focused on grid modernization in Massachusetts and the second on DPU’s decision on revenue for Eversource. ON JANUARY 5, 2018, the Department of […]
Posted inThe Back Story
Is Mass. shortchanged on clean energy procurement?
IT FELT LIKE CHRISTMAS on Wednesday in New Hampshire. The weather was delightful outside in Manchester, but inside the folks at Eversource Energy were acting like Santa Claus. They weren’t […]
Posted inEnvironment
Eversource appeals NH ruling on N. Pass
EVERSOURCE ENERGY made a number of financial and construction commitments on Wednesday in a bid to convince a New Hampshire regulatory agency to void its unanimous decision against the Northern […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. dragging its feet on grid modernization
First in a three-part series IN RECENT YEARS, states across the country have been exploring how to keep pace with clean energy technologies that offer enormous promise to make the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Eversource to seek Northern Pass reconsideration
EVERSOURCE ENERGY, which is facing a March 27 deadline to get its Northern Pass project back on track, is planning to ask a New Hampshire regulatory board to reconsider its […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker selects backup for Northern Pass
THE MASSACHUSETTS CLEAN ENERGY PROCUREMENT took another odd turn on Friday as officials entered into contract negotiations with a second transmission company with ties to Hydro-Quebec while giving Northern Pass […]
Posted inOpinion
Storage, not new pipelines, is the answer
MASSACHUSETTS POLICYMAKERS face a serious choice in 2018: do they meet impending reliability challenges with 20th Century technologies that require interminable and inevitable battles over infrastructure siting, or do they […]