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 […]
Plugging In
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
Time to part ways with traditional utility business model
Second in a three-part series. The first part, on grid modernization in Massachusetts, can be found here. IN JANUARY 2017, Eversource filed its first complete rate case in many years, […]
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
Winter costs make region cold for business
TO SAY THAT this has been a tough winter is an understatement. Already, we’ve seen record cold snaps, soaring energy bills and story after story about how Massachusetts has burned […]
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 […]
Posted inEnvironment
Healey unveils new renewable energy targets
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY on Thursday said Massachusetts should meet 50 percent or more of its electric power needs with renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050. She […]
Posted inOpinion
Forget Quebec, look offshore for power
THE SELECTION AND THEN REJECTION of the Northern Pass project is proving to be a remarkably important moment of reckoning about Massachusetts’ energy future. For beyond the desirability of Northern […]
Posted inEnvironment
Utilities find no common ground on N. Pass
THE STATE’S UTILITIES blew through a deadline on Friday to come up with a decision or at least a series of next steps for dealing with the fallout from the […]
Posted inOpinion
Beware the Coalition for Sustainable Energy
YET ANOTHER PRO-GAS lobbying group forms, this time just as the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change prepares to release its omnibus energy bill. Prompting eye-rolls among clean […]
Posted inEnvironment
Mass. business groups push natural gas
ON A DAY WHEN the Baker administration touted 2,000 megawatts of installed solar capacity in Massachusetts, the leaders of eight Bay State business groups appealed to Beacon Hill leaders to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Silver lining in Northern Pass collapse
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER HAS another chance to deliver the affordable, reliable and clean energy that Massachusetts families and businesses want. His first decision, a proposal to export our energy dollars […]
Posted inEnvironment
Healey to Baker: Don’t leave N. Pass decision to utilities
ATTORNEY GENERAL MAURA HEALEY on Tuesday urged Baker administration officials to actively participate in deliberations over what to do about the stalled Northern Pass hydro-electricity project, and not leave the […]
Posted inEnvironment
State’s 3 utilities will decide fate of N. Pass
THE DECISION ON WHETHER Massachusetts should stay the course with Northern Pass or move on to another project will be made by the state’s three utilities, one of which is […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
NH regulators give thumbs down to Northern Pass
NORTHERN PASS, the $1.6 billion project selected by Massachusetts last week to bring a massive amount of hydro-electricity into New England from Quebec, failed to win a key permit from […]
Posted inEnvironment
Lawmakers slam new solar charges
HOUSE AND SENATE ENERGY LEADERS made clear on Tuesday that they aren’t happy with the way Eversource Energy and state regulators have implemented legislation requiring homeowners with solar installations on […]
Posted inEnvironment
Baker goes with Eversource’s Northern Pass
THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION moved forward with the largest clean energy procurement in the state’s history on Thursday by selecting the highly controversial Northern Pass project to deliver hydroelectricity from Quebec […]
Posted inOpinion
What’s happened to CLF?
CONSERVATION LAW FOUNDATION was once a respected organization that worked with utilities and government to help move the region away from oil and coal to cleaner natural gas and renewable […]
Posted inEnvironment
Van Welie takes energy analysis to Capitol Hill
THE OPERATOR OF NEW ENGLAND’S power grid went to Washington on Tuesday to explain why the region is likely to face challenges at times over the next decade keeping the […]
Posted inOpinion
CLF denies financial ties to TDI
BRIAN MURPHY’S January 22 column (“Money is clouding CLF’s judgment”) is an utter fabrication and represents yet another attempt by Northern Pass advocates to spread misinformation that they hope will advantage an unpopular project. […]
Posted inOpinion
Union: Money is clouding CLF’s judgment
THE RECENT PAID ADVERTISING by the Conservation Law Foundation (Sunday Boston Globe, page A12) against the Northern Pass transmission project should not be a surprise to citizens of Massachusetts or […]
