EVERSOURCE AND OTHER REGIONAL UTILITIES have long claimed that New England desperately needs new natural gas pipelines to meet electricity demand, with the “polar vortex” of 2013-14 as a prime […]
Plugging In
Energy and the Environment
Posted inEnvironment, State House News Service
Baker refuses to disavow new pipeline capacity
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE DEFENDING HIS ADMINISTRATION’S COMMITMENT to developing clean energy sources, Gov. Charlie Baker on Thursday responded to activists who are aggressively pressing him to take steps to […]
Posted inEnvironment
Eversource touts N. Pass ‘certainty’
EVERSOURCE ENERGY on Thursday once again insisted its problem-plagued Northern Pass transmission project is on track and the best solution to Massachusetts’ clean energy needs. In a conference call with […]
Posted inOpinion
Paying environmental tribute to neighboring states
THE BIDS ARE IN: Developers of transmission for hydroelectric energy from Canada, wind from Maine, and solar power from all over New England sharpened their pencils, negotiated with property owners, […]
Posted inEconomy, Environment, State House News Service
Eversource puts tab for memberships on ratepayers
EVERSOURCE ENERGY is pushing for state approval of a $284 million rate hike, and tucked inside all the documentation is paperwork seeking reimbursement for annual membership fees and dues the company pays to 74 business organizations and trade groups. In […]
Posted inEnvironment
DPU reviewing report’s pipeline claims
THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES launched “a thorough review” of allegations in a recent report that Eversource Energy and Avangrid Inc. artificially constrained natural gas pipeline capacity in New […]
Posted inOpinion
Pipeline charges prompt lots of questions
ACCUSATIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS are underway in response to an academic white paper posted by the Environmental Defense Fund concerning artificially created pipeline capacity constraints and resultant spikes in energy prices. […]
Posted inEnvironment
Citing Trump initiative, grid operator delays report
A TRUMP ADMINISTRATION INITIATIVE to financially buttress struggling coal and nuclear power plants is prompting the operator of the New England power grid to put off the release of a […]
Posted inOpinion
Pipeline gas report is misleading, inaccurate
THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND’S new report on New England electric and natural gas markets provides a profoundly misleading and inaccurate analysis. Two utilities cited in the report (Avangrid and Eversource) did […]
Posted inEnvironment
Natl. Grid calls foul on Hydro-Quebec proposal
THE HIGH-STAKES BATTLE for a multibillion-dollar Massachusetts clean energy contract is heading in an uncertain direction, with National Grid asserting that the bids of one of its largest competitors, Hydro-Quebec, run afoul of the intent of the […]
Posted inUncategorized
Report: Eversource artificially constrained gas pipeline capacity
EVERSOURCE ENERGY and Avangrid Inc. participated in a scheme to artificially constrain natural gas pipeline capacity in New England and drive up electricity prices by $3.6 billion over three years, […]
Posted inEnvironment
Utilities on both sides of bargaining table
IN MID-MAY, the MBTA hired a Colorado company to help the agency manage the $2 billion extension of the Green Line into Somerville and Medford. Less than three months later, […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Time to put pedal to the metal
WE GENERALLY THINK of Eversource, National Grid, and other utilities as the providers of the electricity we need to keep the lights on. That they are, but over the next […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Fuel cell vehicles need more support
NATIONAL HYDROGEN & FUEL CELL DAY is just around the corner on Sunday, and there’s no better place than Massachusetts – the state declared the nation’s “most innovative” by the […]
Posted inOpinion
Could electricity become too cheap to meter?
YEARS AGO, DURING AN ERA in which nuclear power had great promise, advocates for this energy form said that it would produce electricity “too cheap to meter.” While that prediction […]
Posted inOpinion
Stopping climate change starts at home
AS OUR NATION RECOVERS from the damage of three devastating hurricanes and ravaging wildfires it is clear to most Americans that this increasingly severe weather is caused by a warming […]
Posted inEnvironment, The Back Story
Rick Perry links pipelines, natural security
THERE WAS MORE NEWS out of Washington this week suggesting that the federal government could intervene to override local opposition to natural gas pipelines in order to protect national security. […]
Posted inEnvironment
Reliance on natural gas expected to grow
THE OPERATOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND power grid said on Thursday that demand for electricity will remain fairly flat over the next decade, but warned that the region will become […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Eversource’s solar proposal needs to go
HEADS UP EVERSOURCE CUSTOMERS – a discriminatory charge could be coming your way. In its latest general rate case, Eversource announced that it would like to impose a “demand charge” […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
New England’s power grid operator is biased
TWENTY YEARS AGO, as part of its effort to create competitive electricity markets, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO New England) […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Reducing power plant emissions is not enough
AS A SHELLSHOCKED NATION assesses the damage of Hurricane Harvey, scientists are pointing to warming oceans and rising sea levels as key culprits behind one of the most expensive natural […]
Posted inEnvironment
Northern Pass dealt a regulatory blow
A NEW HAMPSHIRE REGULATORY AGENCY said on Thursday it won’t be able to meet its Sept. 30 deadline for making a go-no go decision on Eversource’s Northern Pass transmission project. […]
Posted inEnvironment
National Grid, Hydro-Quebec snipe over hydro power
NATIONAL GRID AND HYDRO-QUEBEC, two companies competing for Massachusetts clean energy contracts, are sniping at each other over the environmental benefits of hydroelectricity in dueling CommonWealth opinion pieces. The op-eds […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
No clean energy shell game
IN HIS COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE op-ed entitled “Quebec hydropower is ‘shell game,’” John Flynn misses the point about Hydro-Québec’s growth and export strategy. We are not taking clean energy from one region […]