Energy News Roundup: March 3-March 9

This week in regional energy news …

• Ocean Renewable Power Co.’s sea-floor turbine will move from Portland, Maine, to Down East, where it will begin producing electricity to power as many as 25 homes.
• Tomorrow, Searsport, Maine, residents will vote on whether to impose a moratorium on liquefied propane gas terminals in the town.  The moratorium would give town officials time to develop regulations relating to LPG terminals.  A Denver-based company’s plans to build an LPG terminal there has generated divided views.  The vote will be held at the town’s 9 a.m. meeting at Searsport District Middle/High School.
• Wood pellet furnaces are now approved conventional heating sources for Federal Housing Administration-insured single-family homes.  U.S. Senator Susan Collins of Maine spearheaded the policy change in Washington.
• Several towns in New Hampshire seek to adopt “home-rule” ordinances, whereby they would reject the impending Northern Pass transmission project despite its receiving state and federal approvals.
• Vermont Yankee’s state license to operate expires on March 21, but few expect the plant to stop operating at that point.  The facility earned a five-year renewal of its federal license last year but Vermont’s governor and senate are opposed to the plant’s further operation.  Lawsuits are pending.