A River Restoration Riddle...

Question:  When does the removal of a hydropower dam result in increased energy generation?

Answer:   When the Penobscot River Restoration Trust removes the dam.

The Penobscot River Restoration Trust, a collaboration between environmental groups, state and federal resource agencies, the Penobscot Indian Nation, and PPL Corporation, has struck a deal to restore 1,000 miles of Atlantic Salmon (and other species) habitat on the Penobscot River by removing two dams formerly owned by PPL (Veazie and Great Works) and constructing a fish bypass around a third (Howland).  Verrill Dana has been there from the start, helping the Trust with contracting, permitting and strategic planning (read more about it on our website)

“Well,” you say, “that’s great for the fish, what about the energy?”  With bombs falling overseas, don’t we need to keep all of our home-grown electrons?

The Trust and PPL thought so—so they structured this deal to allow PPL or its successor (now Black Bear Hydro) to increase generation at other facilities in the Penobscot River watershed.  The result—happy fish- AND the river system will maintain its generating capacity (maybe even eke out a little more than it did before).

It can be done.  We’re doing it in Maine.

Energy News Roundup: August 6-August 12

This week in regional energy news …

• The Loring Development Authority in Limestone, Maine, is embarking on an expansion project that includes the installation of new sources of cleaner power, and the removal of old ones, including an implosion of an old heat plant tomorrow.
• In rural Nova Scotia, LST Energy considers hay as a possible new renewable biofuel.
• A legislative report on the Maine Green Energy Alliance finds no fault with the group’s spending or hiring, but a senator says the report itself may have been leaked improperly.
• Construction of the Northern Pass, a transmission project that will run power from Hydro-Quebec into New England through New Hampshire, will begin in 2014.
• The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future is advocating that the U.S. DOE remove nuclear waste from Connecticut, and other states, posthaste.  Connecticut has 1,350 metric tons of spent uranium in Waterford and another 412 metric tons in Haddam.

Energy News Roundup: November 13-November 19

This week in regional energy news …

• UIL Holdings and Iberdrola have closed on their purchase of three New England gas utilities: the Southern Connecticut Gas Co., the Connecticut Natural Gas Corp., and the Berkshire Gas Co.  The deal is worth $917 million.
• In another deal announced this week, Constellation Energy Group was the successful bidder to purchase five power plants from Boston Generating, which is currently in bankruptcy proceedings.  The power plants generate nearly 3,000 megawatts and will increase Constellation’s generating assets by 33%.
• At a tidal power forum held at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, Anne Miles, FERC’s director of hydropower licensing, announced that the U.S.’s tidal energy industry is catching up to Europe’s, but regulatory and technological challenges remain.
• Canada’s Defense Minister has announced that the country will devote $20 million in federal funds to a tidal energy project in the Bay of Fundy, off of Nova Scotia.
• Small-scale hydroelectric power project developers have concerns that Hydro-Quebec’s entrée into the U.S. market through New Hampshire will squeeze their projects out of the market in New England.
• Prince Edward Island has announced its intention to scale back proposed wind power development plans in the province, from 130 megawatts to 40.
• CMP requests dismissal of two MPUC smart meter complaints. 

Energy News Roundup: October 16-October 22

This week in regional energy news …

• Northeast Utilities and NSTAR made headlines nationwide by announcing their merger, which will create the largest utility in the Northeast with around 3.5 million customers.  Coverage in the Financial Times, Bloomberg, WSJ, Boston Globe, and NYTimes DealBook.
• While interested parties in Vermont debate the merits of wind project developments in that state, Vermont’s two largest utilities have agreed to purchase power from wind parks in New Hampshire.
• Researchers and project developers met in Northport, Maine, for the first Maine Deepwater Offshore Wind Development Conference.
• First Wind’s 40-turbine Rollins Mountain wind project is now under construction near Lincoln, Maine.
• Tidal turbines will be tested at the Tidal Energy Demonstration and Evaluation Center in Castine, Maine.  The center has benefited from funding from the Department of Energy and the Libra Foundation.
• Hydropower will flow from Hydro-Quebec’s generators to New England by way of Franklin, New Hampshire, where a large-scale power system facility will be constructed.  The permitting process will take about two years, officials say.
• Controversy erupts in Maine over the health impact of smart meters.

Energy News Roundup: September 25-October 1

This week in regional energy news …

• Baltimore-based Constellation Energy has purchased CPower, a New York energy and demand response service provider.  CPower manages 850 megawatts of demand response capacity; before the purchase of CPower, Constellation managed a total of 650 megawatts.
• Iberdrola has announced plans to spend $6 billion on wind energy development in the U.S.  Iberdrola has received $867 million in funding from the U.S. government.  Iberdrola’s chair Ignacio Galan attended the groundbreaking of the construction of the MPRP.
• A study by Oceana, an environmental group focused on ocean issues, claims that Atlantic offshore wind power could supply a level of energy close to half of the East Coast’s current electricity generation, and create up to 200,000 jobs.
• A dam in Winterport, Maine, was removed in August.  Conservationists gathered on Wednesday to celebrate the event.
• Northeast Utilities has approval to build 23 miles of new transmission lines in Massachusetts.

Energy News Roundup: September 11-September 17

This week in regional energy news …

• Hydro-Quebec has announced an imminent deal to construct a high-voltage transmission line to export power from its generators through to New England.  Hydro-Quebec is currently in talks with NStar and Northern Utilities on the proposed line.  A line to New York could be in the works, too.
• Massachusetts AG Martha Coakley has asked the Department of Public Utilities to reject National Grid’s rate increase, which could add up to $15 per month to customers’ bills.
• Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection has granted the Calais LNG terminal project more time to find financial investors.  Calais LNG has until Dec. 1 to file its application to build the facility.
• Susan Eisenhower, a proponent of nuclear power who serves on the U.S. DOE’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (and granddaughter of DDE), will speak at Husson College on Sept. 28.
• The University of Maine will soon take energy via a landfill gas line from neighboring Old Town.  University Trustees approved the project on Monday.
• Gardiner, Maine, is looking into building a small hydroelectric power plant at the New Mills Dam, along the Cobbosseecontee Stream.
• Maine’s latest Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auction garnered $1.7 million for Efficiency Maine.  All told, $7.1 million in RGGI funds have been added to Efficiency Maine for efficiency grant programs.

Energy News Roundup: July 10-July 16

This week in regional energy news …

• The Massachusetts House of Representatives approved a bill to streamline the permitting of wind turbine projects in the state.  As we previously reported, a different version of the bill has already been approved by the Senate.  Governor Deval Patrick is a strong supporter of the streamlining proposal.
• In Cape Wind news: NStar has opted not to purchase electricity from Cape Wind; Cape Wind Associates fights Mass. AG Coakley’s demands for profit and cost estimates, which CWA says are proprietary; and WBZ reports on the possible effects on ratepayers’ bills.
• The New York Times interviewed a representative from the Biomass Power Association, a trade group based in Maine, in reporting on the recent controversy surrounding biomass fuels in New England.
• In Lenox, Mass., Maine Governor Baldacci signed a memorandum with Nova Scotia Premier Darrel Dexter agreeing to collaborate on tidal and offshore wind energy development.  New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers also agreed to benchmarks for energy reduction and to promote solar generation.
• MaineBiz and Mass High Tech report that, with a grant from the National Science Foundation, the University of Southern Maine will soon offer a renewable energy curriculum, and a community college in Maine trains students to maintain and repair wind turbines, and follows up on the students’ physical health.
• Maine’s largest electric utility has engaged a California company to supply its smart meters.
• Advocates in Maine have threatened to sue owners of four hydroelectric dams for possible harm to Atlantic salmon in the Kennebec River.