Energy News Roundup: February 11-February 17

This week in regional energy news …

• Maine’s Good Will-Hinckley School has installed 110 solar panels, which are expected to save the school $112,000 over the 40- to 50-year life span of the panels.  Good Will-Hinckley is a high school focused on agriculture, forestry education, and workforce skills.
• Doaktown, a village in New Brunswick, voted Thursday to ban shale gas exploration near the village’s water sources.
• With the price of renewable energy credits going down due to oversupply, Massachusetts is one of many states reviewing its Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, emissions cap.
• Cape Wind has entered into an electricity supply agreement with NStar for energy from the offshore wind project, but seeks additional financing.
• Public Service of New Hampshire, or PSNH, is warning of higher electricity prices if it is forced to sell off its generation assets.

Energy News Roundup: January 7-January 13

This week in regional energy news …

• Cape Wind may face delays that prevent it from reaching its 2015 target for initial generation of electricity.
• A two-year renewable energy biomass plant project in Connecticut will receive $225 million in financing from the Carlyle Group and SAIC.
• Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has withdrawn the state’s request for a review of NStar’s rates in advance of that state approving a merger between Boston-based NSTar and Connecticut-based Northeast Utilities.
• Dead River Co. will purchase the home heating division of Webber Energy Fuels, with approximately 100,000 accounts.  Both are Maine companies.
• Gestamp Solar, of Spain, has purchased a solar farm in Southern Vermont.  The $10 million purchase is for the development’s 2.2 MW of capacity.

Energy News Roundup: November 27-December 2

This week in regional energy news …

• Madison Electric Works announces that it is looking into installing a natural gas generator to serve its customers.
• The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has issued a report demonstrating that New England and other areas in the country have a significant need for more generation resources in order to meet demand.
• Canada’s CBC reports on the effect of falling natural gas prices on hydraulic fracturing developments.
• The Vermont Electric Power Company, or VELCO, has no plans at this time to pursue construction of transmission lines through Vermont to transmit hydro-power from Quebec to New England.
• Maine Gov. Paul LePage looks to make a deal with Canadian energy providers to help lower electricity rates in Maine.
• Beginning on the first of the year, ISO New England’s multiple region cost allocation method will be modified.  Read the details on the Newswire.

Energy News Roundup: August 20-August 26

This week in regional energy news …

• In the waters off of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts’s first in-ocean demonstration of a tidal energy generator was completed recently.  UMass Dartmouth’s New England Marine Renewable Energy Center and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center have laid out plans for a 300-square-mile test site.
• The Massachusetts DPU has approved NStar’s long-term contracts for the purchase of wind power from developments in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
• Neptune Wind has announced plans to develop a 500-MW offshore wind farm 20 miles from the Mass-RI border, with construction estimated to be completed by 2018.
• Gov. Lincoln Chafee is working to ensure that low-cost hydro power from Canada finds its way to Rhode Island.

Energy News Roundup: January 22-January 28

This week in regional energy news …

• The proposed merger of Northeast Utilities and NSTAR is drawing controversy from environmentalists and competitors.
• Standard offer electricity prices will drop for CMP’s and Bangor Hydro’s customers.
• New Hampshire’s regulators have increased incentives for the purchase and installation of residential biomass heating systems.
• Wood Pellets Company and Corinth Wood Pellets, two Maine wood pellets companies, received grants totaling $288,000 this week from the Department of Agriculture’s Bioenergy Program.
• After a party-line vote, Darryl Brown has been confirmed as Maine’s newest Department of Environmental Protection commissioner.
• NB Power asks its customers to curb their energy usage during a cold spell.

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.