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: February 4-February 10

This week in regional energy news …

• The Salem Harbor Power Station in Massachusetts proposes to convert to natural gas from coal and oil.  The conversion would be part of a deal, currently being negotiated, in which Virginia-based Dominion would sell the plant to Footprint Power of New Jersey.
• Vermont’s senate is considering purchasing a majority interest in transmission lines in the state.
• Environment Maine expresses its opposition to the recently announced reorganization of Maine’s Land Use Regulation Commission, while supporters from the LePage Administration maintain that the changes are necessary to ensure local control.
• A USDA official met yesterday with Maine wood pellet interests to discuss wood pellets as a heating alternative and the importance of the industry to the state’s economy.  The Maine Pellet Fuels Association, Corinth Wood Pellets, and others were represented at the meeting, where the issue of federal subsidies for fuel sources was raised.

Energy News Roundup: January 28-February 3

This week in regional energy news . ..

• The developers of Clifton’s Pisgah Mountain wind farm have entered into an agreement to sell capacity to Bangor Hydro.  
• This week the Coast Guard held meetings in Lubec and Easport regarding tidal projects in the Down East region.  
• Efficiency Maine is accepting applications for electricity efficiency and generation projects.  Commercial entities, municipalities, and nonprofit organizations may apply for projects ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 per facility.
• In an about-face, Public Service of New Hampshire now opposes selling off its generation plants in that state.

Energy News Roundup: January 21-January 27

This week in regional energy news …

• New Hampshire’s Senate passed a bill that would prohibit a utility’s use of eminent domain for an electrical transmission line across a person’s property if the line is not critical to the region’s power needs.
• The Passamaquoddy Tribe plans to launch a $120 million wind farm in Washington County with co-venturer Exergy Development Group, of Boise.  
• Estimating that its energy may not be available before 2015, ISO New England opted not to include Cape Wind in a capacity auction for 2015-2016.
• Two Department of Energy reports have highlighted Maine’s potential to generate more than 15 terawatt-hours per year of electricity from tidal sources.
• Augusta, Maine, is looking to create energy from waste at its Hatch Hill landfill.  The project would involve constructing a $20 million plant to convert the trash to diesel fuel.
• University of Maine professor Habib Dagher played up Maine’s offshore wind potential and discussed the $20 billion project to bring offshore wind to Maine.

Energy News Roundup: January 14-January 20

This week in regional energy news …

• NGL Energy Partners LP announced on Monday an agreement to purchase North American Propane’s assets in New England and the Mid-Atlantic.  NAP has over 50,000 customers.
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pushes for more Canadian control and say over the Keystone DL pipeline.
• On Wednesday, New Hampshire’s Senate delayed its vote on a bill that would create problems for the Northern Pass transmission project’s efforts to acquire land by eminent domain.
• First Wind’s petition to expand its Oakfield wind farm to 50 turbines from 34 won the unanimous approval of the Maine DEP.

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: December 31-January 6

This week in regional energy news …

• The Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority announced on Wednesday that it will review a proposed merger between NStar and Northeast Utilities, which may scuttle the utilities’ deal.
• The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently upheld a power purchase agreement between Cape Wind and National Grid.  A joint group of parties, including trade groups and other energy companies, had challenged the PPA, arguing that with a 18.7 cents-per-kWh price and 3.5% annual price escalator, it was not in the public interest.
• A new group called the End User Alliance is requesting that ISO New England look into the impact on prices of new EPA regulations that the group argues could lead to the shut-down of Vermont Yankee, Seabrook, and other nuclear generators.
• Northern Pass Transmission, LLC, hopes to purchase a 5,800-acre parcel of land from the Balsams Wilderness Resort, while a New Hampshire nonprofit is collecting donations in an effort to purchase the same land.
• PSNH has entered into power purchase agreements with five independent biomass power producers in New Hampshire.