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• Small modular reactors and Maine's nuclear referendum law Tech companies, datacenters, and industrial consumers are pursuing the development of small modular nuclear reactors (SMR), capable of producing stable amounts of carbon-free power at a distributed scale. Much smaller than a typical commercial or utility-scale nuclear power plant, SMRs are typically envisioned as varying in size from tens of megawatts up to hundreds of megawatts, with potential uses including power generation, process heat, desalination, or other industrial uses.Utilities, tech companies and some other corporate energy consumers have signed deals or... More
• New England natural gas market dynamics affected by constraints and changing supply mix Natural gas market dynamics vary across the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, with a key pricing hub in the Northeast showing both high prices and high price volatility due to constrained infrastructure and a changing supply mix.According to EIA, natural gas is traded at about 200 pricing hubs across North America, with prices varying widely based on factors including location, weather conditions, proximity to supply, pipeline constraints and bottlenecks.EIA produced the graphic below, showing the range of... More
• Maine PUC awards biomass power contract Maine utility regulators have voted to award a long-term contract to a biomass-fueled power plant proposed for development in northern Maine.In 2022, the Maine legislature enacted a law directing the Public Utilities Commission to establish a wood-fired combined heat and power program. The law creates an opportunity for qualifying projects to compete for long-term contracts to sell electricity or renewable energy certificates to Maine's investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities. In 2023, the PUC solicited proposals, but the PUC ultimately found... More
• Gulf of Maine offshore wind lease auction scheduled U.S. ocean energy managers will soon auction the right to lease about 850,000 acres offshore Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, according to a recent federal announcement. On September 16, 2024, the Department of the Interior announced an offshore wind energy lease sale to be held on October 29, 2024. Through an auction process, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will sell leasehold interests in eight designated areas in the Gulf of Maine.According to BOEM's Final Sale Notice for offshore wind leasing on... More
• BOEM releases Gulf of Maine offshore wind environmental assessment U.S. federal ocean energy managers have issued a final assessment of the environmental impacts of issuing leases for offshore wind development in the Gulf of Maine. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's final Environmental Assessment (EA) of the Gulf of Maine Wind Energy Area (WEA) sets the stage for future leasing.Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Energy designated the Gulf of Maine WEA and announced that BOEM would prepare an EA on potential impacts from offshore wind energy leasing... More
• ISO-NE EPCET report projects future power supply and demand New England's electric grid must overcome operational, engineering, and economic challenges to support state decarbonization commitments, according to a recently released draft report by grid operator ISO New England. ISO-NE's Economic Planning for the Clean Energy Transition (EPCET) study report concludes that a "vast renewable build-out may be required" to support wide swings in demand for electricity across days and seasons.Today, peak demand for electricity occurs during the summer for reasons including air conditioning demand. But ISO-NE projects that peak demand for... More
• BOEM issues Maine a floating offshore wind energy research lease U.S. federal ocean regulators have announced the execution of a lease with the State of Maine for almost 15,000 acres located on the outer continental shelf offshore Maine. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management calls the agreement "the nation's first floating offshore wind energy research lease." According to BOEM, the lease area includes approximately 14,945 acres, an area of sea sufficient to host up to 12 floating offshore wind turbines collectively capable of generating up to 144 megawatts of renewable energy.... More
• Maine PUC inquires into storm costs and grid resilience Citing "increasing storm frequency and severity, and escalating storm restoration costs", Maine utility regulators have opened an inquiry to obtain information about the problem and how it could be addressed.On July 25, 2024, the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued a Notice of Inquiry in docket 2024-00191. According to that notice:Maine is experiencing increasing storm frequency and severity, and escalating storm restoration costs. While utilities are developing their grid plans and doing the vulnerability assessments and preparing resiliency/mitigation plans, the... More
• FERC Order 1920 reforms electric transmission planning US electricity regulators have issued a major order addressing the nation's policy on regional planning of the electric transmission grid. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission describes its Order No. 1920 as "the first time in more than a decade that FERC has addressed regional transmission policy – and the first time the Commission has ever squarely addressed the need for long-term transmission planning."FERC adopted Order No. 1920 at its May 13, 2024 Open Meeting, by a vote of 2-1. Captioned "Building for... More
• New England electric load to grow, grid operator says Electricity consumption in New England will increase by about 17 percent over the next ten years, according to the regional grid operator, mostly due to the electrification of heating and transportation.ISO New England tracks and projects power generation as well as consumer demand. Its 2024-2033 Forecast Report of Capacity, Energy, Loads, and Transmission (CELT Report) provides a ten-year look at projected power system characteristics. According to the grid operator, 2024 represents an inflection point in New England's electricity use, as the regional trend... More
• US proposes Gulf of Maine offshore wind site auction The U.S. Department of the Interior has proposed the first offshore wind energy auction in the Gulf of Maine. The process has potential to advance the development of large-scale offshore wind projects in New England.BOEM's Proposed Sale Notice for ATLW-11 appeared in the Federal Register on May 1, 2024. According to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the proposed "Atlantic Wind Lease Sale 11 (ATLW-11)" would cover about one million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.... More
• US announces offshore wind leasing schedule through 2028, finalizes Gulf of Maine area The U.S. Department of the Interior has announced a schedule for up to 12 potential offshore wind energy lease sales through 2028, in Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, and territorial waters.According to Interior, the new offshore wind leasing plan features the following schedule:2024 Central Atlantic, Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, and Oregon 2025 Gulf of Mexico 2026 Central Atlantic 2027 Gulf of Mexico and New York Bight 2028 California, a U.S. Territory, Gulf of Maine, and Hawaii The Bureau... More
• Bourne tidal hydrokinetic project obtains FERC pilot project license U.S. hydropower regulators have issued a pilot project license to the Marine Renewable Energy Collaborative of New England (MRECo) for its proposed Bourne tidal hydrokinetic energy project to be located on the Cape Cod Canal in Massachusetts.MRECo describes itself as a nonprofit corporation that educates and involves all stakeholders (Academic, industry, governmental/regulatory, and public interest groups) to promote the sustainable development of renewable energy in New England ocean waters.In 2023, MRECo applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commision for an... More
• Solar power and the Great American Eclipse of 2024 A total solar eclipse traversed North America on April 8, 2024, on a path from Mexico, across the U.S. from Dallas to northern New England, and into Canada. No total eclipse has covered such a large extent of the U.S. in recent years (a 2017 eclipse was the first in the U.S. in 26 years); meanwhile, an increasing amount of solar photovoltaic power plants have been built. The "Great North American Eclipse" of 2024 thus provided an opportunity to examine... More
• New England must balance multiple objectives, says grid operator New England must balance multiple objectives as it navigates the clean energy transition, according to the operator of the region's electric grid and wholesale electricity markets.ISO New England, Inc. is the regional transmission organization serving all of New England except northern Maine. ISO-NE administers the regional electric transmission system and wholesale markets for electricity. The region must increasingly balance multiple objectives in light of state policies promoting renewable energy and decarbonization, according to recent remarks by ISO-NE President and Chief Executive... More