Energy

Pipeline charges prompt lots of questions

Plugging In/ Opinion

Pipeline charges prompt lots of questions

Who’s looking out for ratepayers?

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ACCUSATIONS AND INVESTIGATIONS are underway in response to an academic white paper posted by the Environmental Defense Fund concerning artificially created pipeline capacity constraints and resultant spikes in energy prices. The sides are lining up as usual, with the region’s ratepayer advocates expressing a need for further investigation and better rules to protect consumers, and(...)

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Mass. citizens point the way on climate change

Opinion

Mass. citizens point the way on climate change

State leaders and policymakers need to get on same page as voters

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WE LIVE IN a time when the way we power our lives is literally putting our survival at stake. We’re seeing an increase in deadly natural disasters, glaciers melting at a worrisome rate, and American states and territories at risk of disappearing from the map due to rising sea levels. Yet the Trump administration seems(...)

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Citing Trump initiative, grid operator delays report

Plugging In

Citing Trump initiative, grid operator delays report

Perry wants to halt shutdowns of coal, nuclear plants

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A TRUMP ADMINISTRATION INITIATIVE to financially buttress struggling coal and nuclear power plants is prompting the operator of the New England power grid to put off the release of a long-awaited fuel security study. The study’s release was delayed because the Trump administration initiative “raised the potential for significant changes to the wholesale electricity markets(...)

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Pipeline gas report is misleading, inaccurate

Plugging In/ Opinion

Pipeline gas report is misleading, inaccurate

Eversource, Avangrid were protecting their customers

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THE ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND’S new report on New England electric and natural gas markets provides a profoundly misleading and inaccurate analysis. Two utilities cited in the report (Avangrid and Eversource) did nothing irregular, improper, or legally questionable with their reservation of gas capacity on an interstate natural gas pipeline. In fact, they were acting with the(...)

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Natl. Grid calls foul on Hydro-Quebec proposal

Plugging In

Natl. Grid calls foul on Hydro-Quebec proposal

Says hydropower won’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions

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THE HIGH-STAKES BATTLE for a multibillion-dollar Massachusetts clean energy contract is heading in an uncertain direction, with National Grid asserting that the bids of one of its largest competitors, Hydro-Quebec, run afoul of the intent of the state law that set the contracting process in motion.  At a closed-door presentation last week to industry officials and in an interview, National Grid officials said the intent of the energy diversity(...)

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Report: Eversource artificially constrained gas pipeline capacity

Plugging In

Report: Eversource artificially constrained gas pipeline capacity

Utility calls alleged $3.6b impact ‘complete fabrication’

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EVERSOURCE ENERGY and Avangrid Inc. participated in a scheme to artificially constrain natural gas pipeline capacity in New England and drive up electricity prices by $3.6 billion over three years, according to a report posted Wednesday on the website of the Environmental Defense Fund. Eversource vehemently denied it engaged in any behavior to artificially constrain(...)

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Utilities on both sides of bargaining table

Plugging In/ Fall 2017

Utilities on both sides of bargaining table

Eversource, National Grid could end up awarding billion-dollar clean energy contracts to themselves

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IN MID-MAY,  the MBTA hired a Colorado company to help the agency manage the $2 billion extension of the Green Line into Somerville and Medford. Less than three months later, the Colorado firm was acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group, a key player on one of the three construction teams vying for the Green Line contract.(...)

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Time to put pedal to the metal

Plugging In/ Opinion/ Fall 2017

Time to put pedal to the metal

Utilities are the key to electric vehicle expansion

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WE GENERALLY THINK of Eversource, National Grid, and other utilities as the providers of the electricity we need to keep the lights on. That they are, but over the next 20 years they will also increasingly become the folks we rely on to power our cars, buses, autonomous vehicles, and pretty much all other means(...)

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Fuel cell vehicles need more support

Plugging In/ Opinion

Fuel cell vehicles need more support

Provide zero emissions with zero compromise

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NATIONAL HYDROGEN & FUEL CELL DAY is just around the corner on Sunday, and there’s no better place than Massachusetts – the state declared the nation’s “most innovative” by the Bloomberg index – to celebrate hydrogen’s ability to change the way America moves people and things cleanly and efficiently.  The Bay State is already staking(...)

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Could electricity become too cheap to meter?

Plugging In/ Opinion

Could electricity become too cheap to meter?

Renewables and power storage could make it possible

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YEARS AGO, DURING AN ERA in which nuclear power had great promise, advocates for this energy form said that it would produce electricity “too cheap to meter.” While that prediction did not provide a useful preview of the future of nuclear power, the economic premise behind it had some merit. While each nuclear power plant(...)

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