No consensus on timing for fossil fuel heat shift

Commission cites huge challenge, but splits on timeline

By Colin A. Young Electricity, Energy 0 Comments Nov 30, 2022

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE A COMMISSION that spent the last 11 months studying ways to help the state meet its emissions reduction requirements by shifting to cleaner buildings and addressing heating fuels that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions released its final recommendations Wednesday, but was not able to come to consensus around a timeline for(...)

Maine hydro project clears another hurdle

Status of offshore wind project remains uncertain

By Bruce Mohl Electricity, Energy 0 Comments Nov 29, 2022

MASSACHUSETTS MADE some headway on its clean energy goals on Tuesday, but moving forward on key offshore wind and hydro-electricity projects remains an uncertain process. A Massachusetts-financed transmission line carrying hydroelectricity from Quebec into Maine cleared another legal hurdle on Tuesday as the Maine Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that had blocked the(...)

Eversource’s turn: Basic service rate up 62% over last winter

Best option is to shop around for a better deal on electricity

By Bruce Mohl Electricity, Energy 0 Comments Nov 18, 2022

EVERSOURCE SAID its eastern Massachusetts basic service rate – the price it charges customers who direct the utility to procure electricity on their behalf – is going to jump to a record high on January 1. The electricity price is jumping to 25.6 cents a kilowatt hour, up from the current level of 17.9 cents(...)

Powering up highway charging stations

Typical plaza could use as much electricity as Gillette Stadium

By Bruce Mohl Electricity, Energy, Transportation 0 Comments Nov 15, 2022

DRIVING ALONG the Massachusetts Turnpike, electric vehicle charging stations are popping up at the service plazas, a harbinger of a future without internal combustion engines. But a new study from National Grid suggests the charging stations are somewhat misleading indicators of the future. The real challenge will not be installing charging stations, but delivering the(...)

Avangrid refuses to budge on need for pricing changes

Wind farm developer bucks DPU, pushes approach agency previously rejected

By Bruce Mohl Offshore Wind 0 Comments Nov 14, 2022

THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITIES was very clear a week ago, telling the state’s two leading offshore wind developers that they could either move forward with the pricing contracts they negotiated with the state’s utilities or withdraw from the proceedings and start over again. Mayflower Wind quickly responded that it would honor the terms of(...)

Clock ticking, Avangrid finds itself isolated

Little support for its bid to renegotiate wind power contract

By Bruce Mohl Electricity, Energy, Offshore Wind 0 Comments Nov 8, 2022

AVANGRID, the state’s leading wind farm developer, suddenly finds itself facing both economic — and political — headwinds. Avangrid told state regulators its 1,200-megawatt Commonwealth Wind project could not get built without a “very modest increase” in the price the company would get paid for the electricity. Avangrid blamed the war in Ukraine, rising interest(...)

Mayflower Wind to honor existing contract terms

Acknowledges financial challenges, but breaks ranks with Commonwealth Wind

By Bruce Mohl Electricity, Energy, Offshore Wind 0 Comments Nov 7, 2022

MAYFLOWER WIND on Monday backed away from an effort to seek revisions in its contract to supply electricity to the state’s utilities, pledging to move ahead with the pricing in its existing power purchase agreement. The shift came after the Department of Public Utilities told Mayflower and Commonwealth Wind that it would not grant a(...)

DPU rejects wind developer’s bid for contract relief

Denies 1-month delay, delivers ultimatum on wind farm

By Bruce Mohl Electricity, Energy, Offshore Wind 0 Comments Nov 7, 2022

DEALING A POTENTIALLY major setback to the state’s emerging offshore wind industry, the Department of Public Utilities rejected a request by Avangrid to delay action on a power purchase contract for its 1,200-megawatt wind farm to allow time for the company to renegotiate the price. The ruling leaves the project very much in doubt because(...)

Avangrid’s Kimmell says wind farm needs ‘very modest’ price increase

Haddad calls price negotiations ‘bump in the road’

By Bruce Mohl Energy 0 Comments Nov 7, 2022

AVANGRID’S KEN Kimmell said his company can get its Commonwealth Wind project back on track with “a very modest increase” in the price state ratepayers would pay for the electricity. Appearing on The Codcast, Kimmell, Avangrid’s vice president of offshore wind development, said the company bid the current price in September 2021 and affirmed it(...)

Report says Boston not meeting climate action targets

Says driving in Boston increased 20% over last 20 years

By Jusneel Mahal Electricity, Energy, Environment 0 Comments Nov 4, 2022

Boston University Statehouse Program AN INAUGURAL progress report says Boston isn’t on pace to meet its goal of cutting carbon emissions by half before 2030 and becoming carbon-neutral by 2050. The report – issued by the Boston Foundation and developed in partnership with the Boston Green Ribbon Commission – includes findings from more than 50(...)