Energy

Quebec hydro isn’t a good fit for Mass.

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment/ Opinion

Quebec hydro isn’t a good fit for Mass.

We need closer-to-home renewables that actually reduce emissions

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MASSACHUSETTS ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES submitted long-term hydro electricity supply contracts to the Department of Public Utilities for review recently. The Massachusetts Sierra Club believes strongly that these contracts are not the right way to get the regional clean energy we all need. Here are four reason why importing electricity from Quebec via a transmission line(...)

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NE Power Pool seeks to ban press

Plugging In/ Energy

NE Power Pool seeks to ban press

Says coverage would hinder debate on electricity policies

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THE NEW ENGLAND POWER POOL, an organization that helps develop policies and procedures governing the region’s wholesale electricity markets, is seeking federal regulatory approval to bar reporters from its meetings. NEPOOL has always had an unwritten policy excluding the press, but it decided to make it a formal policy after a reporter with a trade(...)

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Enviro group: Hydro contract bad for Maine, Mass.

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment/ Opinion

Enviro group: Hydro contract bad for Maine, Mass.

Tells DPU project will harm landscape, won’t reduce emissions

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Below is an edited version of testimony delivered by to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities on contracts to purchase hydro-electricity from Hydro-Quebec via a transmission line being built by Central Maine Power in Maine. THE CENTRAL MAINE POWER proposal is bad for the people of Maine and Massachusetts, our economies, and our environment. CMP’s(...)

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Mass. puts wind power in gear

Plugging In/ Energy/ Opinion

Mass. puts wind power in gear

Vineyard Wind’s low price due to synergies

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TWO MAJOR EVENTS LAST WEEK have augured a new era for offshore wind in Massachusetts. The Legislature passed the Clean Energy Future Act on July 31, officially laying out a path to doubling Massachusetts’ procurement of offshore wind to 3,200 MW. The next day, Gov. Charlie Baker’s Department of Energy Resources publicly released the pricing(...)

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Eversource offered to drop out of offshore wind procurement team

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment

Eversource offered to drop out of offshore wind procurement team

Feared participation on both sides of table would undermine confidence in selection process

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EVERSOURCE ENERGY in February offered to withdraw from the team evaluating the bids of companies seeking to supply electricity from wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts because the utility was also involved in bidding on the contracts. According to the report of an independent evaluator hired to monitor the fairness of the contracting process,(...)

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Offshore wind prices look competitive

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment

Offshore wind prices look competitive

Vineyard Wind contract filed with state regulators

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THE DEVELOPER OF THE NATION’S first major offshore wind farm is promising to deliver wholesale power to Massachusetts at prices that are far below what Cape Wind was offering nearly a decade ago and not much more expensive than hydro-electricity just procured from Canada. According to contracts filed with the state Department of Public Utilities(...)

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Breaking down the new clean energy bill

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment/ Politics

Breaking down the new clean energy bill

Eversource, AIM call it a ‘measured approach;’ one rep calls it ‘terrible’

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THE CLEAN ENERGY BILL approved by the Legislature on Tuesday adopted the go-slow approach favored by many of the state’s business groups and utilities, leaving a price on carbon and stronger support for solar and wind on the cutting room floor while greenlighting a number of less flashy provisions designed to give renewable energy a(...)

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Energy legislation makes it out of conference

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment/ Politics

Energy legislation makes it out of conference

Sierra Club official complains bill represents only 'baby steps'

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STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE .Just like two years ago, the Legislature is poised to consider a substantial piece of clean energy legislation on the final day of formal sessions. The conference committee that since July 17 has been working to reconcile a Senate bill and four House bills related to clean energy filed its report(...)

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Lawmakers should embrace clean energy

Plugging In/ Energy/ Environment/ Opinion

Lawmakers should embrace clean energy

Say no to gas pipelines financed by electric ratepayers

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STARK NEW ESTIMATES of the potential cost of climate change to Massachusetts’ homeowners should make the Legislature act more urgently than it already has to halt the state’s consumption of fossil fuels and resulting release of greenhouse gases. According to a June analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists, 89,000 buildings in the Commonwealth worth(...)

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Inaction on environmental justice has consequences

Plugging In/ Energy/ Opinion

Inaction on environmental justice has consequences

Lawmakers need to act on solar access legislation

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THERE’S AN OLD SAYING in politics: elections have consequences. Well, inaction has consequences, too. And every day that Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, Sen. Karen Spilka, and their Ways and Means colleagues fail to rein in pollution and recognize that environmental consciousness is growing is another day that our most vulnerable residents are left breathing dirty air.(...)

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