ALSO: Some New Yorkers worry about the impact heavy rains will have this hurricane season on the city’s subway system, recalling station evacuations and floods that have occurred despite the city’s resilience efforts. (The City)

WIND: 

• The council of Fenwick Island, Delaware, considers joining a lawsuit brought by Ocean City, Maryland, officials that aims to cancel federal approval of the Maryland Offshore Wind Project. (WBOC)
• Federal ocean energy officials say they’re working to develop the next wind auction for plots off the coast of Delaware and Maryland. (E&E News, subscription)

SOLAR: 

• In Maine, solar development incentives for farmers dealing with chemical land contamination are one tool helping impacted farms maintain an income, although some affected land is precluded from energy projects because of conservation easements and other barriers. (Bloomberg Law)
• A Pennsylvania township’s zoning board rejects a conditional land use approval request sought by the developers of a proposed 46-acre solar project. (WVIZ)

GRID: 

• ISO New England says its current revenue structures may need to be updated to sufficiently pay dispatchable generation resources for the grid benefits they provide. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• New York’s grid operator says it’s undertaking a new proactive proceeding to identify new energy demand sources and the grid upgrades needed to fulfill them. (news release)

COAL: Two top coal producers, Arch Resources and Consol Energy, plan to merge to form Core Natural Resources, which will be based out of the Pittsburgh suburb where Consol currently has its headquarters. (Associated Press)

NUCLEAR: In Massachusetts, the firm decommissioning the Pilgrim nuclear plant claims the state has no right to stop it from discharging radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay. (WBUR)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Rhode Island startup wants more boaters to swap their gas-guzzling outboard engines for their quiet, battery-powered models. (Boston Globe)

RENEWABLE POWER: New York’s energy research agency grants almost $200,000 to the Finger Lakes village of Montour Falls for a small solar array, an electric truck and other renewable investments. (Finger Lakes 1)

AFFORDABILITY: Some Connecticut ratepayers are arguing for a boycott of the public benefits charge amid rising utility bills. (Hartford Courant)

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ALSO: Federal officials grant $89 million to Eversource to develop its Huntsbrook Offshore Wind Hub on the southeastern Connecticut coast, building a new interconnection point for future projects. (news release)

GRID: 

• Two New Hampshire property owners — including a state lawmaker — file a lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, ISO New England and Eversource to stop a 49-mile transmission line rebuild they say will result in unfair and unreasonable rates. (InDepth NH)
• New York’s grid operator publishes its 2025 budget recommendation of roughly $42.1 million, which delays or deprioritizes several current or planned projects. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• New York utility regulators approve a new pilot project aimed at capping prices for some low-income households while testing a new planning framework with a focus on utility coordination. (Utility Dive)
• In Vermont, Green Mountain Power begins using remote-controlled drones for faster storm recovery and power restoration assessments. (Rutland Herald)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• Pennsylvania’s transportation agency plans to use $7.1 million of National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funds to install electric vehicle chargers across nine counties. (news release)
• Concord, New Hampshire, says it probably won’t receive its three electric school buses until 2026 due to global supply chain issues making it hard to procure electric transformers. (Concord Monitor)

SOLAR: 

• A developer subsidizes the install of a 20-panel solar array to help improve the climate resiliency of a Falmouth, Maine nonprofit farm operation that provides land access for refugee and asylum-seeking families to grow culturally significant crops. (Mainebiz)
• Some farmers and solar developers tell a Maine state agency during a public commenting hearing that “high value agricultural soil” compensation rules currently being drafted would hurt both industries. (Maine Public Radio)

FOSSIL FUELS: Pennsylvania’s energy production will collapse, making it a “Third World” state, if Vice President Kamala Harris becomes president and enacts her fracking policies, former President Donald Trump claims. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

UTILITIES: 

• New York regulators say they now plan to investigate why Con Edison’s rates are so much higher than National Grid’s following a state lawmaker’s report that shows the former’s customers pay twice as much as the latter. (Crain’s New York, ABC 7)
• Maryland regulators are being sued by a third-party power supplier over their decision that the company used deceptive sales tactics and broke state telephone solicitation laws. (Baltimore Sun)
• A representative of Connecticut’s utility regulator blasts Avangrid’s assertion that the commissions’ chair ought to remove herself from a rate case involving two of its gas utilities. (Hartford Courant)

TRANSPORTATION: The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority seeks public comment on its plan to build a new Amtrak station for Portland that would reduce Downeaster trip times by an estimated 15 minutes. (Portland Press Herald)

FLOODS: A storm sweeps New England, dropping historic rainfall totals on parts of Connecticut and New York and causing widespread floods; Connecticut officials expect a lengthy recovery. (NBC News, CT Mirror)

COMMENTARY: PJM Interconnection pushes back on criticism that its planning processes aren’t helping accelerate the energy transition, saying its power grid reforms are working. (Baltimore Banner)

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WIND: 

• In Salem, Massachusetts, construction begins on what is planned to be the state’s second-largest offshore wind terminal, being developed on a former coal plant site. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Ørsted books a $575 million impairment loss due in part to numerous U.S. factors, ranging from halted Ocean Wind project development, a new delay in the start of Revolution Wind operations and higher interest rates. (Reuters, Providence Journal)
• Several mid-Atlantic environmental organizations cheer the results of the Delaware and Maryland offshore wind lease auction. (news release)
• A European power producer signs a virtual power purchase agreement with Avangrid for the output of the latter’s 35 MW Casselman wind facility on a former Pennsylvania surface mine. (news release)

BUILDINGS: 

• Boston’s zoning board rejects the mayor’s plan to make new buildings over 20,000 square feet in size be fossil fuel-free, a surprise move in the eyes of many observers. (Boston Globe)
• Maryland public schools are set to receive $24 million in state grants to decarbonize and electrify their buildings. (news release)

FOSSIL FUELS: 

• A Pennsylvania township issues a de-facto rejection to a fossil fuel site management company to rezone 59 acres of office and commercial land to allow for oil and gas development, denying a request for a public advertising of a hearing on the matter. (Fox Chapel Herald)
• A New Jersey lawmaker says she’s optimistic her bill to incentivize electric lawn equipment purchases will get support in the legislature’s environmental committee in September. (New Jersey Herald)

UTILITIES: Central Maine Power wants the state utility commission to waive review of a plan to buy the 18.4% of shares in parent company Avangrid that it doesn’t already own by Spanish-flagged Iberdrola, claiming the deal wouldn’t hurt ratepayers despite advocates’ warnings. (Portland Press Herald)

BATTERIES: 

• A New York town board considers a 12-month moratorium on battery storage systems co-located with utility-scale solar projects. (Lockport Union-Sun & Journal)
• Without having completed any utility-scale projects yet, Form Energy’s cofounder says the firm’s plan to install iron-air batteries at a former paper mill in Lincoln, Maine, to deliver 85 MW of power to the grid for up to 100 hours is “a very natural next step in terms of scaling up and deployments.” (Canary Media)

SOLAR: 

• A developer plans a 7 MW solar project on the 23-acre site of a closed municipal landfill in Clay, New York. (news release)
• A luxury apartment building in Jersey City, New Jersey, installs a 154 kW rooftop solar system that will offset 30% of the building’s power needs. (news release)

AFFORDABILITY: 

• New York utility regulators authorize National Grid to incrementally raise the average bill by roughly $60 per month by the end of three years to help pay for clean energy projects.
• Baltimore Gas and Electric’s power customers are set to see average bill increases of around $250 per year, which Maryland’s utility ratepayer advocate says is due to problems with PJM Interconnection’s grid and market planning. (Baltimore Sun)

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ALSO:

• Massachusetts wants to expand its wind turbine marshaling terminal in New Bedford, with the responsible agency saying that would make it more competitive by meeting the industry’s “evolving needs.” (New Bedford Light)
• Maine officials give a presentation in Searsport explaining why they plan to use Sears Island for an offshore wind hub instead of nearby Mack Point in what is being described as a “tense” meeting with disruptions from protestors. (Bangor Daily News)

SOLAR: 

• Connecticut’s attorney general sues three solar installers and two individual employees over numerous alleged crimes, including impersonating a customer and installing solar panels without their consent. (PV Magazine)
• A Maine state agency considers new permitting and tiered compensation rules for solar projects on farms as the state seeks a balance between solar development and valuable farmland availability. (Bangor Daily News)
• A Delaware school district installs three rooftop solar arrays as part of a slate of new energy efficiency measures. (WDEL)

PIPELINES: The Conservation Law Foundation says National Grid isn’t doing enough to handle the hundreds of leaking gas pipelines around the Greater Boston area, 15 of which are imminent explosion and fire hazards. (Boston Herald)

BUILDINGS: Philadelphia’s school district touts the new cooling systems in ten of its schools, but dozens of schools still lack A/C, a problem that hinders education when children have to be sent home during too-hot conditions. (WHYY)

BIOENERGY: In Burlington, Vermont, activists against a wood-fired power plant say the facility’s $8 million in expected losses this year — not to mention the emissions and its relative inefficiency — should be enough to shut it down. (Seven Days)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Connecticut utility commissioners decide electric utilities can apply for annual cost recovery related to the mandated electric vehicle charging incentive program, although some advocates say it will cause additional stress on ratepayers. (Hartford Courant, News Times)

BATTERIES: A Long Island, New York, town fails to pass a proposed one-year moratorium on new large battery storage systems after several neighboring municipalities passed similar moratoriums. (Newsday)

GRID: Workers begin installing roughly 100 miles of underwater power cables in Lake Champlain for the Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission project. (NCPR)

POLITICS: Many New Hampshire gubernatorial candidates support renewable energy but have starkly different approaches for increasing the state’s capacity. (Concord Monitor)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: 

• New Jersey regulators grant $3.4 million to 18 clean energy projects, ranging from a municipality’s first electric police car to weatherization projects. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• A Maryland school district is receiving roughly $1.6 million in state grants to undertake projects including a rooftop solar array and a geothermal HVAC system. (news release)

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ALSO: 

• This week’s Philadelphia Gas Commission meeting saw ratepayers imploring members to take more climate action and reject a proposal to limit public input in the municipal gas utility’s budget. (WHYY)
• As she looks to secure Pennsylvania voters for the upcoming presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris is trying — and struggling — to dodge her formerly anti-fracking policy positions. (Washington Post) 

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: 

• New York is making another $200 million available for bus operators and school districts to purchase zero-emission school buses. (news release)
• A Massachusetts commuter rail line that runs through heavily polluted communities is slated to operate the state’s first battery-electric trains by 2028. (WHDH)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: 

• A recent survey suggests that the majority of Pennsylvania Democrats and Republicans support federal tax credits and financial incentives for decarbonization activities, like home energy efficiency and electric vehicles. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Connecticut-based utility Avangrid says it has now installed over 9 GW of wind and solar capacity. (news release)

WIND: Federal officials allow Vineyard Wind to resume construction as they undertake a “controlled cutting” of the remaining bits of the broken wind turbine blade that haven’t fallen off yet. (Nantucket Current, Utility Dive)

UTILITIES: Maine regulators reject a utility’s plan to report high energy demand to police to help track down illegal marijuana grow houses that have cropped up in the state, citing privacy concerns. (Maine Public Radio)

SOLAR: 

• A Massachusetts developer could see its plans to put a 53-acre solar project on a former golf course rejected over a decades-old deed restriction requiring the land only be used for agricultural or open-air uses. (WVIA)
• Somersworth, New Hampshire, and a developer begin construction on a 2,577 kW solar array at a landfill Superfund site.
• Maryland utility regulators schedule a public hearing for later this month focused on a proposed 4 MW solar project on Westminster agricultural land. (Baltimore Sun)

BATTERIES: Newark, Delaware, is now the home of a new Chemours battery materials lab, which will use a process the company says saves money and energy to create lithium-ion electric vehicle batteries. (WHYY)

GRID: Although a formal proposal has yet to be filed, increasingly more residents, businesses and public officials are coming out in opposition against the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project, with some questioning the need for the transmission line. (WBAL, Maryland Matters)

WORKFORCE: In New York, the Rochester Institute of Technology receives a five-year, $3 million federal grant to offer 20 fellowships aimed at expanding research on semiconductors, a necessary component for the clean energy transition. (Rochester Beacon, UT-Austin)

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