TRANSPORTATION: Maine officials want to pair a proposed toll road outside Portland with other projects meant to reduce driving, but advocates and experts say a bigger shift in thinking is needed if the state intends to achieve its goals for reducing transportation emissions. (Energy News Network)

ALSO: JetBlue says it will soon start to receive regular deliveries of blended sustainable aviation fuel for its operations at New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. (news release)

BATTERIES: The announcement of a new $147 million federal grant to create the world’s largest long-term energy storage facility in a small town north of Bangor, Maine, has come as a surprise to local officials there. (Bangor Daily News)

FOSSIL FUELS: A private equity firm plans to buy an independent power producer with 5.3 GW of gas-fired capacity across the ISO New England, PJM Interconnection and ERCOT markets for roughly $3 billion, citing plans to “meaningfully grow” the generator through gas, renewable and battery storage development. (Utility Dive)

SOLAR: 

  • Although New York doesn’t appear to be on track to achieve many of its official climate goals, the state is very close to hitting its 6 GW of solar by 2025 target. (The City)
  • All of the power from Rhode Island’s largest capped landfill solar project, which was recently brought online, will go to the state’s largest power consumer, a plastics company. (PBN)
  • Connecticut’s energy project siting council rejects a 1.5 MW solar project because of the eight acres of trees that would have to be chopped down. (New Haven Register)
  • A big New York apple grower and distributor adds enough rooftop solar to completely power its entire facility. (Produce News)
  • Rhode Island’s governor is scheduled to sign into law new consumer protections around solar energy sales. (WLNE)

GRID: Eversource begins work to upgrade 30 transmission towers across five central Connecticut towns, aiming to increase reliability and resiliency. (Hartford Courant)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Rhode Island launches a new $750,000 rebate program to help residential properties add electric vehicle charging infrastructure, with just under half of the total funding earmarked for low-to-moderate-income residences. (PBN)

REGULATION: Although the legislative session is over, Massachusetts’ governor urges lawmakers to continue working on energy siting reforms, pointing to $389 million in federal funding announced for the region to undertake transmission and energy storage projects. (Boston Herald)

HYDROPOWER: Burlington, Vermont’s municipal utility will purchase 54 GWh of hydroelectricity through 2025 from FirstLight’s Shepaug Generating Station in Connecticut as part of its goal to source 100% of its power from renewables. (news release)

WIND: 

  • Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island decide to delay their joint offshore wind solicitation to factor in new federal grid resilience funds that would help interconnect such projects. (RTO Insider, subscription)
  • While still in early days, public comment periods and new state laws are laying the foundation for a new Delaware offshore wind industry. (DBT)
  • Ørsted is giving $2.5 million to the University of Rhode Island to track biodiversity and abandoned fishing gear  for three years at their nearby under-construction project. (PBN)

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Bridget is a freelance reporter and newsletter writer based in the Washington, D.C., area. She compiles the Northeast Energy News digest. Bridget primarily writes about energy, conservation and the environment. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a degree in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. When she isn’t working on a story, she’s normally on a northern Maine lake or traveling abroad to practice her Spanish language skills.