Category: Renewable Energy
4.4 MW Solar Facility to Provide Power for Madison Electric Works Customers
IGS Solar recently announced that Madison Electric Works will buy power from IGS's 4.4 MW solar array under a long-term contract. IGS will finance, own and operate the 4.4 megawatt generation facility, which will include more than more than 13,000 solar panels. MEW serves customers in Madison, Starks, Anson...
Seeking Competition Among the Uncompetitive: Maine PUC Must Define “Competitive” in Biomass Subsidy Proceeding
What makes a competitive bidding process "competitive"? The Maine PUC is currently grappling with this question in Docket No. 2016-00084 in which it is tasked with awarding contracts for up to 80MW of biomass generation. Under a new law, P.L. 2015, ch. 483 , the PUC must solicit bids...
Maine PUC Opens New Proceeding to Explore Changes to Net Metering Rules
On Tuesday, the PUC opened a new docket (2016-00120) requesting comments from interested stakeholders about the future of net metering (also known as "net energy billing"). In January, CMP notified the Commission that in 2015 net metering resources had exceeded 1% of CMP's peak demand, triggering PUC review under...
After Solar Bill Fails to Muster Veto-Proof Support, PUC Will Decide Fate of Net Metering
Last Friday, the Maine House came within two votes of overriding Governor LePage's veto of LD 1649 , a bill that would have substantially increased installed solar capacity in Maine. The Senate had previously voted unanimously to override the veto. The bill would have sought to increase solar capacity...
Hughes v. Talen Energy: Supreme Court Strikes Down Maryland Generation Subsidy on Narrow Grounds
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued its decision (8-0) in Hughes v. Talen Energy striking down a Maryland program that encouraged additional in-state generation. Hughes is the second decision of the term, following FERC v. Electric Power Supply Association , in which the Court has struggled to clarify the...
Maine Commission Reviews Non-Transmission Alternative Pilot Project; Opens New Docket to Appoint NTA Coordinator
Eight years ago, Central Maine Power (CMP), Maine's largest T&D utility, proposed the Maine Power Reliability Program (MPRP)—a comprehensive plan to upgrade transmission resources ensure reliable service to its customers throughout its service territory. As part of an agreement reached in that docket, a Non-Transmission Alternative (NTA) pilot project...
Maine Solar Bill Proposes to Expand Capacity Without Net Metering
On March 10, the Maine Legislature's Energy, Utilities & Technology Committee reported out a bill that is the culmination of the solar stakeholder process at the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The bill sets a target of developing 248 MW of new solar capacity over a five-year period beginning in...
Beyond Net Metering: Solar Stakeholders Seek Common Ground
Since September, solar stakeholders have been participating in regular work sessions at the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to develop an alternative to Maine’s current net metering rules. Net metering or “net energy billing” allows utility customers who also generate some of their own power (with solar panels, for...
Beyond Net Metering: Solar Stakeholders Seek Common Ground
Since September, solar stakeholders have been participating in regular work sessions at the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to develop an alternative to Maine's current net metering rules. Net metering or "net energy billing" allows utility customers who also generate some of their own power (with solar panels, for...
Large-Scale Solar Having Its Moment in the Sun
Last week the Portland Press Herald reported that the Maine Public Utilities Commission will direct Maine's transmission and distribution utilities to enter into a long-term contract with Dirigo Solar for the construction of up to 75 MW of new solar installations across the state. The Commission was especially pleased...
SolarCity’s Antitrust Case Survives Motion to Dismiss
When the Salt River Project utility in Arizona decided to impose new charges for its customers with rooftop solar installations in February , it opened another front in the solar war being waged across the country. Normally, these fights play out before state administrative agencies tasked with setting utilities'...
30-Year BGEPA Take Permit Invalidated by Federal District Court
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Tuesday struck down a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regulation allowing issuance of 30-year take permits under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The court's holding is a blow, albeit likely temporary, to wind power developers seeking...
USFWS Explores MBTA Incidental Take Permit
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it is looking into the creation of an incidental take permitting program under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Currently the regulations under the MBTA only authorize incidental take for hunting ; military readiness ; scientific collection, falconry and other special...
News Flash: Wind Power Reduces Carbon, Other Harmful Emissions
A report released this week finds that wind power plays a significant role in reducing carbon and other harmful emissions in the state of Maine by displacing energy generation from traditional power plants. The study, conducted by Massachusetts-based consulting firm Sustainable Energy Advantage , examined the environmental impacts of...
Energy Infrastructure Gets Regional, National and Global Attention
Energy infrastructure is all the rage these days. Earlier this week the White House released its inaugural Quadrennial Energy Review , which "examines how to modernize our nation's energy infrastructure to promote economic competitiveness, energy security and environmental responsibility." Not surprisingly, the report calls for major investments to upgrade...
Halleluja: The Clean, Green Renewable Future Is Upon Us!!!
The American Wind Energy Association released its annual market report for 2014 today. As expected, most of the report's findings are quite positive, with "more wind power capacity under construction at the end of 2014 than at the end of any other year." Over 100 U.S. wind power projects...
New Misguided Opponent of Renewables: Famous Novelist Jonathan Franzen
Author Jonathan Franzen In a lapse of fact checking and logic, the normally rigorous New Yorker magazine published a lengthy essay by noted novelist and bird watcher Jonathan Franzen that, among other things, called wind and solar power “blights on the landscape” that should be abandoned in favor of...
New Misguided Opponent of Renewables: Famous Novelist Jonathan Franzen
In a lapse of fact checking and logic, the normally rigorous New Yorker magazine published a lengthy essay by noted novelist and bird watcher Jonathan Franzen that, among other things, called wind and solar power "blights on the landscape" that should be abandoned in favor of bird sanctuaries because...
USFWS Lists Northern Long Eared Bat as Threatened Species
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it will publish a final rule in the April 2, 2015 Federal Register designating the northern long eared bat as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The listing will become effective May 4, 2015, at which time an interim 4(d...
BOEM Reviews Lease Request for Floating Wind Turbines off Hawaii
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is in the process of reviewing a lease request submitted by AW Hawaii Wind, LLC for two proposed 408 MW offshore wind power facilities, each consisting of 51 floating 8 MW turbines. AW Hawaii Wind is a subsidiary of Denmark-based Alpha Wind...
D.C. District Court Sides with USFWS on Indiana Bat ITP Issued to Ohio Everpower Project
The U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. granted summary judgment on Wednesday to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a suit challenging the issuance of an incidental take permit to an Ohio wind power project for impacts to the endangered Indiana bat. USFWS had issued the ITP to...
DOE Says 35% of U.S. Electricity Can Be Generated by Wind Power by 2050
The U.S. Department of Energy released an in-depth analysis today entitled Wind Vision: A New Era for Wind Power in the United States . The report models various scenarios of wind power penetration into the U.S. energy market and concludes that under "an ambitious but credible scenario" 35 percent...
First U.S. Offshore Wind Power Project Will Likely Be Deepwater Wind's Block Island Facility
Providence, Rhode Island-based Deepwater Wind announced this week that it has secured $290 million in financing needed to construct its five-turbine, 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm. Deepwater expects to begin placing turbines in the water this summer with commercial operations projected to start at the end of 2016. The...
U.S. District Court Grants Summary Judgment to SunEdison's Oakfield Wind Power Project on All Counts
In an order issued Friday in Protect Our Lakes v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , No. 1:13-cv-402 (D. Me. Feb. 20, 2015), U.S. District Court Judge Jon Levy rejected claims that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' issuance of a Clean Water Act Section 404 wetlands permit to...
Two Federal Leases Secured for Offshore Wind Projects
Two energy companies recently secured leases for offshore wind projects in the Massachusetts Wind Energy Area located 12 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) announced the winners of the leases totaling 354,409 acres. RES Americas Development LLC (a RES Group holding...
USFWS Enforces MBTA Against Wind Power For Second Time
A pair of Wyoming wind power projects has pleaded guilty to violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) and agreed to pay fines that add up to $2.5 million. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Department of Justice enforced the MBTA against Portland, Oregon-based PacifiCorp Energy...
Cacophony of Opinions as Law Court Attempts to Clarify Appeal Deadlines
In a decision that included a majority opinion, a concurrence, and two separate dissents, the Maine Supreme Court struggled mightily to establish the deadline for opponents of a wind power project to appeal an approval issued by the Town of Clifton Zoning Board of Appeals. The majority in Beckford...
Page 2 of 2
