Report Outlines Scope, Challenges of Clean Energy Siting in New England

A new policy paper from the Acadia Center and the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) emphasizes the importance of community engagement to enabling the wide-scale deployment of clean energy infrastructure over the next two decades. 

“For New England to build out its infrastructure at the speed and scale needed to unlock a local energy transition, it will take buy-in, acceptance and trust from the communities that will host these clean energy resources,” the climate advocacy nonprofit wrote in the report, published Nov. 25. 

The paper includes a quantitative literature review of five recent studies on decarbonization in the region, which, on average, indicate New England’s peak load will grow to 55 GW by 2050, compared with the 2024 peak load of 24,310 MW. This figure is in line with ISO-NE’s projection of a 57-GW winter evening peak in 2050.  

To meet the growing demand, the review found the region will need to add “up to 5 GW of new clean energy capacity per year for the next twenty years,” assuming the region’s existing nuclear plants remain online. The studies estimated on average that 84% of generation in 2050 will come from renewables.  

“The highest order recommendation is that the region must adopt a diverse, clean energy portfolio approach to achieve decarbonization goals while keeping the lights on and heat pumps running,” Acadia said, adding that this portfolio should include a mix of renewables, clean firm generation, interregional transmission, demand flexibility, energy efficiency and storage. 

The organization emphasized how energy efficiency and demand flexibility could help significantly reduce the peak, with the studies estimating that flexibility could reduce the 2050 peak by about 7%. This peak reduction could save the region billions in transmission costs alone; ISO-NE found in its 2050 Transmission Study that a 10% reduction in peak load could reduce the overall transmission buildout cost by about a third.  

Acadia noted that energy efficiency and building retrofits were not modeled in detail in the studies and said more research is needed to quantify the full potential of both efficiency and demand flexibility. 

“Increased modeling focus on the cost-effective potential of building envelope improvements to reduce overall space heating demand could reveal lower levels of generation buildout than currently found by these studies,” the group wrote.  

“Energy efficiency can and should be deployed as a competitive resource, able to be procured and acquired by the MWh or MW just as states and the region currently procure generation resources,” the group added, noting that the prices of efficiency procurements would likely be cost-competitive with solicitations of large-scale renewables.  

Community Buy-in Needed

Efficiency, demand flexibility, advanced transmission technologies, repowering existing renewable sites and strategies like agrivoltaics can help reduce the overall infrastructure footprint, but any decarbonization scenario will still require large amounts of new infrastructure, the report said.  

To enable the construction of this infrastructure, developers must do a better job building community buy-in for their projects, incorporating feedback into project design, and providing tangible local benefits, Acadia wrote.  

The report features case studies of several high-profile projects from recent years, including the canceled Aroostook Renewable Gateway and Twin States Clean Energy Link projects, along with Eversource Energy’s substation in East Boston — which is expected to come in service in 2025, 11 years after it was initially proposed. 

“Levels of community support or opposition are key factors in a project’s success or failure,” Acadia wrote. “High profile project failures and stories of bad actors spread between communities and stoke opposition.” 

The organization added that community benefit agreements alone are not enough to prevent opposition and said “the process of negotiating and implementing community benefits programs is as important as the benefits themselves.” 

“Development of a community benefit should occur through an early, inclusive, community-led process that not only informs the structure of community benefits program, but also incorporates community input into the design of the project itself,” Acadia wrote, adding that benefit plans should include accountability measures to ensure promises are met. 

Community opposition can also be amplified by fossil fuel companies and incumbent power producers, Acadia said, referencing the campaign to stop the New England Clean Energy Connect Pipeline and the challenges to the Vineyard Wind project funded by fossil fuel groups. (See Avangrid Sues NextEra over ‘Scorched-earth Scheme’ to Stop NECEC.) 

“Those who have benefited from the region’s widespread reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure are reluctant to accept, and often in opposition to, shifting the resource mix [toward] clean energy generation,” Acadia wrote. “Incumbent power generators have interfered in infrastructure development in numerous instances, particularly around transmission that would bring new clean energy supply into the market.” 

To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.

Mass Pike is finally getting more EV chargers — by 2026

Electric vehicle drivers looking for a speedy recharge along the Mass. Turnpike can look forward to some major improvements over the next two years.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is about to award a new 30-year contract for managing 18 state-owned rest stops along the Pike and other highways. The contract requires the manager install new fast chargers at eight of the 11 rest stops on the Pike by the end of 2026, with more expected by the beginning of 2028 around the state at stops on Routes 3, 6, 24, and 128.

The transportation sector accounts for 37 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts and the state’s climate plan to curb emissions relies on convincing almost one million drivers to switch to EVs by 2030, 10 times the current number of EVs on the road.

Adding better chargers on the turnpike is a “critical piece of electrifying transportation,” according to Kyle Murray, Massachusetts Program Director at the nonprofit Acadia Center.

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.

How Trump could stall Massachusetts’ electric vehicle transition

Trump has offered contradictory statements about EVs during the campaign and may not be able to make all of the changes he seeks, experts said.

“Sometimes with the president-elect, there is a gap between rhetoric and action,” said Kyle Murray, director of state program implementation at the Acadia Center in Boston. “It can be difficult to judge what is actually going to occur.”

To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.

New Report Outlines New England’s Renewable Energy Needs

A new report from the Acadia Center and the Clean Air Task Force examines the critical role that community engagement will play in meeting New England’s 2050 decarbonization goals. The report highlights the opportunity to accelerate the region’s renewable energy progress by addressing local concerns and better equipping communities to meaningfully participate in the siting and approval processes.

The laws and policies of most New England states generally target 80% to 100% greenhouse gas emissions reductions below 1990 levels by 2050.

Drawing from prominent case studies from around the region, the report also identifies promising options for developers, communities, and policymakers to improve project planning and engagement, helping reduce the risk of failures, legal challenges, and delays.

Without comprehensive reforms to improve community engagement processes and modernize siting and permitting policies, the region’s renewable energy transition risks significant delays and setbacks, according to report’s authors.

Part 1 of the report examines New England’s renewable energy infrastructure needs. Part 2 examines how to build a supportive community and policy environment for renewable energy development, while considering several case studies in the region.

The two-part report summarizes the findings of a yearlong assessment, offering options and opportunities for both state and local governments, as well as for community stakeholders and project developers.

As New England transitions from fossil fuels to a decarbonized, renewable grid, the success of this transformation will depend on active and meaningful community engagement, according to the authors. Without local buy-in, critical energy projects will continue to face significant headwinds and delays, putting the region’s climate goals at risk, they added.

To read the full article from ecoRI, click here.

Massport to invest $60 million to create electric shore power for growing cruise ship industry

Massport announced plans on Friday to spend $60 million to build an electric power system allowing some specially-equipped cruise ships to plug in and switch off diesel engines while docked.

Kyle Murray, who directs state policy at the Acadia Center, a New England environmental and clean energy nonprofit, says the support marks a shift in statements from policymakers — who once generally only praised the economic boons of shipping in the region.

“(Shipping) has flown under a lot of groups’ radar because it’s so complicated to decarbonize these sectors,” he said.

An ambitious climate bill, passed last week by the Legislature, revised Massport’s charter to require the agency focus on greenhouse gas emissions and impact on local communities.

“That’s a part of their mission going forward,” Murray said. “I think we’re going to see a lot more attention drawn to this this going forward.”

To read the full article from GBH, click here.

New England states’ renewable energy push blasted as too costly by free-market advocates

Conservative think tanks in New England are taking aim at state energy policies that promote zero-carbon energy to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

“The Staggering Costs of New England’s Green Energy Policies,” a report released Tuesday by the Denver-based organization Always On Energy Research, and signed onto by free-market advocacy groups in New England, says ratepayers’ bills will double, to $4,610 by 2050, as a result of state policies, or “mandates,” to promote green energy.

Environmental advocates blasted the report, calling it inaccurate and misleading. The Acadia Center, a climate and clean energy advocacy group, said the report “overlooks enormous costs borne by ratepayers under today’s fossil grid.”

The Acadia Center acknowledged the costs of shifting to zero-carbon energy. “Let’s be candid: There will be significant costs from the energy transition (and significant benefits as well),” it said.

But economic growth as carbon emissions decline “belies the canard that New England state climate policies spell doom for the regional economy,” the Acadia Center said.

The report “ignores the impossibly high cost of business-as-usual,” it said. New Englanders withdraw billions of dollars from the region’s economy each year to purchase fossil fuels sourced outside New England. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine spend $8.2 billion annually importing fossil fuels, the Acadia Center said.

In addition, the cost of ignoring climate-driven storms, heat waves, flooding and other disasters is the loss of human life and billions of dollars in property damage, it said.

To read the full article from the Portland Press Herald, click here.

New report claims New England emissions goals may mean higher electricity costs

MANCHESTER, N.H. — A report from a group of conservative and free market New England think tanks warns that increased use of wind and solar energy could lead to increased electricity costs and rolling blackouts in the region.

The nonprofit Acadia Center, which is focused on clean energy solutions, is rebutting the report, saying it fails to withstand “basic analytical scrutiny.”

To read the full article from WMUR, click here.

Report warns of huge costs from green energy mandates in New England, but critics cry foul

A new report commissioned by seven conservative-leaning organizations and free-market think tanks paints Massachusetts’ and New England’s devotion to renewable energy as failed policy that will cost residents more than $815 billion, won’t meet electricity demand, and result in rolling blackouts.

The nonprofit Acadia Center, which is focused on cutting carbon emissions, said the report presents a “deeply flawed analysis” and a “distorted view of the region’s future energy outlook.”

Job growth from renewable projects that end the region’s reliance on spending billions to import fossil fuels, along with the steep cost of rebuilding areas after natural disasters due to climate change, are reasons cited by the Acadia Center to support a renewable-energy path.

The transition will be expensive, said Acadia, but “using intentionally misleading information to fearmonger on behalf of the fossil fuel industry and advance its interests does not serve the best interests of New England ratepayers.”

To read the full article from Telegram & Gazette, click here.

Report On Costs Stirs Clean Energy Debate

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, NOV. 19, 2024…..New Englanders may experience yearly spikes in their electricity bills compounded by rolling blackouts during the winter as the region continues to embrace renewable energy sources, according to a new report from conservative-leaning think tanks.

The Acadia Center, a Boston-based nonprofit focused on clean energy solutions, rebuked the report, alleging it offers an “inaccurate picture” of infrastructure investments, and overlooks the “enormous” cost ratepayers are currently facing “under today’s fossil grid.”

While the AOER report claims electricity rates will double for New England residents and businesses, the Acadia Center says forecasts produced by Massachusetts energy officials show rates will increase through 2030 and then decrease. The expanded use of electrified transportation and heating systems is also supposed to save Bay State households money, according to the state’s clean energy and climate plan.

“Let’s be candid: there will be significant costs from the energy transition (and significant benefits as well) – Acadia Center has been clear-eyed about this reality and what it means for our public policymaking,” the center said. “However, using intentionally misleading information to fearmonger on behalf of the fossil fuel industry and advance its interests does not serve the best interests of New England ratepayers.”

To read the full article from State House News, click here.

Energy battles intensifying ahead of Trump swearing-in

BOSTON (SHNS) – There is a clean energy bill sitting on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk and Beacon Hill’s calendar for this week includes an array of energy-related events and reports. But there are also mounting indications that the federal government could change course on energy policy under the administration that President-elect Donald Trump is assembling.

“The most difficult thing is going to be continuing to try and meet emissions targets. We know this incoming administration is going to press heavily on oil and natural gas and the expansion of those, so that does obviously present a major challenge going forward as we try to curtail those,” Kyle Murray, senior advocate and Massachusetts program director at the Acadia Center, said. “Massachusetts is taking some fairly nascent first steps towards limiting the expansion of the gas system in the state, and there are fed efforts that could potentially undermine that work.”

Murray said the incoming Trump administration “could put up some major roadblocks and make life difficult” for renewable energy industries, including offshore wind. But he also noted that many of the large oil and gas companies have already begun to diversify and invest in renewables.

“There’s a world you could envision where those companies are pressing for investment in all of the above — oil, natural gas, offshore wind, solar, all of those things. There is a potential opportunity there,” Murray said. He added, “The energy transition is big business and there’s a lot of money involved in it. So there’s some hope that that train has left the station too much. That being said, there’s always the caveat that you never know.”

To read the full article from WWLP, click here.