Report: Clean energy kept lights on during New England heat wave
A new report revealed how local, “behind-the-meter” solar installations came to the rescue during New England’s recent historic heat wave.
On June 24, ISO New England issued a “power caution” and multiple energy alerts as record temperatures triggered a decade-high electricity demand.
Jamie Dickerson, senior director of clean energy and climate programs at the nonprofit Acadia Center, said solar panels helped ensure people had power throughout the day.
“Solar was helping not just deliver megawatt-hours but also suppressing demand for the entire region,” Dickerson pointed out. “Basically helping ensure that the grid could keep the lights on, could keep the air conditioning running.”
He added it helped save ISO customers more than $8 million on one of the most expensive power days of the year.
Renewable energy backers warn the loss of federal tax credits for solar panels and other green technologies will only slow future development and limit the region’s response to the next peak power event.
Landmark investments in clean energy made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act were largely eliminated by the federal budget bill signed into law by President Donald Trump last week. Massachusetts taxpayers alone benefited from more than $200 million in tax credits for home energy efficiency updates.
Dickerson noted the improvements ease the burden on the power grid in a warming climate.
“Those resources are susceptible to equipment failure and to outages, and there is correlated outage risk across the very large fleet of natural gas generation in the region,” Dickerson explained. “All the more reason why we need to diversify the region’s portfolio.”
He emphasized the removal of federal tax credits will not entirely handicap states’ ability to increase solar development. Massachusetts recently revised its solar program to encourage development in low-income communities as well as rooftop solar installations.
To read the full article from Public News Service, click here.
Rooftop solar strengthens electric grid during recent heat wave
Experts say that roof mounted solar panels moderated electric demand and prices on the New England electric grid during the recent heat wave.
Jamie Dickerson with Acadia Center, an energy nonprofit, said so-called ‘behind the meter’ solar sent to homes and businesses reduces the overall need for electricity at peak periods.
During intense heat on June 24, generation from homes and businesses helped keep the grid running even as operator ISO New England was forced to fire up reserve energy resources after it fell short of requirements.
“Clean energy in fact saved consumers millions of dollars in wholesale electricity market costs and played a vital role in keeping the light on and the air conditioning running,” Dickerson said.
To read the full article from Maine Public, click here.
A Heat Pump Might Be Right for Your Home. Here’s Everything to Know.
They’re the most energy-efficient way to handle both heating and cooling in your home; they also tend to be the most affordable choice in the long term, once you factor in tax credits and incentives as well as decreased utility bills. And they’re usually better for the environment and generally considered to be one of the best ways for homeowners to reduce their carbon footprint without sacrificing comfort. In other words, they’re a win-win.
“A heat pump is probably the biggest thing that consumers can do to help fight the climate crisis,” said Amy Boyd, director of policy for the Acadia Center, a regional research and advocacy organization focusing on clean-energy policy in the Northeast.
Heat pumps also happen to rank among the quietest and most comfortable options available for home heating and cooling.
To read the full article from New York Times’ Wirecutter, click here.
How rooftop solar is helping New England stay cool during the heat wave
As New England bakes during the first heat wave of the summer, electricity use is surging. The power grid has so far been able to meet the demand, thanks in part to an assist from the sun.
Around the region, thousands of solar panels on rooftops, over parking lots and along the sides of roads are converting sunlight into electricity and helping relieve stress on the grid.
“Behind-the-meter solar is already benefiting New Englanders by shaving summertime peaks” in energy demand, said Joe LaRusso, manager of the Clean Grid Program at the Acadia Center, a nonprofit focused on clean energy research and advocacy.
Most of New England’s electricity comes from burning natural gas and nuclear power. But when energy use spikes, the grid operator turns to “peaker plants” to help meet the demand. These tend to be older, more polluting facilities that are expensive to operate; in New England, many of them burn oil or coal.
“Without behind-the-meter solar, New England would have needed to burn that much more coal and oil to balance the supply of electricity with customer demand.” LaRusso said. “It reduces the cost of meeting the peak, and reduces system-wide emissions that contain not only carbon, but other pollutants including airborne particles that can cause respiratory illnesses.”
As evening fell on Monday, solar production dropped off, and oil production increased. By 7 p.m., oil and coal accounted for about 1,900 megawatts of power on the grid. In the future, LaRusso said, as more behind-the-meter solar is installed, and batteries to store excess power become more common, he hopes the region can rely even less on peaker plants to get through heat waves.
To read the full article from wbur, click here.
ISO-NE CEO Gordon van Welie Announces Retirement
CEO Gordon van Welie has announced plans to step down at the end of 2025. He will be replaced by longtime ISO-NE COO Vamsi Chadalavada.
Joe LaRusso of the Acadia Center said van Welie’s retirement comes at a “pivotal moment” for ISO-NE, with power demand likely to grow after a long period of stability, intermittent renewables set to come online, and increasing conflicts between state and federal energy policy.
“I expect the transition from Gordon to his successor Vamsi Chadalavada to be a smooth one,” LaRusso said, adding that Chadalavada “is well aware of all of the challenges facing the ISO and will certainly see current initiatives such as capacity market and reliability reforms, and Longer-Term Transmission Planning and FERC Order 1920 compliance through to completion. The ISO won’t deviate much, if at all, from its current path, and Gordon’s stamp will inevitably remain imprinted on ISO New England for some years to come.”
To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.
An economic opportunity, or an energy crisis in waiting? Data centers are coming to Massachusetts.
Have you used AI today? Or, more likely: How many times have you used AI today?
Whether it’s ChatGPT or a simple Google search, AI is getting faster, more pervasive, and harder to avoid. And all that comes with a cost. Data processing of this magnitude requires a staggering amount of electricity, at a time when households in Massachusetts are already reeling from high utility bills and the state is trying to wean itself off fossil fuels to combat climate change.
“I have major concerns about data centers,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for the advocacy group the Acadia Center. In other parts of the country, where data centers are being rapidly built, he said, “they just end up driving up costs for everyone else — they get a favorable rate, and then average citizens end up paying more.”
To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.
Rhode Island weighs bills to quash solar incentives, net-metering
Rhode Island is considering legislation to repeal the state’s two compensation programs for renewable energy.
House Bill 6202 would place a moratorium on net metering contracts, subsidies for heat pumps, and long-term contracts for the purchasing of solar or wind energy. House Bill 6203 would repeal the Renewable Energy Growth Program, which compensates for the development of distributed generation projects under long-term tariffs at fixed prices, paying renewable energy generators cash for their electricity production.
“Blaming renewable for rising energy costs is also misguided, when the volatility of our supply costs is driven in large part by the region’s overreliance on natural gas and other fossil fuels,” Acadia Center said in its testimony. Along with the volatility of global gas markets, Acadia said, “the price of our gas and our electricity can also be impacted by extreme temperatures, supply constraints, and demand at certain times of the day and year.”
Acadia said adding new sources of both small and large clean energy can help diversify the state’s supply and insulate the Northeast from swings in fossil fuel prices.
“Rhode Island leaders can and should take tangible steps to tackle the state’s rising energy burden: pursing oversight of utility spending, introducing support for meaningful participation, and ensuring that our most vulnerable have access to affordable energy,” Acadia said.
To read the full article from PV Magazine, click here.
Regulators Focus on Energy Affordability at NECPUC Symposium
MYSTIC, Conn. — Government officials and industry executives discussed how to mitigate rising energy costs in New England at the 77th annual New England Conference of Public Utility Commissioners Symposium May 19 and 20.
Jamie Dickerson, senior director of clean energy and climate programs at the Acadia Center, said it was “a cold, tough winter, there’s no doubt about it,” but added that “the primary driver of costs was gas and oil, not renewable energy.”
He said adding more clean energy to the grid will help diversify the supply mix and drive down market volatility. The New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line, which is slated to come online at the end of 2025 should save ratepayers millions annually, while the winter-peaking power production profile of offshore wind should provide significant relief for winter price spikes, Dickerson said.
He resisted the idea that adding new pipeline capacity to the region would lower consumer costs, telling attendees that “we actually don’t see that there is an economic case for the buildout of pipelines into New England.”
To read the full article from RTO Insider, click here.
Massachusetts utility bills are climbing. Here are four possible fixes.
Rising bills for gas and electric service have many consumers up in arms. It’s charges for the Mass Save energy efficiency program to blame, some say. It’s the utilities padding their bottom line, others say. It’s too much spending on infrastructure. It’s the colder winter.
The profit margin adds to the cost of any infrastructure projects that regulators approve, noted Kyle Murray, director of state program implementation at Acadia Center, a nonprofit focused on clean energy policy.
“Return on equity is certainly something to look at,” said Murray, who has made filings asking regulators to lower the profit rate. ”They’re making profits off of every additional pipeline. Every pipe that gets put in the ground, that is profit for them.”
To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.
Trump says the solution to high New England energy costs is a natural gas pipeline project. It’s not nearly that simple.
WASHINGTON — As Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and leaders of other Northeast states try to reduce high energy costs, President Trump is pitching a simple but controversial solution: resurrect a major pipeline project to bring more natural gas to the region.
Joseph LaRusso, manager of the Clean Grid Program at the Acadia Center, an advocacy group working to cut Northeast carbon emissions in half by 2030, said building the pipeline now would probably cost $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion.
“While the conversation around pipelines has become resurgent again in the wake of this cold winter and concerns about affordability, there really is no indication that any increase in interstate gas transmission pipeline capacity into New England would make a difference in terms of prices,” he said, noting that prices have not moderated despite the region’s pipeline capacity increasing by 51 percent since 2014.
To read the full article from the Boston Globe, click here.