More good news for heat pumps in Massachusetts, as regulators order National Grid to develop special rate

Environmental advocates are hailing a decision by Massachusetts regulators that will give more than 1.3 million households access to lower winter electricity prices if they use a heat pump in their home.

Public utilities regulators on Monday ordered National Grid, the state’s second-largest electric company, to develop a lower, seasonal rate for houses with heat pumps. The decision comes three months after the state approved a similar rate plan by Unitil, an electric utility that serves 108,500 Massachusetts households.

“They hit the nail on the head here,” said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for climate and energy nonprofit Acadia Center.

To read the full article from Energy News Network, click here.

Advocates hope utility’s winter heat pump rate discount becomes model for Massachusetts utilities

Residents with heat pumps in four Massachusetts towns will soon pay hundreds of dollars less for their electricity over the winter, thanks to a new pricing approach advocates hope will become a model for utilities across the state.

The cost of powering these systems though, can be its own problem. Natural gas prices have been trending precipitously downward for the past two years and Massachusetts has long had some of the highest electricity prices in the country. This disparity can be particularly stark in the winter, when consumers using natural gas for heating get priority, requiring the grid to lean more heavily on dirtier, more expensive oil- and coal-fueled power plants, said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director for climate and energy nonprofit Acadia Center.

So switching from natural gas to an electric heat source — even a more efficient one like a heat pump — doesn’t always mean savings for a consumer, especially those with lower incomes.

“Electric rates are disproportionately higher than gas rates in the region,” Murray said.

Public utilities regulators are in the middle of considering a rate case filed by National Grid, which serves some 1.3 million customers in Massachusetts. National Grid has proposed what it calls a technology-neutral “electrification rate,” which would provide discounts to certain high-volume energy users, which would include heat pump users.

However, several advocates for low-income households and clean energy — including Acadia Center, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Low-Income Energy Affordability Network — as well as the state energy department and Attorney General Andrea Campbell argue that this approach is inadequate. They’ve submitted comments urging regulators to require National Grid to offer a heat pump rate similar to Unitil’s plan, but modified to work within National Grid’s pricing model.

“Every intervenor in the docket who commented on the electrification proposal in any capacity was negative on it,” Murray said. “And the [department of public utilities] in its questioning seemed fairly skeptical as well.”

National Grid declined to comment on the pending rate case.

To read the full article from Energy News Network, click here.

Learn about three nonprofits working to foster innovation and build resilient infrastructure

Every month in 2024, we are highlighting the work of Give Lively member nonprofits in one category of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015.

The United Nations website states that “the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)… are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”

‍SDG Goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Acadia Center

This organization’s mission is to advance bold, effective clean energy solutions for a livable climate and a stronger, more equitable economy  in the northeast of the United States. Acadia Center believes that for the future to be climate-safe, humanity can’t afford to play it safe. Their audacious plan? Cut carbon emissions in the Northeast by 50% or more by 2030. Together with policymakers, environmental justice partners and donors, Acadia Center aims to build an energy system that puts people front and center, shifting conversations to promote equitable solutions. Acadia Center works to amplify voices that are not always heard or heeded, striving to find common ground so that our communities have clean, healthy, affordable energy so we all can thrive.

Acadia Center uses a Give Lively-powered Simple Donation Widget to collect donations on its website. It also used a Campaign Page on Earth Day: “Reimagining, Representing, and Reinforcing this Earth Day with Acadia Center!”

To read the full article from Give Lively, click here.

Mass. Gov. Healey Includes Permitting Reform in Budget Proposal

Following the failure of the Massachusetts House and Senate to reach common ground on a climate bill this summer, Gov. Maura Healey (D) has proposed to include clean energy permitting and procurement provisions in a supplemental budget bill announced Sept. 11.

While the permitting and siting reform framework largely has been agreed-on for months, legislators were unable to overcome disagreements between the House and Senate over natural gas and competitive electricity supplier reforms before the end of the formal legislative session in July. (See Mass. Lawmakers Fail to Pass Permitting, Gas Utility Reform and Mass. Legislature Faces Looming Deadline to Pass Permitting Reform.)

Kyle Murray of the Acadia Center said the administration’s inclusion of the permitting reforms in the budget bill “probably signals that they didn’t sense likely movement” in the negotiations between the House and Senate.

He said reforms to expedite clean energy permitting and to enable the transition off natural gas are key aspects of the state’s clean energy transition but added that “any climate bill that moves forward must take practical and common-sense steps to address the gradual decommissioning of the sprawling natural gas system. Any bill that does not do so is not acceptable.”

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

With more extreme temperatures, are ‘virtual power plants’ the solution to our energy needs?

Massachusetts residents can now opt into a connected ‘virtual power plant’ system that puts less stress on the power grid. We take a look at what they are and how they work and how your home might connect to them.

Massachusetts Undersecretary of Energy Mike Judge, Acadia Center clean grid program manager Joe LaRusso and WBUR environmental reporter Miriam Wasser join Radio Boston to discuss.

“I think it represents a significant difference in the way we think about the grid. I think that our parents and grandparents as customers of electricity customers thought of themselves as recipients – that the grid was delivering power to them and now with virtual power plants, what we’re essentially seeing is a grid that’s interactive, where each one of our homes can act as a grid asset so that we can support the grid in turn. And so it really is, you know, a situation where there’s give and take now with the grid.”

“Right now the grid is an important juncture. The next 25 years are very important. We’re going to be using much more energy and we’re going to have to build much more transmission in order to deliver that energy to customers. ISO New England issued a report, 2050 transmission report, and in that report they referred to the historical peak of 28 gigawatts, which occurred about 10 years ago, in fact. So that was the most that we’ve ever had in terms of power generated to meet. And in the region, 28 gigawatts. They’re estimating that the peak in 2050 might be 51 gigawatts, maybe as much as 57 gigawatts – much higher number. The cost of building the transmission to meet that peak is extremely expensive. ISO New England estimates that to go from 28 gigawatts to 51 gigawatts each GW that we add to the peak will require a $750 million in transmission investments. If we have to go from 51 to 57, those additional 6 gigawatts, the amount required to build transmission to meet a 57 kilowatt peak, each one of those gigawatts would cost a billion and a half dollars. So clearly we minimize the expense of building the future grid that we need by minimizing the peak, and VPP will be an important element in reducing that peak and avoiding the cost that we might otherwise have to make in order to meet the future peak.”

To listen to the full broadcast from wbur, click here.

Nevada leads pack in race for federal energy, climate cash

It has been just over two years since President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, which invests $369 billion of federal cash in energy security and dealing with climate change.

“Given that those transportation sectors are the largest [carbon] emitter in the state, having that is a really, really big push for us,” said Climate, Energy and Justice Policy Associate Jayson Velazquez with the Acadia Center.

Velazquez added that Connecticut is an early leader because the state had several plans ready to go when IRA funding became available. “Having the supplemental capacity of the IRA really just boosted some of those efforts,” he said.

To read the full article from Marketplace, click here.

Massport seeks millions from EPA to cut shipping emissions at its container, cruise terminals

Grappling with health and environmental impacts of increased marine shipping in Boston Harbor, Massport is seeking $280 million in federal grants aimed at reducing emissions and expanding electrification at its container and cruise terminals.

Local environmental advocates say it is time for policymakers in Massachusetts to pay more attention to the shipping industry here.

“These are such high emitters that it’s definitely a mistake to not focus on them now,” said Kyle Murray, who directs state policy at the Acadia Center,an environmental and clean energy advocacy nonprofit based in Boston.

To read the full article from GBH News, click here.

Mass. DPU Approves 1st Round of Utility Grid Modernization Plans

The Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities has approved grid modernization plans from electric distribution companies that outline longer-term strategies for handling increased electrification and the deployment of distributed resources.

The electric sector modernization plans (ESMPs) include five- and 10-year load forecasts, investments to meet forecasted demand and boost resilience, and cost-benefit analyses for the proposed investments. Overall, the plans predict major new costs for ratepayers. (See Mass. Utilities Submit Grid Modernization Drafts.)

Representatives of climate and environmental justice organizations expressed disappointment that the DPU did not take a broader approach to the ESMP proceeding.

“I wish they had gone further,” Kyle Murray of the Acadia Center told RTO Insider. There were “not a lot of significant changes from what the companies proposed,” and the DPU “didn’t take a lot of suggestions from the intervenors.”

However, Murray said the move toward long-term planning is a step in the right direction, and he applauded the DPU’s decision to lengthen the stakeholder process for the next round of ESMPs.

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

How ‘virtual power plants’ help reduce peak power demand in New England

On the hottest afternoons this summer, when residents across New England cranked their air conditioners, something noteworthy happened. Thousands of internet-connected thermostats, home solar panels and battery systems were called into action to help reduce the strain on the electric grid.

Welcome to the age of “virtual power plants,” or VPPs.

“I’m very excited about virtual power plants,” said Joe LaRusso, who manages the Clean Grid Initiative at the Acadia Center, a non-profit clean energy research and advocacy group. “There’s enormous potential for every house to behave as a grid asset.”

“On days when the grid is stressed, if each of our homes is serving as a grid asset — that is, we are turning stuff off in our homes or discharging batteries — we can, each of us, contribute to shaving the peak,” the Acadia Center’s LaRusso said. “And if the peak can be shaved across the region by thousands of megawatts, then we’re really talking about having a system that is much more nimble, and much more resilient and much more reliable.”

To read the full article from wbur, click here.

All EV drivers can save money, but Massachusetts drivers save the least

Drivers in all 50 US states could save money by switching from gas-powered cars and trucks to electric vehicles, adding up to almost $1,100 a year for an average consumer, according to a new analysis. But Massachusetts drivers would save the least, due in part to the region’s high electricity rates.

But the picture should improve for Massachusetts EV drivers as the state adds more renewable energy projects and reduces reliance on higher-cost natural gas generation, said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts Program Director at the nonprofit Acadia Center in Boston.

“The state continuing to keep the pedal to the metal … on solar and other low-cost renewables will be incredibly important,” Murray said. And the state is moving towards enacting lower electricity rates at night when the grid has excess capacity, which would reduce the cost of charging EVs at home overnight, he said.

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