Who decides where we get electricity and how much we pay? Mostly White, politically connected men

Few government officials will have a bigger say in how states transition from fossil fuels than public utility commissioners.

Yet, for the most part, these boards operate below the radar, rarely drawing the level of scrutiny faced by other agencies or officeholders.

Jared Heern wants to change that.

In an effort to draw more attention to the role of state utility commissions, Heern, a postdoctoral research associate at the Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society, recently assembled data on the more than 800 commissioners who served on public utility commissions across the country between 2000 and 2020. The results are laid out in a new study published in the journal Energy Research and Social Science.

“These proceedings can be very technical and opaque,” said Oliver Tully, director of utility innovation at the Acadia Center. “It can be challenging for groups who are already limited in terms of resources to participate meaningfully in proceedings where there is a lot of jargon and data to wade through.”

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

How social movements catalyse entrepreneurship in emerging industries such as green energy

Social movements could help support finding innovative solutions to issues such as climate change by encouraging entrepreneurial activity. Research shows that social movements can also play a key role in bringing new players into the solar industry, green building and recycling. Such collective enterprises could help push forward the changes needed for entrepreneurship to flourish in emerging industries like green energy.

In the search for innovative solutions to the climate crisis and other challenges, new businesses may find an unexpected source of support: social movements. Though often associated with opposition and protest, such collective enterprises can be crucial in encouraging entrepreneurial activity in emerging industries, serving as catalysts for innovation in some of the areas where it’s needed most. To understand the relationship between social movements and entrepreneurship, we looked at the solar power industry in the US and the tech-focused advocacy organizations dedicated to promoting renewable energy.

We wanted to know whether these social movement organizations can benefit entrepreneurship, as well as where and when they may be most effective in bringing new entrants into the fray.Of course, not all social movement organizations – those dedicated to promoting shared social or cultural goals – are created equal. The US-based organizations we studied had an approach that was targeted and goal-oriented rather than confrontational; they were interested more in educating than in shouting. Examples of the groups we looked at were Carolina Land and Lakes, Acadia Center and the Energy Trust of Oregon and all launched various initiatives to promote clean energy. They held training and educational programmes; fought misinformation and found common ground; pushed for regulatory reform; and managed programmes for technology swapping or upgrading.

When an industry is in its infancy, social movements help it and new players come across as viable and legitimate. They clarify the unknowns in a company’s offering, push for legal frameworks that make room for them, and target potential customers. Clean energy groups can increase the incidence of state-based incentives like sales tax credits for renewable technologies. Acadia Center, for example, publishes data on the role of clean energy investments on job creation and economic growth, and designs market-based strategies for renewables and advocates for policies to implement them.

To see the original article on the European Sting, click here.

No juice on the Mass. Pike: Charging stations out of order; what does it mean for drivers?

Range anxiety is alive and well in Central Massachusetts.

What is range anxiety? It’s nervous energy a driver of a fully electric vehicle feels when the dashboard signals a dangerously low power level and there are few, if any, charging stations nearby.

Panic can set it because the thought of running out of juice and being stuck along a busy highway or in the middle of nowhere can grate on the nerves.

There is a workaround for the charging station challenge on the Pike, said Joseph LaRusso, senior advocate and manager of clean grid initiative at Acadia Center, a Boston-based nonprofit that develops clean-energy solutions.

That workaround is good planning.

LaRusso drives his EV on the Pike on the way to visiting in-laws in Utica, New York, and plugs in at home by way of a home-based charger to make sure he departs with a full charge.

“I’ve never relied on chargers on the Pike. There are too few of them,” said LaRusso.

Using his mobile application, LaRusso said he’s located plenty of fast chargers just minutes off the Pike, including in Auburn and Chicopee. With a quick stop to power boost, LaRusso has the confidence to reach his destination.

LaRusso is a savvy EV owner, with good planning skills. But what about the inexperienced EV owner who doesn’t think ahead and relies on chargers in places like the Pike to reach a destination? Or those, like Mills, who are planning especially long trips?

“If people hear in the news that a major artery in the commonwealth is without chargers, they might say, ‘Oh, gosh.’ They likely will pause about purchasing an EV. They might go with a hybrid instead.”

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

New England solar is already displacing vast quantities of methane gas or fuel oil

Joe LaRusso, the manager of the Clean Grid Initiative at Acadia Center, pointed out what he called the most interesting fact presented as the recent FERC New England Gas-Electric Forum:

“Every 700 MW of solar offsets 7-10 million gals. of fuel oil or 1-1.5 billion cubic feet of methane gas. There’s about 5,500 MW of solar in New England today, & about 700 MW is being added *every year.*

And most of that comes from “rooftop” – behind-the-meter – solar, not big utility farms. And most of that is in Massachusetts and Connecticut, with Vermont punching well above its weight. New Hampshire and Maine are real laggards.

To read the article from Granite Geek, click here.

NJ gas customers can save thousands with electric appliances, new study finds

Report: New Jersey gas customers can save up to thousands of dollars annually by weatherizing, converting to electric appliances like heat pumps

Acadia Center Report finds that some residents who upgrade to electric appliances can save up to 69% on energy bills when paired with weatherization, find relief from volatile fossil fuel prices

TRENTON, NJ, June 22, 2023 — New Jerseyans in an average insulated gas-heated home can save anywhere from 4% to 41% on their annual energy bills by adopting highly efficient electric appliances such as heat pumps depending on utility service territory, and up to 69% in a typical drafty home if paired with weatherization, according to a new report out today by Acadia Center.

Based on winter 2022-2023 utility rates, Acadia Center analysts found that New Jerseyans who live in poorly insulated gas homes can save $1,550 to $3,240 each year, a range of 47% to 69% savings on annual energy bills depending on service territory, by investing in electrification and weatherization.

“This report makes clear that switching from fossil fuels can save New Jerseyans money,” said Ben Butterworth, Director of Climate, Energy & Equity Analysis at Acadia Center. “With volatile natural gas prices driving energy bill spikes, it’s vital New Jerseyans understand they can save money by upgrading their homes to utilize clean electric appliances like heat pumps. For many customers, this can free up thousands of dollars each year to spend on groceries, prescriptions, childcare, and other daily necessities.”

This report, “The Future is Electric: How the Average New Jersey Household Can Save by Electrifying,” updates a 2022 analysis that calculated savings using low gas rates from winter 2021-2022, which demonstrated that the average household in New Jersey would see annual bill savings of about 20% by pairing electrification with weatherization. The 2022 report demonstrated that those savings jump to more than 50% for a typical drafty home electrifying and improving weatherization. Because utility gas rates for New Jersey households increased 51% on average in the past two years, even more dramatic savings are now available for gas customers who adopt weatherization and highly efficient all-electric alternatives like heat pumps.

Swapping fossil fuel burning appliances with electric alternatives would also eliminate a significant source of indoor and outdoor air pollution, the impacts of which are disproportionately borne by low-income households and communities of color. Gas appliances emit harmful pollutants such nitrogen dioxide (NO2) that can exacerbate respiratory illnesses when burned indoors. Children are particularly at risk, as children who live in homes with gas stoves have a 42% higher risk of developing asthma symptoms and a peer-reviewed study found that nationwide, gas stove use can be attributed to 12.7% of childhood asthma cases.

“Electrifying and weatherizing low-income homes can deliver equitable economic benefits and close health disparities for millions of Black and brown New Jerseyans who are more likely to be exposed to air pollution from our buildings, heavy industry and transportation emissions,” said Nicole Miller, Vice Chair of the New Jersey Progressive Equitable Energy Coalition. “These families should not be overlooked or left behind. New Jersey leaders must create pathways to increase affordability and ensure those vulnerable households who can benefit most from all-electric, comfortable homes are the first in line.”

Thanks to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, New Jersey residents will soon be able to take advantage of rebates and incentives to lower the upfront cost of weatherization and highly efficient electric appliances such as heat pumps, including up to $1,600 for weatherization and up to $8,000for air-source heat pumps. While New Jersey offers anywhere from $390 to $1,000 for cold climate heat pumps depending on utility service territory, more needs to be done to increase access to programs to help low- and moderate-income households weatherize their homes and adopt highly efficient electric alternatives.

“New Jersey has ambitious goals to deliver the economic, health, and climate benefits of all-electric homes but no programs to achieve those goals,” said Barbara Blumenthal, Research Director at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. “This report shows that the longer state regulators at the Board of Public Utilities and legislative leaders delay in creating programs to accelerate the adoption of highly efficient electric appliances like heat pumps, the more it will cost New Jersey gas customers stuck with higher bills and less comfortable homes,” she concluded.

In New Jersey, 73% of homes rely on natural gas for heating. Governor Phil Murphy has set ambitious goals to deploy heat pumps in 400,000 New Jersey homes and 20,000 commercial properties by 2030. Rapidly transitioning New Jersey’s homes and buildings, which make up 26% of the state’s total emissions, is essential to meeting the state’s goal to reduce emissions 80% by 2050.

To see the original article in Insider NJ, click here.

MassDOT removing six unreliable Turnpike EV chargers

After years of unreliable electric charging service on the Massachusetts Turnpike, the Department of Transportation is looking for a total reboot.

The six charging stations at rest stops on the Pike have been permanently taken out of service, the agency said. Now MassDOT is in the early stages of selecting a vendor to remove the non-functional terminals and install new ones.

The replacement process will take time, given state procurement rules, said Kyle Murray, Massachusetts program director at the nonprofit Acadia Center who is following the EV transition. The administration of Gov. Maura Healey should move more quickly than the prior Baker administration, he said.

“I’m confident that we will see the pace pick up a bit with the new administration in place,” Murray said. “Obviously they’re still getting their legs under them, and any new policies they put in place are going to have some lag time until implementation.”

Read the full article from the Boston Globe here.

Winter grid concerns bringing federal energy agency to Portland

The independent agency that regulates America’s interstate electricity and natural gas transmission systems is holding a special forum in Portland on June 20 to discuss potential solutions to the winter supply bottlenecks that have sent New England’s power prices soaring and threatened reliability.

Roughly half of the region’s generating capacity is fueled by natural gas. But New England doesn’t have enough pipeline capacity now to serve both power plants and heating needs on the coldest winter days, a direct result of opposition by environmental activists who have fought building new lines in southern New England.

Groups such as Acadia Center favor strategies such as greater efficiency, and encouraging people and businesses to shift energy use to off-peak times, as ways to bolster winter reliability in the short term without expanding climate-changing fossil fuel use. More solar, wind and battery storage could displace gas over time, they’ve said.

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

The country’s first gas utility-run networked geothermal heating and cooling system breaks ground in Mass.

New England’s largest energy utility, Eversource, is on its way to becoming the first gas utility in the country to build and run a “networked geothermal system.” The pilot project, which broke ground this week in Framingham, will use a network of deep wells and pipes to provide climate-friendly heating and cooling for 37 buildings.

If successful, advocates say they hope the model can be scaled to help the state meet its clean energy goals and provide a new business opportunity for gas utilities as the country weans itself off of fossil fuels.

“We are really excited about this pilot project and want to see the results that come from it, [but] I think we really do need to think about all options here. We can’t just think, ‘oh, this is our solution,’ ” said Kyle Murray, the Massachusetts program director of Acadia Center, a clean energy advocacy group.

“We need to be thinking creatively about all potential solutions and that, that does include the potential decommissioning of gas utilities in the future as well.”

To read the full article from wbur, click here.

Wildfire smoke ‘significantly’ reduced solar power production in New England this week

The smoke from Canadian wildfires didn’t just block the sun and make the air unhealthy to breathe in much of New England this week. It also blunted solar power production and made it harder to forecast electricity demand in the region, according to the regional grid operator.

“Climate change is going to cause more and more of these kinds of issues,” said Kyle Murray, the Massachusetts program director of Acadia Center, a clean energy advocacy group.

At this point, it’s hard to say that human-induced climate change is directly causing the wildfires in Eastern Canada, but it certainly makes the sort of drought and hotter-than-average temperatures that lead to wildfires more likely.

As the smoke from the Canadian wildfires continues to dissipate over New England, Murray said he sees two big takeaways: First, New England needs to stop making the climate problem worse by burning fossil fuels. And second, it needs to build a more modern and flexible grid that relies on multiple sources of renewable energy.

“We need to learn strategies for how to mitigate [impacts] and how to think creatively going forward because the problem isn’t going away,” Murray said.

To read the full article from wbur, click here.

Also featured on NHPR.

PURA Advancing a Framework for Performance-Based Utility Regulation

Utilities recover the costs of the investments that are needed to provide customers with energy through the bills that customers pay each month. This “cost-of-service” framework is the foundation of traditional utility regulation. In contrast, Performance-Based Regulation (PBR) is an alternative method for regulating utilities that ties utility revenues more directly to their performance, such as efforts to reduce emissions or to support the deployment of distributed energy resources, rather than tying earnings primarily to the costs required to provide service.  

By allowing regulators to better align utility revenues with improved performance, PBR— which includes a broad set of regulatory tools, such as performance metrics and financial penalties or rewards—can help overcome outdated incentives under traditional utility regulation. High allowed returns create incentives for utilities to build expensive infrastructure projects, but PBR can help reorient utilities towards more cost-effective solutions that can save customers money and deliver additional benefits, such as reducing emissions and improving environmental justice outcomes.   

States across the US have experimented with PBR to varying degrees and with varying degrees of success. Recently, Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) announced a decision that formally adopts regulatory goals and outcomes for PBR in the state. Over the past year, Acadia Center worked with a range of stakeholders to help develop PBR goals and assess how well existing utility regulatory policies do or do not align with those goals. (Some of Acadia Center’s filings in support of PBR in Connecticut can be found here and here.) 

PURA’s decision formally adopts four overarching goals for PBR in Connecticut and nine priority outcomes within those goals, including greenhouse gas emission reductions, advancing social equity, ensuring affordable service, and advancing reliability and resiliency. PURA’s decision sets the stage for the next phase of the PBR proceeding, which is expected to last through 2024. Phase 2 will consist of three “reopener” proceedings, each covering a specific set of issues in more detail, including the rules that govern how utilities recover their costs; performance metrics and incentives; and a process to develop an Integrated Distribution System Planning proceeding. 

Acadia Center commends PURA for taking this important step. However, although Phase 1 of Connecticut’s PBR proceeding has clarified the goals and outcomes that will inform future analyses and proposals, stakeholders will only know the real outcome of this decision in the spring and fall of 2024, when the three reopener proceedings end—and after PURA decides to what extent policy reforms will be implemented. PURA’s recent decision is a commitment to consider potential changes to many types of regulatory tools, which itself is a major step forward, and Acadia Center looks forward to exploring in more detail how utility regulatory tools should change.  

PURA’s leadership in moving this proceeding forward is noteworthy, and Acadia Center is hopeful that the PBR proceeding results in a robust framework that accelerates the achievement of Connecticut’s climate and clean energy goals and helps to deliver a clean and affordable energy system for all ratepayers.