The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Thursday opened an investigation into the design and operation of the state’s electric distribution system. "To address climate change in the years ahead, we will be placing new demands on our electric distribution system, and we must assess how to modernize the grid at...

Energy officials in New England are concerned that ISO-NE’s transmission planning process cannot adapt to the evolving resource mix, the growing investments in clean energy and the decarbonization of the grid. Without more robust transmission planning, they said, ratepayers in the region likely face higher costs and lower reliability, plus...

Maine legislators and officials gave a preview of their work this year in implementing the state’s energy policies while keeping costs to consumers low. Following a surge of new climate-related legislation passed in Maine last year, state legislators are now trying to balance the need to meet mandates without burdening...

Solar and offshore wind energy siting will be among the environmental priorities the Maine legislature will address this year, according to Hannah Pingree, director of the state’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. "The issues of solar siting and offshore wind have really heated up," Pingree said during a...

New England state officials last week heard suggestions for how ISO-NE’s electricity markets could be altered to aid in the implementation of clean energy laws and decarbonization mandates. The discussion Jan. 25 was part of the second of two public online technical forums to discuss reforms to the RTO’s wholesale market design...

Last fall, governors from five of the six New England states — Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont — jointly released a pointed statement that said ISO-NE was frustrating regional and state-specific efforts to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions. It also called for reforms to the RTO’s market designs, transmission planning...

Tensions between New England states and ISO-NE came to a head last year when five governors issued a joint statement calling for reforms to the RTO to enable their efforts to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions. (See New England Governors Call for RTO Reform.) A few days later, the New England States...

State energy and environmental policy leaders from Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine outlined their long-term strategies to achieve decarbonization goals Dec. 15 during a webinar co-hosted by the Connecticut Power and Energy Society and New England Women in Energy and the Environment. Heather Hunt, executive director of the New...

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems harbor great potential for small applications, but adopters face the current reality that system costs do not fall in proportion to size, according to proponents. CHP systems, or cogeneration, are an efficient way to generate electricity and heat from a single fuel source, such...

The COVID-19 pandemic upended legislative business across New England in 2020, though state legislatures still managed to advance significant legislation to transform the region’s energy industry. At its annual legislative update last week, the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association reviewed recent developments and issues to watch next year, including climate...