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December 28, 2025

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Enviros, Generators Oppose Canadian Hydro Line to NYC

Blackstone Group’s Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) transmission project has made allies of power producers and environmentalists, both of whom continue to oppose the underwater line as the deadline for comment on a permit change with state regulators passed on March 8 (Case No. 10-T-0139).

The $3 billion, 330-mile HVDC line, first proposed by Blackstone’s Transmission Developers Inc. (TDI) in 2010, would bring up to 1,250 MW of Canadian hydropower from Quebec under Lake Champlain down to New York City.

NYC Hydro Line

The geographical location of Québec’s interties, including two new proposed interties to support CHPE and Avangrid’s New England Clean Energy Connect | Hydro-Québec

In the past year, the developers have requested permission from the New York Public Service Commission to amend its certificate of environmental compatibility and public need three times. The PSC on Jan. 26 approved moving the line 1,200 feet in New York City to avoid the Harlem River Yard, routing it under Randall Island Park instead. It also allowed five splice vaults to be located on private land immediately adjacent to the revised right of way in Rockland County.

The developer’s latest request, on Jan. 29, was to boost the line’s capacity from 1,000 MW to 1,250 MW.

“There is a growing resistance among the climate justice and indigenous-led groups,” Meg Sheehan, campaign coordinator for the North American Megadam Resistance Alliance (NAMRA), told RTO Insider. She pointed to an op-ed published last month in the Bangor Daily News by Lucien Wabanonik, a councillor for the Nation Anishnabe of Lac Simon, titled “Hydro-Québec has left Québec’s First Nations behind.” The province-owned Hydro-Québec would develop the Canadian portion of the line.

Sheehan also noted that New York in January issued a solicitation for transmission projects to bring Tier IV renewable hydropower from upstate and Canada to New York City as part of a $2 billion green “superhighway” project. (See “Other Projects,” NY Awards 2.5-GW Offshore Deal to Equinor.)

“The Hydro-Québec power could not meet the baseline greenhouse gas reporting requirements that’s required by that request for proposals,” Sheehan said. “They would have to provide emissions data from their 63 dams, which they have not been able to do.”

The Independent Power Producers of New York (IPPNY) released a study last year, commissioned from Energyzt, that it said debunked TDI’s claims that the project would result in reduced global emissions of carbon dioxide, concluding that it “may even increase overall carbon emissions.”

“The Champlain Hudson Power Express didn’t make sense a decade ago, and it makes less sense now,” IPPNY CEO Gavin Donohue told RTO Insider. “In-state resource development must be the priority if we truly want to revitalize our economy and build back better. Expanding New York’s renewable energy industry will lead to critical jobs and taxes for communities, along with guaranteed emissions reductions. That’s a preferable outcome to subsidizing Canadian government-owned hydropower with no environmental benefit.”

Eric Johansson, executive director of the Towboat and Harbor Carriers Association of New York and New Jersey, had quoted experts who calculated “anchor penetration significantly deeper than the deepest burial depth (15 feet) proposed for the CHPE.”

The anchor is often the only tool available in an emergency, and “safe navigation will be compromised in the Hudson River by this or any cable seeking to run parallel in navigable waters,” Johansson said.

In response, the PSC advised that “final facility design, including burial depth details, will be proposed in the environmental management and construction plan to be filed, and available for the association’s review and comment.”

Drinking Water Concerns

FERC OKs Negotiated Rates for Champlain Hudson Project.)

The PSC last June ruled that no evidentiary hearing was required on the developer’s petition for a second amendment to the certificate because no party had identified any disputed issues of material and relevant fact.

“Neither NAMRA, nor the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, explained why the public comment period, which will extend for the pendency of this proceeding, was insufficient. Nor did they state how the proposed rerouting … would have any bearing on their comments,” the commission said.

Sierra Club had commented that “none of these [route] changes alleviate the negative impact that the entire project will have on wild Canadian rivers, disadvantaged communities in both Canada and New York City, the Hudson River Estuary, the growth of New York renewable energy jobs and the state’s climate goals under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.”

NAMRA in December decried the “slipshod planning” of the project, which “has the hallmarks of an arbitrage scheme that greenwashes Canadian hydropower, threatens to make the climate crisis worse, undermines New York’s renewable energy economy and perpetuates environmental racism.”

Paul Malmrose — an engineer and technical consultant for the Hudson River Drinking Water Intermunicipal Council, a coalition of seven municipalities that draw drinking water from the river in Dutchess and Ulster Counties — had raised concerns about the construction-related risk of the project, as “jet plowing will turn up contaminated sediments with heavy metals, [polychlorinated biphenyls], pesticides and petroleum product from the river bottom close to our intakes. Also organic sediment, which hasn’t been considered at all, will be suspended and will be drawn into our intakes and will create cancer-causing compounds.”

TDI did not respond specifically to most of these criticisms, citing the existing administrative record and the PSC itself as support for the project. In response to NAMRA, it said, “For the most part, NAMRA’s comments consist of questions asking for resource impact analyses that are already part of the project record and unsupported assertions reflecting a misreading” of the statutory requirements.

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MISO Stuns Stakeholders with 2nd Order 841 Delay

MISO stakeholders were shocked to learn that the RTO needs another few years to allow energy storage to participate in its markets.

In a March 4 filing with FERC, the grid operator asked for a March 1, 2025, deadline to comply with Order 841, three years more than it first said it would need (ER19-465).

If FERC approves the request, it will be MISO’s second delay. The RTO last year secured a first deferral that held its compliance deadline until June 6, 2022, longer than any other RTO. (See Storage Plans Clear FERC with Conditions.) Order 841 originally stipulated a Dec. 3, 2019, compliance deadline.

Shawn McFarlane, MISO’s executive director of market operations, said the demands of incorporating a functioning model for storage participation aren’t best handled on the grid operator’s vintage market platform.

energy storage
MISO’s Shawn McFarlane | © RTO Insider

Speaking during a March 11 Market Subcommittee meeting, McFarlane said should MISO win a second deferment, staff could put more attention into quickly completing the ongoing market platform replacement, termed the Market System Enhancement (MSE). He said the storage participation would go more smoothly if the aging platform was altogether removed from the equation.

“The requested deferment of Order No. 841 implementation will enable MISO to accelerate the completion of the MSE in 2024,” MISO said in its request. “By completing the MSE earlier, MISO can more quickly and cost effectively prepare for and meet its emergent and future reliability needs, particularly those arising from the reliability impacts of greater and rapid penetration of wind and solar resources, which may reach or exceed a critical threshold of 30% of MISO’s load as early as 2026.”

MISO’s day-ahead market is set to go live on the new platform sometime in 2023, while real-time market operations will wait until early 2025. The old market platform will be completely retired sometime in 2026, though the bulk of the replacement will be complete by late 2024.

MISO has put on hold other market products, including new 30-minute reserves and better modeling for combined-cycle units because its current monolithic platform isn’t sophisticated enough to accommodate them.

Multiple stakeholders seemed gobsmacked that MISO wants to wait so long before fully opening its markets to energy storage resources.

“I think a four-year delay in trying to implement Order 841 is really too long,” Southern Renewable Energy Association Director Simon Mahan said, urging MISO to pursue a “stopgap” measure before the 2025 timeframe.

“I just find it really hard to believe that we’ve known about Order 841 for so long, and now we’re anticipating an even longer delay to get things up and running,” Mahan said.

Customized Energy Solutions’ David Sapper called the deferral request a “head scratcher,” noting that MISO executives have repeatedly said time is of the essence in responding to fast-growing renewable generation on the system.

McFarlane said MISO prefers not to “juggle between the two systems” when it rolls out its electric storage participation model.

“If we continue to do this both in the legacy system and the [new platform], it’s going to slow things down,” he said. “Yeah, we could get this done, but we’re going to delay other things even more.”

McFarlane added that he understood stakeholders’ disappointment, saying the decision “certainly wasn’t taken lightly.”

WEC Energy Group’s Chris Plante said stakeholders “were taken off guard” by the delay and he asked for a comprehensive justification. He said as the chair of the Resource Adequacy Subcommittee, he was fielding stakeholders’ questions about the delay that he couldn’t answer.

McFarlane said the criticism was fair and that MISO could have been more “stakeholder-friendly” by delivering a heads-up in February.

“Probably thinking through in retrospect, we should have done more before and also in this meeting,” he said.

Clean Grid Alliance’s Natalie McIntire expressed doubts that MISO would even be operating on a new platform within four years.

“Frankly, I don’t have any confidence that we’re going to have the MSE by 2025,” she said, adding that the multiyear project has already taken considerable time.

Stakeholders asked whether MISO would also request deferment of FERC’s Order 2222, which opens RTO markets to distributed energy aggregations.

“Not sure we’re to the point of asking for that just yet,” McFarlane answered. “We’ll try to be better about signaling other changes or plans, whether that [affects] Order 2222 or something else.”

McFarlane said he would return to the Market Subcommittee in April with fuller reasoning behind MISO’s decision to request a second delay.

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MISO Underscores Need for RA Action in Winter Storm Review

MISO last week reiterated the extraordinary nature of mid-February’s winter storm, promising more data later this month and resource adequacy solutions by year-end.

During a teleconference of the Market Subcommittee on Thursday, MISO Director of Operations Planning J.T. Smith thanked control room staff and members a month after extreme winter weather forced load shedding in MISO South and Central Illinois.

“There was a lot going on … the week of Feb. 15, not just in MISO, but in the Eastern Interconnect,” he told stakeholders.

MISO Winter Storm Review
Temperature departures from the norm | Midwestern Regional Climate Center

Smith said all players did “commendable work” in the “heat of the moment.” But he said the RTO’s extensive preplanning and communication was no match for the sustained cold and ice.

“From my seven years in Minnesota, 20 degrees is one thing; but also living in the South, having extended cold days, having 20 inches of snow, having ice cover a good portion of the South … it’s not surprising that we got to load levels that are all-time peaks,” he said.

MISO said demand Feb. 16 peaked at 31.6 GW in its South region, nearly matching the all-time winter peak of 32 GW set in early 2018. The demand was also close to MISO South’s all-time summer peak of 32.7 GW, set in 2015.

Smith said the shortages were largely driven by fuel supply issues: frozen coal piles, natural gas pipelines and power plant equipment.

“I’m sorry if I keep saying this word, and I’ve heard this work so much, but: ‘unprecedented.’ The weather was so broad; it was so complicated,” he said.

The RTO was forced to order load shedding on the evening of Feb. 16 as the cold settled in and generation began tripping offline. Staff said that by 3 p.m., 2.5 GW of generation had gone dark in MISO South.

The grid operator said that when it ordered load balancing authorities in the South region to collectively shed 700 MW of load around 8 p.m., grid stability was in “danger.” MISO had run out of imports and it was trying to “avoid widespread cascading outages.”

The “procedures worked as drilled and designed, limiting load curtailment in the MISO footprint to a regional event lasting approximately two hours and a handful of local events,” the RTO said.

It also ordered localized rolling blackouts because of transmission emergencies. It sent 1,000 MW of load offline for about four hours in Louisiana and another 130 MW offline in Central Illinois for seven hours. It also shed load twice in southeast Texas across two days because of local transmission emergencies, taking 800 MW offline for 16 hours on Feb. 15 and dropping 300 MW for almost six hours on Feb. 16. Smith said that in a few instances, MISO was also forced to dispatch down generation to manage transmission constraints.

MISO Winter Storm Review
Breakdown of local and regional load shed in MISO on Feb. 15-16 | MISO

By Feb. 17, approximately 40% of the grid operator’s installed resources were unavailable.

Smith credited in part the “beauty of the Eastern Interconnect” for making imports from PJM possible during wintry conditions and preventing a more dire situation. Early on, he said MISO and PJM were also able to flow power to support SPP’s operations.

Smith also said MISO was “bumping up against” its 3,000-MW limit on Midwest-to-South transmission flows over SPP’s system for much of the event.

Gabel Associates’ Travis Stewart asked staff to prepare a breakdown of unavailable resources by resource type to see which were most affected by the storm. Others asked MISO to prepare a chart of unplanned generation outages by region and to share its load forecasts for the week so they can be compared to actual load.

Smith said the load forecast request was “doable” but that during the storm, third-party weather models were not capturing the worsening conditions fast enough. However, he said MISO had more cold-weather cutoff data for generation than in previous polar vortexes.

Texas Public Utility Commission market economist Werner Roth said that even though he appreciated MISO’s proactive approach, the event marked the second time in six months that Southeast Texas was forced into load shed. He passed on the commission’s thanks but warned that in the future, the PUC would be very involved in evaluating resource adequacy in transmission-constrained areas.

Shawn McFarlane, MISO’s executive director of market operations, said staff will host more discussion on pricing fallouts and how the weather highlights the need for new resource adequacy mechanisms to ensure reliability.

“‘This is not it’ is probably the headline around this discussion,” he told stakeholders, adding that the emergency would likely command attention during MISO’s quarterly Board Week March 22-25.

It’s unclear how the load shed brought on by the cold snap will be priced. MISO has proposed to stop assigning its $3,500/MWh value of lost load pricing during force majeure events that cause transmission or generation losses. However, Director of Market Design Kevin Vannoy said capacity shortages in MISO South during the cold might not qualify as a force majeure event.

Mississippi PSC Unhappy

At its March meeting, the Mississippi Public Service Commission discussed using a routine audit of Entergy Mississippi’s MISO membership to examine the fairness of load shed orders in the state. Commissioners said they would consider the item at April’s meeting.

Commissioner Brandon Presley said Mississippi’s utilities on Feb. 16 produced 800 MW above the state’s demands, yet MISO placed Mississippi balancing authorities in the regional load shed orders. He also said the RTO’s notification to utilities before the rolling blackouts was inadequate.

“That notice came, and our utilities had exactly six minutes — six minutes — to make preparations and begin … cutting off circuits throughout their territory,” Presley said. “That, in my opinion, is inexcusable.”

Presley said the commission’s review is not an attempt to exit the RTO but to try and “correct the problems that exist.”

“Our state was forced to take the same share of forced outages spread across the region as other states, although Mississippi utilities performed well,” he said, adding that MISO offers “no incentive” for utility preparedness.

“To many of the MISO folks who I hear moaning about this move: You know you’re in the business to answer questions,” Presley said. “That’s what you get paid the big bucks to do, and [this] is legitimate. It is a legitimate question for a commission to ask.”

“MISO looks forward to working with the Mississippi Public Service Commission as well as providing information regarding the arctic storm,” RTO spokesman Brandon Morris said in response to Presley’s criticism.

Meanwhile, Entergy Texas announced it is conducting a post-event review of the storm and examining what grid resilience investments it might need to make. The company warned that customer bills might be higher but that, as a MISO member, its ratepayers wouldn’t fall victim to the price spikes affecting ERCOT.

“We are committed to working with any customer facing financial difficulties as a result of the winter storm,” Entergy Texas CEO Sallie Rainer said.

MISO: RA Changes Should Help

MISO last week also resumed a conversation on a seasonal capacity auction design that puts more emphasis on wintertime risk.

Staff said the RTO hopes to make a MISO Sets Sights on 4-season Capacity Market.)

“There’s a need for change,” Executive Director of Market Strategy and Design Scott Wright said during a Resource Adequacy Subcommittee call Wednesday. “There’s substantial risk outside of summer. … This is not a future what-if, but it’s on our doorstep in many ways.”

Wright said there’s much in the proposal that “speaks to issues” MISO experienced Feb. 14-19. (See MISO Begins Cold Snap Examination.)

As part of the process, MISO will most likely rely on past emergency events and retrospective tight supply times to select “resource adequacy hours,” or times when reliability is under threat. It will use resource adequacy hours to define reliability risks and reserve requirements, supplanting a single summertime peak. Staff said they’re examining how new MISO reliability requirements will interact with state reliability targets.

The grid operator said it is still working through protocols for capacity resources that take protracted outages that span more than one season.

MISO is also considering enacting a minimum capacity rule that would require load-serving entities to demonstrate that they’ve secured 50% of their planning reserve margin requirements before the planning year begins.

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Nevada Lawmakers Debate ‘30-by-30’ Resolution

A resolution that would express the Nevada legislature’s support for protecting 30% of the state’s lands and waters by 2030 had its first committee hearing on Wednesday.

Assembly Joint Resolution 3 (AJR3) was heard by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. Committee members asked questions and accepted comments but did not vote on the resolution.

If approved by the legislature, the resolution would urge state and local governments to work with federal agencies to reach a target of protecting 30% of lands and waters in the state by 2030, a goal often referred to as “30-by-30.”

The resolution would also urge local agencies to encourage private landowners to voluntarily participate in land conservation programs.

Reaching the 30-by-30 target would benefit wildlife and help the state meet its greenhouse gas reduction goals, the resolution states.

“Land conservation and restoration increases natural carbon sequestration and is one of the most cost effective solutions to combating climate change,” AJR3 says.

But some committee members wondered whether the resolution should be more specific.

“What does ‘protect’ actually mean?” asked Assemblymember Alexis Hansen (R). “Are we allowed to drive our four-wheeler on it? Are we allowed to camp on it? Are we allowed to graze our cattle on it?”

Christi Cabrera, policy and advocacy director for the Nevada Conservation League, told the committee that different levels of protection could apply to different areas in the state. For example, she said, some levels of protection might allow people to drive vehicles on the land, while other levels would not.

“That’s really the point of this resolution … to start that conversation,” Cabrera said. “Bring stakeholders together and come up with a plan of what can be protected in our state, where those areas are [and] what kind of designations should we be considering.”

Cabrera and the bill’s primary sponsor, Assemblymember Cecelia González (D) presented AJR3 to the committee. The resolution’s joint sponsor is Sen. Fabian Donate (D).

Assemblymember Jim Wheeler (D) wanted to know how the protections called for in the resolution might impact water rights. Cabrera said she didn’t know but would research the issue.

Conservation and business groups submitted a letter in support of AJR3. Among the 18 people who signed the letter were representatives of the Nevada Wildlife Federation, the Nature Conservancy, Patagonia and the Nevada Outdoor Business Coalition.

“A statewide 30-by-30 initiative can position Nevada as a leader in conservation,” the letter said. “Not to mention, conserving lands will help support a booming recreation economy that already contributes significantly to our state’s revenue, boosts local businesses and creates jobs.”

Opponents of AJR3 include a group called Nevada Families for Freedom, which said the resolution does not take into consideration grazing and mineral rights on federal land in the state.

“In addition, almost all the water in Nevada already has legal water rights attached, and there is no water for this outlandish resolution to lock up,” the group said in a letter.

If approved, the resolution would be sent to federal officials including President Biden and Nevada’s Congressional delegation, as well as Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The goal of protecting at least 30% of U.S. lands and ocean by 2030 is part of an international conservation movement. In addition to backing from environmental groups, the 30-by-30 initiative is gaining support from politicians.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom in October issued an executive order setting what his office called a first-in-the-nation goal to conserve 30% of the state’s land and coastal water by 2030 to fight species loss and ecosystem destruction.

Seventy mayors from 29 states and the District of Columbia signed a letter supporting the 30-by-30 initiative, the League of Conservation Voters reported.

Biden has already indicated his support for a 30-by-30 initiative. In a Jan. 27 executive order, he directed the Interior Secretary to come up with recommendations on how the U.S. could meet a 30-by-30 target.

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Mass. Utilities Plan May RFP for 1.6 GW of Offshore Wind

Massachusetts utilities are planning to seek bids for up to 1,600 MW of offshore wind energy in May.

Eversource Energy, National Grid, Unitil and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) on Wednesday jointly filed a draft request for proposals with the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU).

The RFP would be issued May 7, with contracts submitted for DPU approval by April 27, 2022.

In a letter to DPU Secretary Mark Marini on Thursday, DOER said the draft RFP reflects changes from previous offshore wind RFPs based on public comments, consultation with state agencies and lessons learned from prior solicitations.

offshore wind
A new 1.6-GW offshore wind request for proposals in Massachusetts will help grow a U.S. market that currently consists of one operating project — the Block Island Wind Farm off Rhode Island, seen here. | Deepwater Wind

“The draft RFP allows for larger project bids and places a greater emphasis on economic development, diversity, inclusion and environmental justice,” DOER said Thursday on Twitter.

Among the changes is the removal of preferred bid sizes. The draft RFP seeks between 400 and 1,600 MW of total generation capacity, and bids can range from 200 to 1,600 MW.

“By allowing larger bid sizes than prior rounds, a bidder should have more flexibility to design bids to efficiently and cost-effectively use available lease areas, interconnection points, transmission cabling and other infrastructure,” DOER said.

Bid Quality

This solicitation also will be the first-time bidders must address equity in their submissions.

A quantitative and qualitative analysis, weighted 75 and 25 points, respectively, set in previous RFPs would be adjusted to 70-30 to put more emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as economic benefits and socioeconomic impacts from siting, according to the draft RFP.

“DOER worked with state agency partners on an RFP provision to direct bidders to submit a workforce diversity plan and supplier diversity program plan that outlines their commitments to actively recruit and promote opportunity for a diverse set of workers and businesses,” DOER said.

The draft RFP also requires bidders to demonstrate commitments to economic development through, among other things, investments in offshore wind-related supply chains, port facilities, research, science and data collection, and environmental justice communities. Project plans will need to mitigate environmental burdens on environmental justice populations, engage with these communities, and track and report on how they are impacted. In addition, plans must show how the project will deliver benefits to low-income ratepayers without adding cost through, for example, energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades, or rate relief.

Price Cap

As proposed, the RFP would require bidders to submit a price below $77.76/MWh, the price of the previous solicitation’s winning bid by Mayflower Wind. National Grid, however, proposed in the filing that the final RFP include a provision that would reduce the price cap in the event Mayflower goes into service and qualifies for the 30% offshore wind investment tax credit (ITC). The credit was part of renewable energy tax credits included in the COVID-19 stimulus bill signed into law in December.

Mayflower said in January that converting the value of the ITC into a price reduction for electricity generated by the offshore wind farm would reduce its bid price to $70.26/MWh.

Since bids for the latest solicitation would be prepared before an ITC determination is made for Mayflower, National Grid proposed an alternate bid structure. Any bidder would need to provide an alternative price that is lower than $70.26/MWh, if its first bid is between $70.26 and $77.76. DPU will issue a finding on National Grid’s proposal in its final order on the draft RFP.

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Electric Heating Bill Passes Wash. House

The Washington House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday to encourage all-electric heating designs in publicly owned or leased facilities.

The Democrat-controlled House approved House Bill 1280 by a 57-39 party-line vote. It is now in the Senate Environmental, Energy & Technology Committee.

When publicly owned or leased facilities are built or renovated, the bill would require that an all-electric design — one that would not use fossil fuels for heating — be considered as an option.

Rep. Alex Ramel (middle) is chief sponsor of a bill that would require publicly owned or leased facilities to consider implementing an all-electric heating design during construction or renovations. | State of Washington

“House Bill 1280 takes one small but important step in that direction,” said Rep. Alex Ramel (D), the bill’s chief sponsor. He noted that an all-electric design was installed during the renovation of an elementary school in his hometown of Bellingham — the only time that he is sure this has been done in Washington.

Only a few people from state agencies and energy-conservation organizations testified at two February hearings, all in support of the bill. No one testified against it. Supporters contended the bill would not add any significant costs to new or renovated buildings. They also said all-electric heating systems are cost-efficient and that installing such systems would head off potential later retrofits.

“This will encourage architects to design buildings free of fossil fuels,” Julie Blazek of HKP Architects said at a Feb. 17 hearing. During a Feb. 19 Capital Budget Committee vote, committee Chair Steve Tharinger (D) said: “This does provide some data and guidance” in comparing building designs.

However, Rep. Mary Dye (R) argued that all-electric heating systems are less efficient and reliable than fossil fuel systems, leading to extra costs for taxpayers footing the operating bills. Rep. Mike Steele (R) said all-electric buildings would put extra strains on the Northwest power grid.

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Natural Gas Use Expected to Rise in NY

New York will see an increase in new natural gas plants and the hours of operation of existing gas plants after the state’s Indian Point Nuclear Energy Center closes in April, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority Board Member John B. Rhodes said Wednesday.

However, the long-term role of natural gas in the state’s energy grid is still unknown, he said during a webinar in Our Energy Policy’s Energy Leaders series.

As states in the Northeast grapple with balancing decarbonization with energy reliability and affordability, there is a possibility that thermal power generation, or energy produced by burning liquified natural gas to convert it into electric energy, “needs to be a part of that mix,” Rhodes said. But other solutions, such as battery storage and dynamic load, or adjusting the load demand on the electrical power grid to balance overall grid load with generation, are promising alternatives.

“Our pathway to backing down gas from the power grid is much clearer than it is for heat,” Rhodes said.

New York Natural Gas
As large renewable energy projects ramp up in New York, the state will see a near-term increase in natural gas power plants, such as the one seen here in New York City. | Shutterstock

Rhodes is confident the state will reach its goal of 70% renewables by 2030 set by the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act in 2019, but “it’s always the case that the last megawatt-hours are the hardest to get.”

The phase out of natural gas from the heating industry, however, has a solution gap, Rhodes said. “Buildings in general are a tough sector for energy transition.”

According to Rhodes, the building sector is not centered on how buildings use energy; it is centered around serving the people that are in them.

Investing in Mitigation

Another challenge to weaning the heating sector off oil and natural gas is buy-in from consumers, Kyle Kimball, vice president of government, regional and community affairs at Consolidated Edison, said during the webinar.

“One of the biggest challenges is uptake — or getting the building decision maker or homeowner to say yes to upgrades” that would improve heat insulation, Rhodes added.

| © NetZero Insider

Property owners can be hesitant to go through the disruption that structure upgrades can entail. But consumer attitudes are changing.

A new poll by the MassINC Polling Group, sponsored by the Barr Foundation and conducted with input from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, found that residents are highly supportive of policies that would help them upgrade their homes, especially incentives for utility companies to help make customers’ homes more efficient.

Although most residents are satisfied with the heating setup they already have, the poll found evidence that those who have made the switch to renewables are glad they did. And a third of those who currently heat their homes with electricity from the grid say their top choice would be electricity that comes from solar.

Rhodes said that in his experience the “awareness and appetite to invest to avoid climate change is a lot higher in 2021 than it was in 2013.”

There remains, however, room for innovation in improving a building envelope practically and affordably to move away from energy sources like natural gas, Rhodes said.

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NJ Regulators Give Microgrid Projects a Thumbs Up

Proposed microgrids in Atlantic City and seven other locations took another step toward reality after the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) last week approved $4 million in subsidies for the projects.

The Atlantic City project being developed by independent power producer DCO Energy would provide emergency backup power to Caesars Atlantic City Hotel and Casino, Bally’s Hotel and Casino, The Claridge hotel, Boardwalk Hall — best known as the traditional home of the Miss America pageant — local shops and the city’s main hospital.

The project will involve a retrofit to increase the capacity of the Midtown Thermal Control Center, which currently provides heating, cooling and emergency power to casinos and other facilities, to 19.3 MW.

The BPU’s awards were the result of a two-part competition that began in 2017 under the Town Center Distributed Energy Resources Microgrid Design Incentive Program. Besides Atlantic City, subsidies went to Montclair Township, the Borough of Highland Park, Hudson County, the City of Hoboken, Neptune Township, Woodbridge Township and the New Jersey Department of the Treasury on behalf of the City of Trenton. Atlantic City’s $1.1 million grant was the largest award.

The Atlantic City microgrid will involve a retrofit to increase the capacity of the Midtown Thermal Control Center, which currently provides heating, cooling and emergency power to casinos and other facilities, to 19.3 MW. | DCO Energy

The BPU said the eight projects would provide resilience to 24 Federal Emergency Management Agency Category IV facilities (including hospitals, fire and police stations) and 32 FEMA Category III facilities (including educational facilities and other buildings where more than 300 people congregate).

“In addition, they would deploy 10.5 MW of new or existing solar PV generation and 2.9 MW of new or existing battery storage, resulting in over 24,000 tons of avoided CO2 emissions annually,” the BPU said.

New Jersey’s interest in microgrids dates back to 2012 when Superstorm Sandy battered the state.  After making landfall with hurricane-force winds near Atlantic City, the storm devastated the Jersey Shore, causing major flooding and power outages that left millions in the dark for days. Public Service Electric & Gas, the state’s largest utility, estimated Sandy did about $300 million in damage to its transmission and distribution system. According to IHS Global Insight, the storm, which also hit New York City, caused as much as $30 billion in property damage, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

“As the recent events in Texas have reminded us, infrastructure resilience is critical to maintaining reliable energy and utility services in the event of an emergency. We learned this ourselves during and after Superstorm Sandy,” said BPU President Joseph Fiordaliso at the board’s March 3 meeting. “But we are moving in a direction that hopefully will never allow what happened in Texas to happen here in New Jersey.”

Power disruptions in Texas and California have brought new attention to microgrids. ERCOT, the nonprofit manager of Texas’ grid, fired CEO Bill Magness last week after the system nearly collapsed during a winter storm that left millions without power. (See ERCOT Board Cuts Ties With Bill Magness.) In January, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered the state’s investor-owned utilities to offer a $200 million microgrid incentive program to communities at risk of public safety power shutoffs because of wildfires. (See Calif. PUC Orders $200M Microgrid Incentive Program.)

Microgrids haven’t been an easy sell to utilities, which see them as a threat to their traditional monopoly business, according to Guidehouse Insights Research Director Peter Asmus, who tracks the microgrid industry.

“Most microgrids are not deployed by utilities,” Asmus wrote in an email. “As such, they are often not located in ideal locations to bolster the resiliency of the larger grid, though that is changing as microgrids can serve as excellent demand response resources. And given recent outages linked to extreme weather — such as in Texas — the need for greater resiliency is clear. But utilities worry that these microgrids are not directly under their control, could perhaps impact the larger grid if they don’t operate properly, and could result in a loss of revenue. ”

The microgrid would provide emergency back-up power to Caesars Atlantic City Hotel and Casino; Bally’s Hotel and Casino; The Claridge hotel; Boardwalk Hall, local shops, and the city’s main hospital. | Google

According to Adam Benshoff, vice president for regulatory affairs at the Edison Electric Institute, utilities often have problems persuading regulators to allow them to recoup the costs of microgrids in rates.

“They’ve had trouble even getting approval for sort of public purpose microgrids — one that will just keep critical online infrastructure like hospitals, police stations fire stations, things like that,” Benshoff said in an interview.  “Sometimes it’s difficult to sell unless you can show real value to the broader customer base.”

DCO acquired the Midtown Thermal Control Center in 2016 from Pepco, the parent company of local utility Atlantic City Electric. According to DCO Chairman Frank DiCola, the biggest challenge facing the company in getting the microgrids established is getting Atlantic Electric to agree to it.

“We need them to work with us in establishing the microgrid,” DiCola said in an interview, adding that he had no reason to expect any problems with the utility company. “But you never can tell,” he added. “We have been talking to them on-and-off for the past couple of years. We want to work in a very cooperative manner with them. They are part of the solution.”

Pepco told NetZero Insider that it was committed to microgrids and other technologies that will bolster the company’s grid reliability,

“As with all projects on our system, we will continue to engage with the project developer and refine this microgrid project to ensure it is in the best interest of our customers and will not affect our ability to provide clean, safe, affordable and reliable energy service for our customers,” it said.

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Vote on Mass. Climate Bill Delayed in Senate

Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R) on Thursday delayed the vote on an exhaustive climate bill after lawmakers reworked the text to incorporate amendments from Republican Gov. Charlie Baker.

Tarr called for more time for legislators and the public to review the new version of the bill after the changes were released late Wednesday.

Senate Democrats expressed their disappointment that the vote was delayed. The bill has been more than a year and a half in the making in the legislature and would serve as one of the leading mandates for reducing carbon emissions in the U.S.

“Human beings are already too late in responding to human-made problems caused and represented by climate change,” Sen. Michael Barrett (D), lead on the climate bill, said on the Senate floor.

The version of the bill up for a vote maintains several of Baker’s provisions in the amendments he sent back to the legislature in early February, including a specialized energy code that will enforce net-zero building construction for towns that want it. The bill also sets mandatory emissions limits in the transportation, manufacturing and natural gas sectors. (See Baker Returns Climate Bill to Mass. Legislature.)

The latest delay of a comprehensive climate bill for Massachusetts took place Thursday in the Senate, seen here, where Republican lawmakers held up a planned vote. | Montanabw, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Baker attempted to loosen legal requirements for specific business sectors to meet emissions reduction goals, suggesting the requirements serve as “planning tools” or guidelines for industries, a move supported by the influential employer group Associated Industries of Massachusetts.

The governor also faced pushback from the real estate industry, which called on him to oppose provisions that would allow towns to adopt rules requiring that new buildings meet net-zero emissions. Developers expressed their concerns to Baker about the increase in upfront costs for construction.

“There is always an interest group working through their elected representatives to keep things moving at a painfully slow crawl,” Barrett said on the Senate floor.

Sen. Michael Rodrigues noted that in his 25 years in government, the state legislature has never held a hearing on amendments proposed by the governor’s office for other pieces of legislation.

“We are on the cusp of a sustainability revolution in this nation and in the world,” Sen. Marc Pacheco (D) said. “We can either lead as this bill allows us to do, or we will be behind China and other countries.”

Massachusetts lawmakers held firm on their target of reducing 50% of emissions below 1990 levels by 2030 after Baker proposed reducing emissions by 45% below 1990 levels. Baker claimed the higher target would cost the state $6 billion dollars more than a 45% target.

Environmental advocates in Massachusetts, such as Craig Altemose of the Better Future Project, told NetZero Insider that even 50% by 2030 is not enough to limit the Earth’s warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

New language in the bill also incorporates Baker’s amendment to strengthen protections for environmental justice populations by enforcing a cumulative, holistic impact analysis when building new infrastructure.

The climate bill will be brought to a vote in the next Senate legislative session. If the legislature sends the bill to Baker for his signature and he vetoes it, the legislature is likely to have enough votes to override the veto.

“The majority of the Massachusetts Senate remains prepared to take swift action on this bill,” Sen. President Karen Spilka (D) said in a statement.