New Jersey’s first offshore wind project gets fed approval

WIND: Federal officials give their approval for the 2.8 GW Atlantic Shores project, the first offshore wind facility in New Jersey. (Power Technology, NJ Biz)

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ALSO: A developer begins a $200 million repowering project at a wind project in Pennsylvania’s Somerset County, an upgrade that should raise its 139 MW generation capacity by 30%. (news release)

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GRID: Avangrid and Barnstable, Massachusetts, reach an agreement allowing the developer to lay power cables at a beach and under a river in exchange for numerous financial guarantees, like compensation for businesses harmed during construction. (Barnstable Patriot)

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SOLAR: In southern Maine, vandalism at an under-construction solar project causes an estimated half-million dollars in damage expected to delay the site’s operations by weeks; a police investigation is underway. (WMTW)

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RENEWABLE POWER: A New York county will decide whether to opt out of a state law exempting commercial renewable energy projects from property taxes, which would simplify the tax structure of such facilities but disincentivize developers from selecting sites there. (Syracuse.com)

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ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Harvard climate fellow is using artificial intelligence to better understand drivers’ hesitancy to transition to electric vehicles, scanning charging station reviews to uncover preferences and problems. (Boston Globe)

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CLIMATE:

• Two state agencies suggest in a new draft report that New York won’t meet its 70% renewable energy by 2030 goal but could catch up in the early half of the following decade, citing more power demand than contracted projects can accommodate. (RTO Insider, subscription; Times Union)
• New data finds that New Jersey is the third-fastest warming state and the fastest in the Northeast, which itself is the fastest-warming region of the country, but six other Northeast states round out the gloomy top ten. (New York Times)

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TRANSIT: New York lawmakers mull a lower base fee or dynamic pricing for the Manhattan congestion pricing program to persuade the governor to allow the program to go ahead, though former President Donald Trump’s potential return to office could kill the plan anyway. (Gothamist)

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PIPELINES: A Pennsylvania environmental resources hearing attracts several advocates concerned with how a proposed gas pipeline in Lycoming County would impact local trails, wetlands, trout streams and sediment. (Penn Live Patriot-News)

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FLOODS:

• Vermont flood victims recount how the repercussions of last year’s devastating summer floods were compounded by inconsistent and difficult-to-navigate FEMA policies that seemed to lean toward rejection of aid requests. (Vermont Public Radio)
• With few Pennsylvanians subscribed to flood insurance but more severe flooding expected, a state task force suggests more floodplain management grants and residential tax incentives for flood insurance payments and home renovations. (WHYY)

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COMMENTARY:

• Two energy transition advocates say New Yorkers should “embrace” battery storage projects, pointing to the grid reliability and stabilized rates associated with such facilities and noting that potential fires aren’t that likely. (LoHud)
• A Connecticut safe streets advocate makes the argument that his state would also benefit from the Manhattan traffic congestion tolling plan by adding hundreds of new daily rides to its commuter rail system. (CT Mirror)

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