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When conveyor belt manufacturer Wire Belt opened its new facility in Bedford, N.H., last fall, the company looked forward to saving money and fighting climate change with a 2,400-panel solar array installed on the roof.
Four months later, however, Wire Belt’s solar panels lie dormant as the company waits for its utility to hook the project up to the grid. It’s an example of the often long and unpredictable interconnection delays facing large solar projects in New Hampshire and nationwide.
Wire Belt president Jon Greer was among those who testified at a January hearing in support of state legislation that aims to streamline this connection process, a proposal that is receiving broad support from climate advocates and the business community, including companies like Wire Belt, whose monthly power bills approach $60,000.
Sen. Kevin Avard, chairman of the Senate energy and natural resources committee, who introduced the bill, said it’s time to fix the system.
“We just want to make sure that the people who took advantage of solar have the opportunity to utilize the good clean energy, hopefully at a lower price,” Avard said.
Currently, utilities determine their own process for approving interconnection requests for projects larger than 100 kilowatts. The bill calls for the New Hampshire Department of Energy to draft and assess rules that would create a uniform policy for all utilities to use, with the goal of making the process smoother and more predictable.
“Right now there are no guardrails, no timelines, there’s no real obligation to hurry,” said Sam Evans-Brown, executive director of the nonprofit Clean Energy New Hampshire. “This is where, if you’re a regulated monopoly, regulators are supposed to step in.”
Wire Belt is not the only business feeling discouraged. Russ Greenlaw, senior vice president of sales for the Associated Grocers of New England, explained at the hearing that the delays make it difficult for members to commit to spending money on solar developments when it is so unclear when they would be able to see benefits to their bottom line.
“There’s just a complete lack of clarity and predictability around the process,” said Heidi Kroll, director of government relations for New Hampshire law firm Gallagher, Callahan & Gartrell.
Interconnection issues are not limited to New Hampshire. Though each state has its own approach, the basics are the same: New renewable energy projects that want to hook up to the grid have to submit interconnection requests to the utility. The utility evaluates the project and its impact on the grid, then decides whether any upgrades are necessary to accommodate the new power source before approving it for connection.
Residential arrays and other small projects are often approved quickly: Eversource, which serves 71% of New Hampshire’s households, expects to receive as many as 5,000 interconnection requests this year and to approve 95% of them within days.
However, in New Hampshire and many other states, the surge in larger renewable energy developments has created logjams in this process as utilities try to figure out how much the grid can bear and how to accommodate additional power — how to balance the benefits of renewable energy supply with the strain the new generators put on the grid.
“Interconnection is one of the biggest barriers right now to getting clean energy done,” Evans-Brown said.
And most states do not yet have systems in place that are keeping up with these challenges. Freeing the Grid, a nonprofit initiative that grades states on their interconnection policies, found that only six states — none in New England — and the District of Columbia scored above a C. New Hampshire was among the 17 states earning a D.
Eversource, New Hampshire’s largest utility, has a queue of just under 100 projects needing further study. Unitil, which serves about 10% of the state’s customers, has four larger projects in the waiting line — three since the fall and one since late spring — representing the significant majority of the pending load.
New Hampshire has taken early steps to address its interconnection problem. In July 2022, the legislature asked the state to investigate and make recommendations. The resulting report, released in December 2023, concluded that there are indeed “considerable technical, operating, processing, and procedural challenges,” to adding growing amounts of renewable energy to the grid.
The report called for the creation of two working groups — one focused on technical and engineering problems and solutions, and another for administrative and process issues — to further assess the situation and provide solutions.
For many stakeholders, however, this proposed approach is not nearly robust enough, prompting a bipartisan group of legislators to back the current bill.
The original bill would have required the state to begin a rulemaking process within 45 days and adopt final rules by the end of 2024. This timeline, however, would not have been possible within the department’s rulemaking process, said Joshua Elliott, director of the energy department’s division of policy and programs. The legislation was then amended to call for “a proceeding to examine and assess draft rules to be adopted” rather than a final rulemaking.
“The bill as introduced was not implementable,” Elliott said. “As amended, the bill both gives the department the resources to accomplish this task and a timeline that is implementable.”
Some advocates, however, aren’t convinced that the amended bill has enough specificity and force to make the needed difference.
“It is not explicitly clear that a rulemaking is required, and it doesn’t give any deadline,” Evans-Brown said. “It was a valuable hearing — that’s a big step — but I am very skeptical that the [department] is taking this problem seriously.”
The Senate’s energy and natural resources committee voted unanimously in mid-February to recommend passage of the amended bill, and legislators are eager to see it passed and hopefully help ease a longstanding problem.
“What’s the pause, what’s the hiccup?” Avard said. “It’s nothing complicated.”
Editor’s note: The headline on this article was updated to clarify that interconnection delays are only affecting projects over 100 kW.
The Biden administration spent the last year preparing to roll out one of the biggest emissions-fighting regulations the U.S. has ever seen. Now, one of its most ambitious provisions may not happen.
As far as climate regulations go, this one was pretty big: The U.S. EPA would require all new and existing fossil fuel plants to sharply cut or capture their emissions in the next decade, or else face shutdown. But now, the agency has decided to exempt the nation’s 2,000 or so existing gas plants, E&E News and other sources reported last week.
The EPA said that it’s instead planning a “stronger, more durable” rule for existing gas plants that also would crack down on how they pollute nearby, often disadvantaged communities. But the New York Times reports that agency officials also worried the rule could be overturned in court, and that it wouldn’t help get skeptical voters on President Biden’s side before the election.
Whatever comes next, if it doesn’t get done well before November, the EPA may miss its chance to regulate gas plant emissions altogether.
It’s only been a few weeks since reports suggested the EPA would also weaken its proposed tailpipe emissions rule, which would push automakers to speed up their transition to electric vehicles. But after automakers raised concerns about EV costs and still-weak charging infrastructure, it too may be on the chopping block.
🌎 Kerry’s last stand: As John Kerry steps down as U.S. climate envoy, he made a final push for phasing out new gas infrastructure construction and cautioned that capturing carbon emissions won’t replace the need to decarbonize. (The Guardian)
🛰️ Measuring methane: A methane-tracking satellite launched Monday, and aims to collect emissions data and map out leaking oil and gas infrastructure around the world. (NPR)
💰 Rural clean energy boost: The U.S. Department of Energy announces $366 million for rural renewable energy projects across 20 states and 30 tribal nations. (The Hill)
💸 Cracking down on utility spending: At least a dozen states seek to limit utilities from spending ratepayer money on lobbying, advertising, and other costs in the wake of corruption scandals like the FirstEnergy scandal unfolding in Ohio. (States Newsroom, Floodlight/Mother Jones)
🌊 Offshore wind’s ‘terrifying’ threat: Offshore wind industry leaders say former President Trump’s election poses a “terrifying” threat to their already struggling industry, with one official saying that “anyone who is telling themselves that they’ll find a way around it is kidding themselves.” (E&E News)
☀️ A big leap for solar: A clean energy group’s analysis finds a $7 billion federal program is on track to help more than 700,000 lower-income households install solar and storage systems, making it the largest such investment in U.S. history. (Canary Media)
🔥 Energy storage heats up: At least 30 startups look to store renewable power by heating up rocks and other materials, hoping thermal storage can solve solar and wind’s intermittency challenges. (Canary Media)
🧟 Zombie hunt: Environmental groups propose policies that could help states clean up and repurpose nearly 1 million acres of idled, unreclaimed “zombie” coal mines across 12 states. (Daily Yonder)
The Midwest’s regional transmission grid operator this week announced another multi-billion dollar phase of transmission line projects as part of a four-part push to improve reliability and reduce curtailments.
The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) unveiled plans Monday for what’s known as its “Tranche 2” portfolio, which includes plans for several 765 kilovolt transmission “highways” spanning sections of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, North Dakota and Missouri.
Many of the new lines would connect to projects being built as part of the $10.4 billion Tranche 1 portfolio, which MISO approved last year. Tranche 2 is projected to cost even more, at between $17 billion and $23 billion. A third batch of projects will focus on the grid operator’s southern territory, and the fourth will address north-south connections.
In its presentation to stakeholders, MISO officials said the investment will help manage challenges in three regions. In MISO West, which includes Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, 20% of its facilities are overloaded and annual curtailments exceed 15%.
In its Central region, composed of parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri, facilities are 10% overloaded, and there’s a need for transmission to move power from west to east.
MISO’s East Region, defined as Michigan’s lower peninsula, suffers annual curtailment of over 15% and 10% of facilities are overloaded. MISO said in a presentation that transmission would help mitigate “import and export power swings between day and night.”
Beth Soholt, executive director of the nonprofit Clean Grid Alliance, said the Tranche 2 plan is “bold” and “the direction we need to go.” The question is: does it go far enough?
The regional grid is expected to see significant growth from industries, electrification, data centers and other sources, Soholt said.
“If load growth ramps up faster than the grid can handle, then we’re behind the eight ball again,” she said. “Now is the time to ask: Have we right-sized this portfolio?”
Mike Schowalter, senior manager of wholesale electric grid transition for Fresh Energy, said he was surprised by the lack of a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) line.
“If we’re looking at the long-term, we’re going to need the attributes that HVDC brings,” Schowalter said.
The Energy News Network is an independent journalism program of Fresh Energy.
A 765 kV transmission line needs taller towers and a much wider corridor than HVDC or other alternatives, Schowalter said.
“I’m a little concerned about some of the siting issues that the different states will have to deal with,” he said, noting that the map shows a 765 kV Minnesota River crossing.
Utilities have told Schowalter that the plan misses future pockets of generation that may need additional transmission. He said the reason may be because the draft report centers on reliability, not interconnection constraints.
The plan also does not venture much into North Dakota, which has plenty of wind generation, Schowalter said. The draft plan “will help with some congestion, but will it help enough?” he said. “Probably not. In terms of relative to what we need, we need a lot more than this.”
Some utilities also think deploying HVDC lines would better solve grid instability issues, especially between wind-rich Southwest Minnesota and the more populated regions to the east, Soholt said. HVDC transmits electricity more efficiently than alternate current lines, which have higher rates of power loss.
Utilities have often had to curtail wind power from southwest Minnesota because of transmission capacity issues. Clean energy advocates and others will be closely listening to the business case MISO will make later for the choice of the transmission locations and the size of the lines, she said.
Soholt said comments are being taken now on the plan and some stakeholders will offer modifications and alternatives. Some clean energy developers and members of the Clean Grid Alliance plan to suggest alternatives. Some organizations are expected to argue that MISO does not need this much transmission and others will tender a different vision, she said.
So far, MISO has released only a rough map of where the lines would run, without much detail. A stakeholder process will refine precisely where the lines will operate, Soholt said.
Stakeholder input and alternatives to the Tranche 2 plan will be accepted through April 5. MISO will make a final decision later this year.
FOSSIL FUELS: New federal data shows four out of Rhode Island’s five natural gas-fired power plants have seen emissions increase substantially in the past year. (ecoRI)
ALSO:
GRID:
POLICY: Connecticut lawmakers consider an omnibus climate bill with 17 multi-part initiatives that the bill’s sponsor says are “more … carrot than stick,” but some are concerned about proposed solar changes. (CT Mirror)
FLOODS: Several New York City lawmakers call on federal emergency management officials to support the city’s applications for roughly $117 million worth of flood mitigation and climate resiliency projects. (Brooklyn Eagle)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
NUCLEAR: Federal nuclear regulators cite the Pilgrim nuclear power plant’s decommissioning firm for improper use of clean-up funds, including using $84,000 to sponsor parades and holiday celebrations. (Boston Globe)
SOLAR:
WIND: Delaware state park officials will hold a meeting next week on how US Wind’s proposed power lines could affect recreation at the Delaware Seashore State Park. (news release)
UTILITIES: A mild winter has helped New York’s utilities catch up on capital projects, like new transformer lines and maintenance work. (Spectrum News 1)
OIL & GAS: West Virginia residents say Pittsburgh natural gas company EQT’s fracking operations into the state are causing environmental and health problems, pushing them to abandon their homes. (PublicSource)
ALSO:
WIND: Florida lawmakers add a provision to ban the construction of offshore wind farms in state waters to an omnibus energy bill that would also roll back natural gas pipeline regulations and delete most references to “climate change” in state code. (Tampa Bay Times)
SOLAR:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Oklahoma names 13 businesses that could receive up to $9 million in federal money to install electric vehicle chargers. (KOCO)
PIPELINES: A judge removes an environmental group from a sweeping lawsuit by the Mountain Valley Pipeline against its opponents. (Roanoke Times)
COAL: West Virginia lawmakers advance legislation to allow coal companies to take a deduction against severance taxes to cover road improvements, as well as a separate tax credit for production and processing facilities. (WV Metro News)
OVERSIGHT: The five people on Georgia’s regulatory commission wield significant power over the state’s energy policy as the only government body with direct authority to regulate Georgia Power. (Grist/WABE)
CLIMATE:
UTILITIES: Florida-based NextEra Energy is fighting legal battles to block construction of a transmission line in New England, which critics say is an attempt by the company to retain its monopoly on clean power in the area. (Politico)
POLITICS:
COMMENTARY: Asset managers bankrolling the Mountain Valley Pipeline are putting people’s investments and retirement savings at risk by backing a beleaguered project that’s threatening the future of residents along its path, writes a Virginia resident. (Sierra)
ADVOCACY: Ohio’s consumer advocate wants the state Supreme Court to overturn a decision that prevented it from representing apartment residents in a case involving a submetering company. (Energy News Network)
ALSO: A Sierra Club lobbyist says Kansas lawmakers lack a cohesive energy policy strategy, with ongoing debate about whether the state should support renewable energy. (Kansas Reflector)
GRID:
PIPELINES:
UTILITIES: The former ComEd CEO convicted of bribery conspiracy asks a judge to delay the U.S. SEC’s civil case against her. (Center Square)
OIL & GAS: DTE Energy is among U.S. gas utilities passing on the costs of purchasing “responsible gas” to customers, a process that critics say has questionable climate benefits. (DeSmog)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: Indiana officials leading an economic development trade trip to South Korea this week aim to attract more electric vehicle investments. (Indianapolis Business Journal)
CLIMATE: Kansas City is embarking on an aggressive tree-planting strategy to help address heat islands in older, poorer sections of the city. (Flatland)
BATTERIES: A Michigan startup developing technology to double the range and capacity of conventional batteries cuts 37 jobs to reduce operating expenses. (Crain’s Detroit Business, subscription)
COMMENTARY: A top ranking Ohio Democrat says federal prosecutors need to further investigate what Gov. Mike DeWine’s administration knew about details of FirstEnergy’s corruption scheme. (Columbus Dispatch)
SOLAR: As solar installations lag in Massachusetts, advocates urge the state to re-examine its incentive program, which they say has not adapted to economic changes. (Energy News Network)
ELECTRIFICATION:
OFFSHORE WIND:
UTILITIES:
GRID: A Long Island town is welcoming energy storage development despite some local opposition, a contrast to other towns that have passed moratoriums on the project. (Newsday)
GEOTHERMAL: As a Rochester, New York, industrial building is converted to housing, it will be heated and cooled by a $1.9 million geothermal system, in a project that developers say could be a model for others in the region. (WXXI News)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: A Google-backed company unveils what are believed to be the fastest public EV chargers in the U.S. in New York City, promising to add 200 miles of range in five minutes. (Reuters)
MINING: Experts say massive lithium projects in California and elsewhere won’t necessarily negate the need for mining in Maine. (Maine Monitor)
COMMENTARY: A Maine business leader says two recent utility accountability bills are duplicative, and indicate a need for a more deliberative approach on energy policy. (Bangor Daily News)
CLIMATE: U.S. climate envoy John Kerry makes a final push for phasing out new gas infrastructure construction and cautions that capturing emissions won’t replace decarbonization as he departs the post this week. (Guardian)
ALSO: Advocates credit Kerry with devoting “tireless energy” to the climate cause, but say he could have pushed harder for international climate aid and frontline climate action. (Washington Post)
EMISSIONS:
COAL: Environmental groups release a policy platform to address nearly 1 million acres of idled, unreclaimed “zombie” coal mines across 12 states. (Daily Yonder)
ELECTRIFICATION:
OIL & GAS:
SOLAR: As solar installations lag in Massachusetts, advocates urge the state to re-examine its incentive program, which they say has not adapted to economic changes. (Energy News Network)
PIPELINES: Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposed multi-state carbon pipeline could qualify for up to $18 billion in federal tax credits over 12 years if the project is built and operates at full capacity. (Inside Climate News)
TRANSPORTATION: The Biden administration pours funding into a proposed high-speed passenger rail line linking Las Vegas and Los Angeles in hopes it will spark a national rail revolution. (Los Angeles Times)
OFFSHORE WIND: Scientists in Rhode Island work to debunk persistent social media misinformation that offshore wind construction is killing whales after a whale is stranded near South Kingstown. (Providence Journal)
ELECTRIFICATION: The Biden administration awards a northwest Alaska borough $50 million to install electric heat pumps in every home and to build solar installations to power them. (Northern Journal)
OIL & GAS:
MINING:
POLLUTION: Dozens of oil and gas industry and environmental group lobbyists work to influence Colorado lawmakers as they consider legislation aimed at reducing ground-level ozone pollution. (CPR)
SOLAR:
UTILITIES:
ELECTRIC VEHICLES: California says it has surpassed 100,000 public or shared private electric vehicle chargers throughout the state. (news release)
TRANSPORTATION: The Biden administration pours funding into a proposed high-speed passenger rail line linking Las Vegas and Los Angeles in hopes it will spark a national rail revolution. (Los Angeles Times)
CLIMATE:
BIOFUELS: The Biden administration awards $30 million to a cluster of California projects aimed at converting forest cuttings into biofuels. (Bioenergy Insight)
Ohio’s public advocate for residential ratepayers wants the state’s high court to reverse a decision that blocked it from fully participating in a case it says adversely affected the rights of more than 1,000 people living in apartments.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel was denied intervenor status in a Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) case over whether a company that provides billing and other electricity services for landlords is acting as a utility.
AEP Ohio accused the electrical submetering company Nationwide Energy Partners of usurping part of its role and offering services that infringed on its territory as a regulated, public utility.
The PUCO ruled last year in Nationwide’s favor, essentially stripping residents of five properties from several consumer protections and benefits that state law provides for utility customers.
The consumer advocate has appealed the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, saying that regulators should have let it represent the interests of the apartment residents.
The case now before the Ohio Supreme Court began in late 2021 when AEP Ohio objected to a request that it drop nearly 1,100 residential accounts for people living in five Columbus-area apartment complexes. Nationwide would buy electricity for each complex from the utility and resell it to residents at a higher rate.
“From the customers’ perspective, Nationwide would be stepping into the shoes of AEP Ohio,” the complaint alleged. As such, it would be “mimicking a public utility and doing exactly what AEP Ohio currently does.”
The Consumers’ Counsel moved to intervene so it could represent the interests of the residents, who were not otherwise represented in the regulatory case. Nationwide objected, casting the case as just a commercial dispute.
While anyone can submit public comments in utility regulatory cases, formal intervenors become parties to the case and have a full seat at the table. The status includes rights to conduct pre-hearing fact-finding, brief legal issues, introduce evidence, and present or cross-examine witnesses.
Ohio Consumers’ Counsel Maureen Willis said utilities, marketers and submetering companies “will face far less resistance to their proposals” if the agency is precluded from doing its job. An Ohio statute says that job includes intervening in and representing residential consumers’ interests at the PUCO, in court and before other agencies.
The PUCO “typically” grants the Consumers’ Counsel’s requests for intervention, said Ohio Deputy Consumers’ Counsel Angela O’Brien. “That being said, intervention by OCC is our statutory right and one that we closely guard in order to give consumers a voice on utility issues that matter to them,” she said.
In this case, a 2022 PUCO order denied the Consumers’ Counsel’s motion to intervene. Interests in protecting consumers were “not the issues that will be litigated in this proceeding,” the order said. The commission ruled in September 2023 that Nationwide is not a public utility and reaffirmed its decision in December 2023.
Ashley Brown, a former PUCO commissioner, said it was “crazy” for regulators to keep the Consumers’ Counsel out of the case. The ruling that Nationwide is not a utility “create[s] this inferior species of consumer at the whim of the landlord,” he said.
Among other things, a forced switch of tenants away from utility service makes them give up their rights under metering rules, eligibility for percentage-of-income-payment plans (PIPP), procedures required before shutoffs, access to the PUCO’s call-in line and procedures for filing complaints against regulated electric companies, and more. Ratepayers of regulated electric distribution utilities also have a general right to choose a competitive electricity generation supplier.
The PUCO ruling also means residents won’t be guaranteed the right to benefit from time-of-day rates or other demand-side programs that could improve grid reliability, Brown said. Similarly, tenants won’t be eligible for utilities’ energy efficiency programs if pending legislation clears the way for those to start up again after the state’s 2019 nuclear and coal bailout law gutted Ohio’s prior clean energy standards.
Similar issues are presented in another regulatory case involving Duke Energy and Nationwide Energy Partners. The PUCO has not yet ruled on the Consumers’ Counsel motion to intervene there. Duke Energy Ohio supports the Consumers’ Counsel’s participation, while Nationwide opposes it.
AEP Ohio has sided with the Consumers’ Counsel, saying a forced switch will cause customers to lose rights they’ve had as ratepayers.
“We believe all customers in our service territory should be able to easily understand their bill and get all of the same regulatory protections when offered utility service by someone other than their landlord,” said spokesperson Scott Blake, adding that submetering companies generally don’t make the same types of low-income help available to residents.
AEP Ohio has a separate appeal pending at the Ohio Supreme Court, where it challenges the PUCO’s finding that Nationwide is not a regulated utility. AEP Ohio also challenges parts of the PUCO’s order requiring it to place consumer-protection conditions in its contract with Nationwide. AEP Ohio’s filing describes those conditions as unworkable, unreasonable and unlawful, adding that any tariff requirements should be adopted through notice-and-comment rulemaking.
On Feb. 23, Nationwide moved to intervene in the Consumers’ Counsel’s appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, as well as in AEP Ohio’s appeal. If the Consumers’ Counsel wins, Nationwide “will be forced to incur the cost of expensive and unnecessary re-litigation of the issues already decided by the PUCO,” lawyers for the company wrote.
“Unfortunately, we cannot comment on open dockets,” said Teresa Ringenbach, Nationwide’s vice president of business development, when asked if the company would have dropped its opposition to the Consumers’ Counsel’s intervention if it knew a denial would lead to the appeal before the state supreme court. She did say Nationwide is prohibited from offering PIPP for tenants, but some other payment assistance programs may be available.
“The commission speaks through its opinions and orders and other rulings,” PUCO spokesperson Matt Schilling said when asked for comment. “Each case is heard on its own merits on a case-by-case basis,” based on Ohio law and rules, he added.
The Consumers’ Counsel represents residential ratepayers in hundreds of cases, but the AEP Ohio and Duke submetering cases are not the only instances where it has been denied participation. A September 2023 ruling kept the Consumers’ Counsel from intervening in a case dealing with a $5.2 million increase in AEP Ohio charges to ratepayers to cover low-income assistance programs.
The Consumers’ Counsel was also initially excluded from a case to settle price gouging claims, where some customers’ monthly bills were nearly $700 per month. The PUCO’s initial December 2023 order said the case involved “the resolution of fact-specific issues between Staff and Inspire Energy and only those issues.” The Consumers’ Counsel pushed for reconsideration, and the commission reversed that ruling on Feb. 7.
In Brown’s view, the Consumers’ Counsel should have had full party status from the get-go in both the price gouging case and the submetering case.
“The whole idea of having a public utilities commission is that things are open, they’re transparent, they’re participatory. You give consumers access,” Brown said.
Karin Nordstrom, an attorney with the Ohio Environmental Council, said Ohio law favors broad intervention in PUCO matters. Also, she said, “consumers must have access to reliable utility service as we face more severe weather due to climate change.” Without discussing the merits of any particular case, she added that a well-funded consumers’ counsel with access to experts “is an imperative component of maintaining a fair and transparent utility process.”
For now, the Consumers’ Counsel’s brief in the submetering case is due at the Ohio Supreme Court later this month. That date might shift if a motion for extension is filed or if the Ohio Supreme Court consolidates the case with AEP Ohio’s appeal.
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