FOSSIL FUELS: Rhode Island regulators decide that a liquefied natural gas facility that was supposed to only operate temporarily in a residential Portsmouth area can stay online for another five years, despite the community’s noise, light and climate pollution concerns. (Newport Daily News)

ALSO: The Portsmouth LNG facility’s five-year extension stops short of the permanent license sought by Rhode Island Energy. (Rhode Island Current)

SOLAR: 

  • A Northeast solar developer says it will bring just under 20 MW of dual-use projects and almost 20 MWh of storage online in Massachusetts by the end of the year. (news release)
  • A 2 MW solar project in Palmer, Massachusetts, uses taller, hardier structures to allow for a herd of Angus beef cattle to roam and graze under them. (Mass Live)
  • The town supervisor of Clymer, New York, says he expects a decision on a 5 MW community solar project to be made by October, despite delayed votes on the matter since July. (Corry Journal)
  • East Bloomfield, New York, grants a special use permit for a 6.41 MW community solar project. (news release)

GRID: 

  • Eversource’s transmission line rebuild proposal in New Hampshire could cost Maine ratepayers $32 million, even though less than 8% of the line needs to be replaced. (Portland Press Herald)
  • Some NYSEG customers say they’ve seen exponentially higher utility bills since the company installed smart meters at their homes, despite little demand increase or on-site solar panels. (WKBW)
  • NYSEG touts its installation of over 700,000 smart meters for its electric and gas customers across upstate New York. (news release)

WIND: 

  • More Pennsylvania wind projects are getting old enough to be worth repowering using turbines with more generation capacity, an easier process than pushing through a new project but one with complications nonetheless. (Clean Technica)
  • In Rhode Island, a Newport council member seeks to schedule a public forum for offshore wind opponents to explain their point of view following an event where opponents “disrupted” the question-and-answer period and another at which a “brief but chaotic verbal al­tercation” occurred. (WUN, Newport This Week)

BATTERIES: An overnight fire at a New York City electric scooter store sends a firefighter to the hospital, the second time a lithium-ion battery fire had broken out at the same shop. (NYDN)

COMMENTARY: 

  • A Maine activist writes that while an official analysis comparing the cost of developing either Mack Point or Sears Island for an offshore wind hub hasn’t been done yet, “the cost of destroying Sears Island’s 100 acres of forests and wetlands to test 10-12 turbines that could fail is incalculable.” (Portland Press Herald)
  • A Consumer Energy Alliance executive argues that Massachusetts can achieve status as a long-term clean energy powerhouse if it maintains a reassuring regulatory and investment environment needed for more projects. (CommonWealth Beacon)

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Bridget is a freelance reporter and newsletter writer based in the Washington, D.C., area. She compiles the Northeast Energy News digest. Bridget primarily writes about energy, conservation and the environment. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Emerson College in 2015 with a degree in journalism and a minor in environmental studies. When she isn’t working on a story, she’s normally on a northern Maine lake or traveling abroad to practice her Spanish language skills.