Stories

CMP's proposed transmission line would cross right over the trail Duane Hanson uses to get to his off-the-grid home near the Canadian border. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public

‘It Has Not Been Fun’ — CMP Transmission Project Divides Western Maine Communities

March 28, 2019

To get to the backwoods homestead where Duane Hanson started his family four decades ago — deep timber territory, 16 miles from the Canadian border — you have to snowmobile sometimes more than 8 miles in from Spencer Road in Jackman. Eagles and other raptors patrol the air above.

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Bloomfield is hosting one of three pilot projects anticipated to test the community solar idea in Connecticut. Photo by Ryan Caron King for Connecticut Public Radio

In Connecticut, The Costs And Benefits Of Shared Solar Are Tough To Calculate

March 18, 2019

Renewable energy projects have been growing across New England in recent years. And while offshore wind and grid-scale solar have gotten lots of the attention — a smaller, more community-oriented way of getting power has been steadily taking hold: “shared clean energy.”

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Gov. Janet Mills holds up a pound of carbon at a press conference at the Portland Jetport on Thursday. Photo by Fred Bever for Maine Public

Mills, 2 Environmental Groups Back CMP’s $1 Billion Western Maine Transmission Project

February 21, 2019

Gov. Janet Mills and two environmental groups are signing on to Central Maine Power’s bid to build a controversial new transmission line through western Maine’s forests. That significantly broadens the coalition of interests supporting the project, but the deal is also drawing fire from other environmental groups, grassroots opponents and some renewable energy developers in Maine.

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Spent fuel at Vermont Yankee is stored in these casks. NorthStar, the company that wants to buy the closed plant, recently boosted its financial plan to pay for fuel storage. Photo courtesy of Vermont Yankee

Renew Nukes? Utilities Use Nuclear Energy To Help Meet Renewable Energy Goals

February 14, 2019

When you think about renewable energy, does a nuclear power plant come to mind? Probably not. But in a roundabout way,  Vermont utilities are using nuclear energy to meet the state’s renewable energy standards.

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A sample of bright orange right whale scat from the New England Aquarium's laboratory freezer. Photo by Robin Lubbock for WBUR

Can Feces Save A Species? Boston Has The World’s Largest Collection Of Right Whale Poop

February 7, 2019

The Marine Stress and Ocean Health Lab at the New England Aquarium looks like your typical laboratory. It’s full of humming and whirring machines, beakers and test tubes, digital scales and centrifuges.

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Atlantic Lobster Board Moves Toward Reducing Rope In Effort To Save Right Whales

February 6, 2019

A consortium of Atlantic states fisheries managers is calling for broad changes to the gear lobstermen use, in an effort to reduce risks posed to the endangered North Atlantic right whale and to ward off potential federal action that could be even more challenging for the industry.

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These generators produce electricity by burning landfill gas in Coventry. The Washington Electric Co-op has sold credits for that energy to other utilities, but the price for the credits has dropped sharply. Photo courtesy of Washington Electric Co-op

Vagaries Of The Energy Market: A Boom In Renewables Leads To Higher Rates For Co-op

January 3, 2019

A boom in renewable energy around New England has led to higher rates for a small Vermont utility. The reason has to do with the declining value of an energy commodity know as “renewable energy credits.”

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An Auction For Wind Lots Off The Massachusetts Shore Breaks Records

December 20, 2018

A wind power auction for three plots of ocean off of the coast of Massachusetts broke a record last week for the highest price ever paid in a U.S. wind lease auction.

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New England Power Pool members meet to debate energy market reforms, in photos from the organization's 2018 annual report. Photo courtesy of NEPOOL

A Fight for Transparency At New England’s Powerful Energy Industry Group

December 20, 2018

Energy can be tough to understand. When we flip a light switch, we know the lights should come on. But we might not know where that power came from – or why it costs what it costs.

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The Future Of New England’s Electricity Market

December 13, 2018

ISO New England is in charge of the grid, and they also operate a wholesale electricity market to make sure there’s always power available. It’s a system built on already dizzying complexity, in an energy ecosystem that’s getting more complex, adding new power from renewables all the time.

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