The Boston Globe covers the recent federal funding allocated to New England for grid upgrades to support clean energy goals. The article quotes United's Jeremy McDiarmid who highlights the importance of interstate cooperation, adding that state coordination should save money for New England ratepayers in the long run.
The six New England states have won a $389 million federal award for upgrades to the region’s electric grid to accommodate the arrival of offshore wind power and to build battery storage in Northern Maine.
Energy agencies in all six New England states worked with Eversource, National Grid and battery-maker Form Energy to submit the plan — dubbed “Power Up New England” — in April to the US Department of Energy, which is doling out money from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for grid upgrades across the country. The funding will help pay for new substations and related grid upgrades around the former Brayton Point plant in Somerset and in Southeast Connecticut. Form Energy, meanwhile, plans to build a battery storage system at the site of a former paper mill in Lincoln, Maine — just north of Bangor — that could continually dispatch power for as long as 100 hours, particularly useful during periods of prolonged cold weather.
“This is how we’re going to meet our goals and transition from a dirty grid to a clean grid,” Healey said in an interview. “This just shows how Massachusetts is moving full steam ahead on clean energy and climate technology.”
The news prompted state officials to hold off on choosing winning bids in the states’ next round of offshore wind farm contracts, used to finance the construction of these massive projects, on the eve of the selection deadline.
The selection was initially expected to take place Wednesday, but it has now been pushed back a month, to September 6, to consider any impacts this new federal funding would have on the bids. Officials in the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources are weighing bids from several offshore wind developers, alongside their counterparts in Rhode Island and Connecticut representatives from the electric utilities. (It’s the second delay for this competition: Bids were initially due in late January, but state officials then gave developers two more months to submit.)
In the first round of federal grid grants last year, the Healey administration applied unsuccessfully for a smaller amount to cover similar upgrades in Southeastern Massachusetts, to help prepare the grid for the extra electricity expected from these offshore projects. After losing with that application in round one, Massachusetts officials decided to team up with other New England states for a bigger application in the federal grid program’s second round, hoping a regional approach would fare better in round two. It did.
State officials hope these three projects will play a crucial role in supporting the grid’s resiliency while reducing New England’s heavy reliance on natural gas for power generation. This nearly $400 million grant award, announced on Tuesday, represents a substantial chunk of the $2.2 billion available nationwide for this round of funding, while the New England states are committed to collectively kicking in nearly $500 million, likely through charges passed on via electric bills.
“This is a signal and a sign of continued cooperation among the six New England states to work together to solve these big problems, and the federal government recognized this,” said Jeremy McDiarmid, managing director at clean-energy trade group Advanced Energy United. He added that the coordination among the states should save money for New England ratepayers in the long run by drawing the federal subsidies and improving the efficiency of the next wave of grid buildouts.
Last month, five of the six New England states — all except Vermont — secured $450 million from the US Environmental Protection Agency by using a similar regional approach to subsidize the distribution and installation of electric heat pumps.
The federal money comes as key legislation to help the state’s climate-tech sector has stalled on Beacon Hill.
Healey said she remains hopeful that lawmakers can overcome their impasses on two major climate and economic development bills they failed to pass as time ran out last week on the year’s regularly scheduled formal legislative sessions.
Healey said the federal grid grant underscores the need to pass legislation, contained in the climate bill, that speeds permitting for energy infrastructure. And, she said, providing infrastructure for the nascent offshore wind energy industry will help position Massachusetts as a hub for climate-tech businesses — another reason, she said, to pass the economic development bill that would pump hundreds of millions into that emerging sector.
“We’re a leader when it comes to climate technology,” Healey added, “and I want us to build on this.”
Read the full article here.