Latest news with #ISONewEngland
Malaysian Reserve
21-07-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Louth Callan Renewables Begins Construction on 27 MW Solar Project in New Hampshire
ENFIELD, Conn., July 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Louth Callan Renewables (LCR), a national leader in power construction, is proud to announce it has officially commenced construction on a new 27-megawatt (MW) solar project in New Hampshire. The project was recently awarded to LCR as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) partner, further cementing the company's reputation for delivering complex, difficult renewable infrastructure with a collaborative approach and an eye towards efficiency. Site mobilization began in mid-July, with civil work being completed and underway with Brooks Construction. Full commissioning is expected by Q3 2026. 'We're excited to bring our construction expertise to another large solar project in the New England region,' said Nick Sylvestre, Founder and CEO of Louth Callan Renewables. 'Our team has spent worked hard to value engineer the project to help the owner make it a buildable and valuable asset. Now we're focused on executing a clean, safe, and high-quality build that reflects our commitment to industry best practices and community engagement.' Commitment to Construction Excellence As the EPC lead, LCR is managing all aspects of the project lifecycle, including: Engineering layout optimization Equipment, procurement and logistics Environmental compliance and stormwater controls Full Civil, Mechanical and Electrical construction Final ISO New England Commissioning and Acceptance testing Safety management under its national OSHA-compliant safety program The company is deploying its proprietary construction sequencing model, which streamlines material flow, minimizes downtime, and accelerates punch list closure during commissioning. About Louth Callan Renewables Headquartered in Enfield, Connecticut, Louth Callan Renewables is a construction-forward solar EPC firm with more than 200 MW of installed capacity across New England and over 4.8 GW of solar and storage infrastructure delivered nationwide. The firm specializes in utility-scale power construction offering integrated services from engineering and preconstruction through long-term O&M and asset management on solar, storage, geothermal and industrial power projects. Media Contact: Kristen Michaelian, kristen@ 860-840-3359
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mass. solar industry still seeing bright days, but says ‘Big Beautiful Bill' will cast a shadow
WEST SPRINGFIELD — President Donald Trump's Big Beautiful Bill Act threw shade on Massachusetts' solar power development just weeks after energy from the sun saved the state's electric ratepayers $8 million on one very hot, very sunny day. 'It is the cheapest and the fastest way to bring energy into the state,' Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said in an interview. She added that red states — like Florida and Texas — are embracing solar, as well. 'It's a really bipartisan and really popular way of producing energy,' Tepper said. On July 7, after the domestic policy bill was passed, Trump followed up with an executive order declaring his intention to 'rapidly eliminate the market distortions and costs imposed on taxpayers by so-called 'green' energy subsidies.' The sunny day Tepper uses as a counterexample was June 24, when high demand — for air conditioning on what felt like a 110-degree day — matched with high production from solar panels. That meant there was more available power from behind-the-meter photovoltaic systems in households or businesses, and the system didn't need to tap expensive peak power, said Elizabeth Mahony, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, citing data from Holyoke-based ISO New England. But with a popular 30% federal tax credit for solar systems ending Jan. 1, local installers are fielding calls from homeowners anxious to get in on the deal while they can. Installers themselves eye an uncertain future. 'I think the long-term impact is that it is going to set the solar industry back some,' said Michael Hempstead, president and owner of Valley Solar headquartered in Easthampton. 'There are going to be job losses. There will be contraction.' The think tank Energy Innovation Policy and Technology forecasts a 1.8-gigawatt decrease in generation capacity in Massachusetts because of the measures in the reconciliation bill. That includes a 1.4-gigawatt decrease in solar capacity. An average conventional power plant is about 2 gigawatts. Households in Massachusetts will face significantly increased energy costs, Energy Innovation said. It finds $100 annual increases in household energy bills by 2030 and $120 by 2035. Energy Innovation also forecasts $8.3 billion in gross domestic product lost by 2035 in Massachusetts and 6,300 job losses here by 2030. The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center said there are about 115,000 clean energy workers in the state. With 30 employees, Valley Solar is the largest independent photovoltaic contractor in Western or Central Massachusetts. Hempstead's done the math, and without the 30% federal tax credit, the estimated five to six years it would take a $20,000-to-$40,000 solar system to earn back its investment now will take seven to eight years. ISO estimates that production from small-scale solar installations across New England is expected to grow by two thirds over the next 10 years. Electricity costs also will go up. 'So if energy tends to keep going the way they have been, we still feel bullish about the future of solar in Massachusetts,' Hempstead said. But, he said solar projects still will get canceled in the wake of Trump's bill. 'The impact of that is going to drive electric prices up even more,' he said. BlueWave, a solar developer that last year opened a utility-sized project in Palmer designed to allow cows to graze in its shade, said the end of renewable subsidies will increase costs at a time when affordability is already a challenge. Federal tax credits for green energy projects last for just two more years. 'By increasing the cost of capital for solar and wind projects, the bill undermines the sources of energy that stand ready to deploy quickly to meet growing electricity demand,' BlueWave Chief Development Officer Mike Marsch said. 'States can fill part of the gap left by the federal government by working to remove barriers to deployment and drive down the soft costs of solar.' Mahony said the state's SMART 3 solar incentive program is careful to connect subsidies to the cost to ratepayers, while guaranteeing developers an income over 10 or 20 years. The SMART 3 program incentivizes solar projects on the built environment, such as rooftops and capped landfills. 'We are hyperfocused on making sure that we can build projects in the next two years, according to the timelines of this bill,' Mahony said. But no state can completely fill the gap left by the retreating federal government. 'We've been talking to developers. ... They really don't know yet,' Mahony said. 'People taking stock and looking at their pipeline of projects. What can we do to make Massachusetts the place where they can spend their precious resources?' Valley Solar is branching out, Hempstead said. It's launching a new service, remotely monitoring solar systems — even those installed by others — as well doing repairs on systems that it didn't install. That way, Valley Solar will take advantage as competitors are squeezed out of business. 'We recognize this is a real need in the market,' he said. Stories by Jim Kinney Northampton gives up on stalled Calvin deal, puts liquor license back into circulation Mercy Medical Center nurses ratify contract; raises they say will help patient care Actor, advocate, author Ed Begley Jr. to speak about his 'wild man' days at Springfield event Read the original article on MassLive. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Grid operator forecasting 11% increase in electricity consumption by 2034
The operator of the New England power grid anticipates a demand for more electricity production over the next decade. (File photo by Dana DiFilippo/New Jersey Monitor) A long expected shift in New England electricity consumption – from using less power each year to consuming more as residents embrace electric vehicles and heat pumps – is beginning to happen, but the shift isn't expected to be quite as dramatic as forecasters were predicting just a year ago. The operator of the New England power grid released a study on Thursday saying a 10-year downturn in consumption of electricity from the region's generating plants is coming to an end and giving way to the need for more electricity production over the next decade. A year ago, ISO New England forecast a 17% increase in consumption of electricity generated by the region's power plants by 2033. The latest report, citing a slowdown in electric vehicle and electric heat pump adoption rates, pares back the increase to 11% by 2034. The shift is still fairly dramatic. According to the grid operator, electricity consumption steadily increased between 1995 and 2005, as the region experienced economic growth and New Englanders installed air conditioning in their homes and businesses. That trend reversed after 2005 as many residents reduced their consumption of electricity from power plants by embracing energy efficiency measures and by meeting all or some of their own power needs by installing solar panels. Energy efficiency and home-grown solar production are continuing. Overall, solar power production in New England is forecasted to grow 88% over the next decade to 14,343 megawatts. Massachusetts is the leader, expected to generate 6,952 megawatts by 2034. Still, ISO New England predicts the growth in solar and energy savings from efficiency measures will not be enough to offset the forecasted increased demand for electricity to power vehicles and home heating systems. The regional grid operator is forecasting that the electrification of the transportation and heating sectors will boost summer peak demand by 68 megawatts in 2025 and 956 megawatts by 2034. Peak demand during the winter heating season is expected to rise by 300 megawatts in 2025 and 6,529 megawatts by 2034. Those increases are being predicted even though the Trump administration in Washington is pulling back support for electric vehicle, heat pump, and solar power subsidies. The New England grid operator is forecasting that 'net' electricity use – which is defined as electricity imported into the region or generated locally but not including solar home installations – will hit 130,665 gigawatt hours by 2034. That's up from 116,813 gigawatt hours in 2024 and below the 2005 peak of 136,425 gigawatt hours. ISO New England is not currently sounding alarms about its ability to secure enough electricity to meet future demand growth. A spokeswoman for the grid operator said it is currently counting on the construction of two offshore wind farms – Vineyard Wind off the coast of Massachusetts and Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island. Both wind farms are currently under construction and haven't been blocked by the Trump administration, which opposes the development of offshore wind. This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Electricity prices soar as US regional grids wobble from extreme heat
By Tim McLaughlin and Timothy Gardner BOSTON (Reuters) -U.S. regional electric grid operators scrambled to avoid rotating blackouts on Tuesday, preserving razor-thin power generation margins as temperatures in the eastern half of the country soared past 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius). Jammed and overheated transmission lines caused congestion and lifted wholesale electricity prices in New York, the largest city in the United States, to nearly $2,400 per megawatt hour (MWh) during peak evening demand. Wholesale prices in Long Island topped $7,000 per MWh. New York ISO, the state's grid operator, warned it may initiate emergency actions after operating reserves declined. PJM Interconnection, which covers one in five Americans as the largest U.S. power grid operator, ordered several utilities in its territory to curtail electricity to customers in voluntary reduction programs. "Load reductions should continue until released by PJM," the grid operator said in a Tuesday afternoon directive. PJM issued several warnings throughout the day as it battled to keep electricity flowing across overheated high-voltage transmission lines. Generation output also ebbed as gas-powered turbines operated at reduced capacity in the extreme heat. ISO New England, whose six-state territory includes Boston, saw spot wholesale electricity prices soar past $1,500 per MWh on peak consumption around 5:30 p.m. EDT. Tuesday's prices were more than three times higher during Monday's peak demand at the start of the heat wave. New England joined other U.S. regions deploying exigent and emergency strategies to avoid widespread outages. The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday ordered Duke Energy Carolina to use specific electric generating units to operate at their maximum generation output levels in the southeast. ISO New England issued a "Power Caution" after the unexpected loss of generation left the region short of the resources needed to meet both consumer demand and required operating reserves. The grid operator said it would tap reserve resources to keep supply and demand balanced. Duke Energy said it may not have sufficient generation available to meet unusually high demand and may have to curtail electric use to avoid outages, according to the DOE order. As a result, the utility has notified some wholesale customers to limit their use, which is expected to reduce electricity demand by up to 1,000 megawatts during peak hours. In addition to increasing imports from adjoining regions and asking power plant operators to defer maintenance, grid operators and utilities are calling on stand-by units to boost the supply of electricity. To prepare for Tuesday's scorching heat, ISO New England directed power plant operators not to do any testing or maintenance that would affect electric reliability. Temperatures in Boston topped 100 F (38 C) early Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. ISO New England forecast that electricity demand approached 26,000 MW about 6:15 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, short of the record high of 28,130 MW set in August 2006. (Reporting By Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Mark Porter, Bill Berkrot and Sonali Paul)
Boston Globe
24-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Toys are getting pricier as tariffs kick in
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up ENERGY Advertisement Head of electric grid overseer ISO New England to retire Gordon van Welie is stepping down from ISO New England. Photo courtesy of ISO New England ISO New England chief executive Gordon van Welie is retiring on Jan. 1 after 24 years running the organization that oversees the region's electricity grid and wholesale power markets. The board of the Holyoke-based nonprofit is promoting its chief operating officer, Vamsi Chadalavada, to take over after van Welie retires. He'll oversee a staff of around 700 people and a budget of about $300 million. The organization is funded by fees from buyers and sellers in the wholesale electricity markets, as well as from companies that use regional transmission services. Van Welie first joined ISO New England in 2000 as its chief operating officer, not long after the organization was formed following the restructuring of New England's wholesale electricity markets. He has been an outspoken advocate for ensuring the grid system remains reliable even when under duress at times of extreme heat or cold, and in particular for improving coordination between the electric and natural gas industries toward that end. Van Welie, who is 63, said that while the electricity supply and demand outlook remains relatively stable for the next several years, there are changes afoot, including a new capacity market design at ISO, that make it an appropriate time to step aside and let a new leader take over. — JON CHESTO Advertisement HEALTH CARE Dr. Oz pushes drug middlemen to end rebates before Washington acts Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Mehmet Oz spoke during a news conference to discuss health insurance at the Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in Washington, D.C., on June 23. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images Prescription drug middlemen should end the complicated system of drug rebates before the government steps in to change it, Medicare and Medicaid chief Mehmet Oz said Tuesday. The remarks signal the Trump administration may revive attempts to eliminate the payments drugmakers send to pharmacy benefit managers after prescriptions are filled. In his first term in 2019, President Trump considered regulations that would have eliminated that system, but officials abandoned them before they went into effect. 'There's a possibility that we have a window now where the three big PBMs might actually consider doing away with the rebate-slash-kickback system,' Oz told a meeting hosted by Transparency-Rx, a coalition of smaller PBMs committed to more open pricing. The three largest companies in the industry, CVS Health Corp., UnitedHealth Group, and Cigna Group, handle about 80 percent of US prescriptions. Drug middlemen extract discounts from drugmakers in order to secure insurance coverage for medications. Drugmakers claim that pressure to give rebates to PBMs drives drug prices higher, while PBMs say they don't have control over setting drug prices. Oz suggested regulators and lawmakers could revamp the system 'fairly expeditiously, because there's a motivated group of people who want to do that.' Before the Trump administration regulates or Congress writes laws, Oz said it might be worth giving PBMs 'one last chance to fix it on their own.' Congress has considered bipartisan changes to how PBMs are paid in recent years, but none has become law yet. — BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement ECONOMY Powell reiterates Fed's wait-and-see approach before cutting rates The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C. Ting Shen/Bloomberg Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, reaffirmed his view that the central bank can afford to be patient before cutting interest rates amid uncertainty about how President Trump's policies will impact the economy, despite a growing divide among officials about when and by how much to lower borrowing costs. Powell, who testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, said that the Fed was in no rush to take any policy action given that the labor market remains solid, inflation is still elevated, and price pressures appear poised to intensify as a result of Trump's tariffs. 'For the time being, we are well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy before considering any adjustments to our policy stance,' Powell said, echoing a similar message sent last week after the Fed voted to hold rates steady for a fourth straight meeting. 'It's just a question about being prudent and careful,' he added during one exchange with a lawmaker. 'We don't see weakness in the labor market. If we did, that would change things.' He later told another lawmaker that if price pressures related to tariffs end up being less pronounced than feared, 'that'll matter for our policy.' — NEW YORK TIMES Advertisement ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Anthropic wins ruling on AI training in copyright lawsuit but must face trial on pirated books Claude, Anthropic's chatbot, accessed on a phone. JACKIE MOLLOY/NYT In a test case for the artificial intelligence industry, a federal judge has ruled that AI company Anthropic didn't break the law by training its chatbot Claude on millions of copyrighted books. But the company is still on the hook and must now go to trial over how it acquired those books by downloading them from online 'shadow libraries' of pirated copies. US District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco said in a ruling filed late Monday that the AI system's distilling from thousands of written works to be able to produce its own passages of text qualified as 'fair use' under US copyright law because it was 'quintessentially transformative.' 'Like any reader aspiring to be a writer, Anthropic's (AI large language models) trained upon works not to race ahead and replicate or supplant them — but to turn a hard corner and create something different,' Alsup wrote. But while dismissing a key claim made by the group of authors who sued the company for copyright infringement last year, Alsup also said Anthropic must still go to trial in December over its alleged theft of their works. 'Anthropic had no entitlement to use pirated copies for its central library,' Alsup wrote. — ASSOCIATED PRESS AVIATION US strikes on Iran add to global travel disruptions and flight cancellations An Emirates Boeing 777 at the gate at Dubai International Airport. Jon Gambrell/Associated Press The US entry into Israel's war with Iran caused travel disruptions to pile up globally this week — with flight cancellations continuing Tuesday, even after President Trump claimed a cease-fire was 'in effect.' Following unprecedented bombings ordered by Trump on three Iranian nuclear and military sites over the weekend, Iran on Monday launched a limited missile attack on US forces at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base. Qatar, which was quick to condemn the attack, had temporarily closed its airspace just over an hour earlier. Airports and skies throughout the region have been on edge since Israel began the deadly war on June 13 — with a surprise barrage of attacks on Iran, which responded with its own missile and drone strikes. And in the days following the escalatory US strikes, more and more carriers canceled flights, particularly in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which sit just across the Persian Gulf from Iran. After a cease-fire was announced between Israel and Iran, some of those disruptions eased. But the truce appeared to be on shaky ground Tuesday, with Trump accusing both countries of violating the agreement — and many airlines have halted select routes through the middle of the week, citing safety concerns. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement
