Stories

With more electric cars on the road, training programs aim to get technicians up to speed

March 7, 2023

In the automotive technology wing of White Mountains Community College in New Hampshire, instructor Troy LaChance and his students lean over the steel frame of a half-built electric car. Two students start to pull a cable, colored bright orange to indicate high-voltage, through the car’s floor. They’re building this car from a kit, designed by…

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A turbine blade at The Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown, Mass.

Ever wonder how they build turbines at sea? Here’s what it takes to create an American wind farm

December 4, 2022

Today’s offshore wind turbines stand taller than the Boston skyline. Each blade is about the length of a football field, which means 50 feet have to be cut off to get one inside the state’s Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown. That’s where the blade for Vineyard Wind went through strength testing earlier this year.…

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Electrical lines in Dracut, Massachusetts.

Why electricity prices are rising unevenly across New England

September 8, 2022

You may have noticed that your most recent electric bill is higher than usual — and if that change hasn’t happened yet, it’s probably coming this fall. These price spikes are occurring across New England, but bills are rising more in some places than others. Some ratepayers in New Hampshire saw the price of electricity double…

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Brian Sands, Director of Facilities for New Hampshire's Pelham School District, stands in front of a unit for the school’s new AC system.

Luxury or necessity? How climate change is prompting some N.H. schools to rethink air conditioning.

August 31, 2022

On especially hot days, the temperature in 11-year old Chase Bressette’s second-floor classroom at Pelham Elementary School climbs above 80 degrees. He and his classmates guzzle water and gather in front of a standing fan. His teacher draws the window shades and turns off the lights to cool down the room. But still, Chase says…

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‘Bus Ambassadors’ help new immigrants navigate southern Maine transit systems

August 8, 2022

On a recent morning in downtown Portland, a woman named Vitoria was waiting at a bus stop on Congress Street. Vitoria is an asylum-seeker from Angola, who arrived in Maine just a few weeks ago with her husband and two young children. On this day, she was trying to find her way to one of…

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Two turbines of the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island.

Electricity grid operator expecting more demand and renewables in New England

July 6, 2022

New England’s electricity grid is in for major changes, according to a yearly report from ISO New England, the organization that manages the region’s grid. The report says decarbonization will become the way of life in New England, with heating and transportation becoming electrified through technology like heat pumps and electric vehicles. That will increase regional demand…

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Federal court rules against part of New England grid operator reliability plan

June 23, 2022

A federal appeals court has thwarted part of a plan to improve the reliability of New England’s electric grid during the winter that would pay electricity generators extra for keeping fuel on-site. As climate change causes more unreliable weather and conflict in Ukraine pinches energy markets, ISO-New England, the organization in charge of keeping the region’s lights…

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Offshore wind turbines at sunset.

Feds approve plan to delay scrapping a New England energy rule that harms renewables

May 28, 2022

A controversial rule that makes it harder for renewable energy projects to participate in one of New England’s lucrative electricity markets will remain in place for another two years. Late Friday night, federal energy regulators approved a plan from the regional grid operator, ISO New England, to keep the so-called minimum offer price rule — or…

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The five turbines of the Block Island Wind Farm off the coast of Rhode Island.

The debate over an outdated rule that’s harming renewable energy in New England

May 26, 2022

There’s a rule in the New England energy system that nobody likes. And not just because it uses a lot of complex math. This rule ends up making it harder for renewable energy projects to participate in an important regional electricity market. The New England states want it gone. U.S. Senators Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie…

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This Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 file photo shows the country's first floating wind turbine works off the coast of Castine, Maine.

New England task force convenes to plan the next phase of offshore wind development

May 26, 2022

Last year, President Joe Biden announced plans to start leasing areas of the Gulf of Maine to offshore wind energy developers by 2024. On Thursday, May 18, the federal Bureau Of Ocean Energy Management convened a task force of officials from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and tribal governments to consider the next phase in the…

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