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Hotspots

Deathwatch for Atlantic Shores?

And more of the week’s top news in renewable energy fights.

Renewable energy fights across the country.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Atlantic County, New Jersey – The Atlantic Shores offshore wind project is on deathwatch.

  • Earlier today, Shell announced it would pull out of its 50-50 joint venture with EDF Renewables to develop the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project off the coast of New Jersey.
  • Atlantic Shores then sent us a statement unprompted, saying they’re “committed” to developing New Jersey’s first offshore wind site.
  • “Business plans, projects, portfolio projections and scopes evolve over time – and as expected for large, capital-intensive infrastructure projects like ours, our shareholders have always prepared long-term strategies that contemplate multiple scenarios that enable Atlantic Shores to reach its full potential,” the statement read.
  • It continued: “While we can’t comment on the views of shareholders, Atlantic Shores intends to continue progressing New Jersey’s first offshore wind project and our portfolio in compliance with our obligations to local, state and federal partners under existing leases and relevant permits.”
  • As we previously explained, we anticipate this project to face challenges to the legality of its permits and leases, as previewed by the Trump administration.

2. Waldo County, Maine – The Sears Island saga is moving to the state legislature, as a cadre of lawmakers push to block construction of a floating offshore wind turbine construction facility there before Trump leaves office.

  • As we previously explained, Sears Island – a bucolic recreation destination off the coast of Maine – is the state’s favored spot for building an assembly site for floating offshore wind turbines. Floating offshore wind is preferred by some Maine politicians, including Gov. Janet Mills, because it would reduce impacts to fisheries closer to the shoreline.
  • Despite Trump’s edict blocking offshore wind, Maine has a pathway to stay the course toward eventual development, because researchers have a lease to test more floating offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Maine. There’s a world where development of a construction port on Sears Island happens in tandem with that research.
  • However, we’re watching this risk to that pathway: a group of Republicans in the state legislature – joined by a Democratic lawmaker and a non-voting representative of the Passamaquoddy Tribe – have introduced a bill to permanently turn Sears Island into a conservation site, taking the island off the table for wind development.
  • Hindering offshore wind development overall might be the goal of the bill, which was introduced the day after Trump restricted all new offshore development Its lead author is state Rep. Reagan Paul, who has also called on the governor to stop all state spending on offshore wind. Paul was in D.C. for Trump’s inauguration celebrations.
  • It’s unclear whether the legislation stands a chance at becoming law. But it is clear some state Republicans are going to do what they can to stop the Sears Island wind port, which will matter if the state tries to get project permits under Trump.

3. San Luis Obispo County, California – The Moss Landing battery fire has sparked a new push for the state to slow approvals for BESS development. Unlike Sears Island, the push is being led by a Democratic lawmaker who has supported rapid climate action.

  • State assemblywoman Dawn Addis – who represents Moss Landing and communities impacted by the disaster – just introduced legislation that would remove battery storage facilities from the California Energy Commission’s opt-in certification program, effectively giving cities and counties much more control over BESS siting.
  • “I absolutely have been a champion, believe that we live in a climate crisis and have to have solutions,” Addis said at a press conference announcing the bill. “Along with those solutions, we have to have safety.”
  • This bill would give locals more control because the opt-in program lets companies ask the state to override concerns at the municipal level. It would also likely stop a Vistra Energy battery project in Morro Bay, where the company has been stonewalled and decided to go to the Commission instead.
  • It’s too early to tell whether the bill stands a chance at becoming law, but it’s clear the state is trying to reassure residents that BESS is safe. Earlier this week state regulators proposed updating their emergency response guidance for responding to BESS fires.
  • This is all despite the Moss Landing fire being tied to very unique circumstances.

4. Greene County, New York – A solar farm fight is testing whether the state of New York’s climate law can be used to override local opposition to renewables projects.

  • A mid-level appellate judge ruled this week that the state’s 2019 Climate Act provides a legal basis for the state to conclude construction of some new solar and wind projects are in the overall public interest.
  • The case surrounds a Freeport Solar project in the town of Athens, where the local zoning board rejected the project claiming it was not a “public necessity.” Athens has said they will now take the case to the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court.

5. Fairfield County, Ohio – The Ohio Public Siting Board held a hearing on Tuesday to consider the environmental certificate for EDF Renewables’ Eastern Cottontail solar project.

6. Multnomah County, Oregon – A transmission line proposal known as the Harborton Reliability Project is facing hurdles in the city of Portland, where city planners are recommending the city reject plans to cut down forest to build it.

  • The recommendations pit the city’s permitting staff against utility Portland General Electric as well as the area’s member of Congress, Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who endorsed the project.
  • A decision on whether city regulators will reject the project based on the recommendations is expected in early March, according to Axios Portland, who reports the decision may be appealed to the city council.

Here’s what else we’re watching ...

In Idaho, Ada County is drafting up a new restrictive ordinance related to renewables on farmland.

In Virginia, a Savion solar project in Nelson County is facing an uphill climb for local approvals.

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Spotlight

How the Tax Bill Is Empowering Anti-Renewables Activists

A war of attrition is now turning in opponents’ favor.

Massachusetts and solar panels.
Heatmap Illustration/Library of Congress, Getty Images

A solar developer’s defeat in Massachusetts last week reveals just how much stronger project opponents are on the battlefield after the de facto repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Last week, solar developer PureSky pulled five projects under development around the western Massachusetts town of Shutesbury. PureSky’s facilities had been in the works for years and would together represent what the developer has claimed would be one of the state’s largest solar projects thus far. In a statement, the company laid blame on “broader policy and regulatory headwinds,” including the state’s existing renewables incentives not keeping pace with rising costs and “federal policy updates,” which PureSky said were “making it harder to finance projects like those proposed near Shutesbury.”

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Hotspots

The Midwest Is Becoming Even Tougher for Solar Projects

And more on the week’s most important conflicts around renewables.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Wells County, Indiana – One of the nation’s most at-risk solar projects may now be prompting a full on moratorium.

  • Late last week, this county was teed up to potentially advance a new restrictive solar ordinance that would’ve cut off zoning access for large-scale facilities. That’s obviously bad for developers. But it would’ve still allowed solar facilities up to 50 acres and grandfathered in projects that had previously signed agreements with local officials.
  • However, solar opponents swamped the county Area Planning Commission meeting to decide on the ordinance, turning it into an over four-hour display in which many requested in public comments to outright ban solar projects entirely without a grandfathering clause.
  • It’s clear part of the opposition is inflamed over the EDF Paddlefish Solar project, which we ranked last year as one of the nation’s top imperiled renewables facilities in progress. The project has already resulted in a moratorium in another county, Huntington.
  • Although the Paddlefish project is not unique in its risks, it is what we view as a bellwether for the future of solar development in farming communities, as the Fort Wayne-adjacent county is a picturesque display of many areas across the United States. Pro-renewables advocates have sought to tamp down opposition with tactics such as a direct text messaging campaign, which I previously scooped last week.
  • Yet despite the counter-communications, momentum is heading in the other direction. At the meeting, officials ultimately decided to punt a decision to next month so they could edit their draft ordinance to assuage aggrieved residents.
  • Also worth noting: anyone could see from Heatmap Pro data that this county would be an incredibly difficult fight for a solar developer. Despite a slim majority of local support for renewable energy, the county has a nearly 100% opposition risk rating, due in no small part to its large agricultural workforce and MAGA leanings.

2. Clark County, Ohio – Another Ohio county has significantly restricted renewable energy development, this time with big political implications.

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Q&A

How a Heatmap Reader Beat a Battery Storage Ban

A conversation with Jeff Seidman, a professor at Vassar College.

Jeffrey Seidman.
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s conversation is with Jeff Seidman, a professor at Vassar College and an avid Heatmap News reader. Last week Seidman claimed a personal victory: he successfully led an effort to overturn a moratorium on battery storage development in the town of Poughkeepsie in Hudson Valley, New York. After reading a thread about the effort he posted to BlueSky, I reached out to chat about what my readers might learn from his endeavors – and how they could replicate them, should they want to.

The following conversation was lightly edited for clarity.

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