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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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Q&A

How Developers Should Think of the New IRA Credit Rules

A conversation with Scott Cockerham of Latham and Watkins.

How Developers Should Think of the New IRA Credit Rules
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s conversation is with Scott Cockerham, a partner with the law firm Latham and Watkins whose expertise I sought to help me best understand the Treasury Department’s recent guidance on the federal solar and wind tax credits. We focused on something you’ve probably been thinking about a lot: how to qualify for the “start construction” part of the new tax regime, which is the primary hurdle for anyone still in the thicket of a fight with local opposition.

The following is our chat lightly edited for clarity. Enjoy.

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Hotspots

An Influential Anti-ESG Activist Targets A Wind Farm

And more of the week’s most important news around renewable energy conflicts.

Map of renewable energy fights.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Carroll County, Arkansas – The head of an influential national right-wing advocacy group is now targeting a wind project in Arkansas, seeking federal intervention to block something that looked like it would be built.

  • Will Hild, executive director of Consumers’ Research, recently called on the Trump administration to intervene against the development of Scout Clean Energy’s Nimbus wind project in Arkansas. Consumers’ Research is known as one of the leading anti-ESG advocacy organizations, playing a key role in the “anti-woke” opposition against the climate- and socially-conscious behavior of everyone from utilities to Anheuser-Busch.
  • In a lengthy rant posted to X earlier this month, Hild pointed to Carroll County’s local moratorium on wind projects and claimed Nimbus being built would be “a massive win for ESG radicals – and a slap in the face for local democracy.”
  • As I told you in April, the Nimbus project prompted Carroll County to enact the moratorium but it was grandfathered in because of contracts signed prior to the ban’s enactment.
  • However, even though Nimbus is not sited on federal land, there is a significant weak point for the project: its potential impacts on endangered birds and bats.
  • Scout Clean Energy has been working with the Fish and Wildlife Service since at least 2018 under Trump 1.0. However, the project’s habitat conservation plan was not completed before the start of the current Trump term and Scout did not submit an application for Nimbus to receive an incidental take permit from the Service until May of this year.
  • Enter the Trump administration’s bird-centric wind power crackdown and the impact of Hild’s commentary comes into fuller focus. What will happen to all the years of work that Scout and the Service did? It’s unclear how the project reckons with this heightened scrutiny and risk of undue federal attention.

2. Suffolk County, New York – EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin this week endorsed efforts by activists on Long Island to oppose energy storage in their neighborhoods.

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Spotlight

Trump’s Permit Freeze Prompts Some Solar to Eye Exits

Is there going to be a flight out of Nevada?

Solar in Nevada.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Donald Trump’s renewables permitting freeze is prompting solar companies to find an escape hatch from Nevada.

As I previously reported, the Interior Department has all but halted new approvals for solar and wind projects on federal lands. It was entirely unclear how that would affect transmission out west, including in the solar-friendly Nevada desert where major lines were in progress to help power both communities and a growing number of data centers. Shortly after the pause, I took notice of the fact that regulators quietly delayed the timetable by at least two weeks for a key line – the northern portion of NV Energy’s Greenlink project – that had been expected to connect to a litany of solar facilities. Interior told me it still planned to complete the project in September, but it also confirmed that projects specifically necessary for connecting solar onto the grid would face “enhanced” reviews.

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