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Hotspots

Southcoast Wind’s Last Dash

And more of this week’s top fights around renewable energy.

Map of renewable energy fights.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Nantucket County, Massachusetts – The Biden administration is rushing to finish permitting Ocean Winds’ Southcoast Wind project, a joint venture between EDP Renewables and Engie, before Donald Trump returns to the White House. Questions remain as to whether it can be done.

  • Since Election Day, Southcoast Wind has received full environmental review and received a draft EPA air permit last week. We’re still waiting on a record of decision though and until then, all bets are off.
  • Complicating matters is the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, which is now fighting the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to get more money and benefits in the event the project is fully permitted. They’re worried about blade failures.
  • Legal counsel for the town wrote BOEM on Oct. 30 objecting to the agency’s plans for mitigating potential impacts to the town’s historic properties, arguing the Vineyard Wind blade collapse must be fully investigated before any final approvals are granted.
  • Given how Southcoast Wind is close to the finish line at the federal level, I’m watching to see if this dispute with Nantucket becomes a basis for a permitting reversal in the event it can’t make its way through the process before Trump comes into office.

2. Pittsburg County, Oklahoma – Momentum is building for an anti-wind moratorium in this Oklahoma county home to multiple proposed wind projects.

  • The push for a moratorium is a response to a wind farm proposed by Red Earth Energy, according to the popular anti-wind blog National Wind Watch.
  • Activists this week packed a small meeting room with county officials to pressure them into action after they refused to develop an ordinance blocking wind. You can watch the chaos unfold on this cellphone video posted to Facebook.
  • Reports indicate activists are taking this fight anywhere they can – including county Republican Party meetings – in advance of potential litigation and lobbying state regulators.

3. Benton County, Washington – Remember when we told you advocates were going to sue over Washington state approving the Horse Heaven wind farm project? It’s happening.

  • Tri-Cities CARES was able to get enough money on its own to start the litigation process, although it has not released how much money it was able to fundraise, per local media. It estimates needing at least $200,000 on hand, which is a lot for a grassroots nonprofit.
  • As we previously told you, Tri-Cities CARES is not the group with the strongest standing to win a lawsuit against the state’s approval – that’s the Yakima Nation. The jury’s out as to whether they’ll be joining the activists here.

4. Branch County, Michigan – When a solar farm and a transmission project are the ones fighting, who wins? In the Mitten State, we’re about to find out.

  • NorthStar Clean Energy’s Branch Solar farm in south central Michigan is directly in the path of a proposed transmission line. NorthStar was just granted permission to intervene in the state regulator planning process, allowing them to weigh in on the line’s paths.
  • Plans for the transmission line are expected to be completed by mid-2025.

Here’s what else we’re watching…

In Ohio, a wind farm got a local approval for once: NextEra’s Swan Lake project.

In New Mexico, a county has approved the tax agreement for Orsted’s Blackwater solar project.

In Pennsylvania, a local newspaper’s editorial board has come out against activists that have “put the kibosh to more than a dozen proposed solar farm projects throughout the region.”

In West Virginia, state regulators have approved a Nedpower Mount Storm wind farm after the company reduced its size by more than 40 percent.

In Virginia, local officials are bracing for Virginia Beach traffic jams over constructing the Dominion Energy Coastal Virginia offshore wind project.

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Spotlight

All Eyes Are On Texas as Anti-Renewables Bills Advance

Plus, what a Texas energy veteran thinks is behind the surprising turn against solar and wind.

Texas statehouse.
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I couldn’t have a single conversation with a developer this week without talking about Texas.

In case you’re unaware, the Texas Senate two days ago passed legislation — SB 819 — that would require all solar and wind projects over 10 megawatts to receive a certification from the state Public Utilities Commission — a process fossil fuel generation doesn’t have to go through. The bill, which one renewables group CEO testified would “kill” the industry in Texas, was approved by the legislature’s GOP majority despite a large number of landowners and ranchers testifying against the bill, an ongoing solar and wind boom in the state, and a need to quickly provide energy to Texas’ growing number of data centers and battery manufacturing facilities.

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Hotspots

Battery Fights Burst into Full View

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

Map of renewable energy fights.
Heatmap Illustration

1. Westchester County, N.Y. – Residents in Yonkers are pressuring city officials to renew a moratorium on battery storage before it expires in July.

  • Battery fire fears predictably are the primary issue, per a local news report this week, which stated at least one project proposed by Saw Mill River Energy Storage is on hold pending the resolution of a study commissioned by local officials.

2. Atlantic County, New Jersey – Sorry Atlantic Shores, but you’re not getting your EPA permit back.

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Q&A

Why Unions Can Be Key to Projects Getting Permits

A conversation with Mike Barnwell of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights

Mike Barnwell of the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights
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Today’s conversation is with Mike Barnwell at the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights, a union organization more than 14,000 members strong. I reached out to Barnwell because I’d been trying to better understand the role labor unions could play in influencing renewables policy decisions, from the labor permitting office to the fate of the Inflation Reduction Act. So I called him up on my way home from the American Clean Power Association’s permitting conference in Seattle, where I gave a talk, and we chatted about how much I love Coney Island chili in Detroit. Oh, and renewable energy, of course.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

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