National Grid Plc, an owner of utilities in the U.S. and U.K., will seek regulatory approval to sign a contract to buy half of the power output from the Cape Wind project off the coast of Massachusetts. Under the 15-year contract, National Grid will pay 20.7 cents a kilowatt-hour for the wind power output starting in 2013, and the price will increase 3.5 percent each year, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company said today in a statement.

A Baker spokesman accused the Patrick administration of supporting a "sweetheart deal between Cape Wind and National Grid" that will push up already high electricity costs. Rick Gorka, Baker's spokesman, also said that Patrick's green-energy policies are "soaking ratepayers" with higher utility rates.

National Grid says it might pull its natural gas and electricity business out of New Hampshire because regulators have rejected its plan for new rates, although it has not made any formal notification for such a move. The British-based company provides electricity and natural gas in scattered locations around the state.

Net metering was approved as part of the Green Communities Act of 2008 as a way of giving municipalities and homeowners an incentive to put up a wind turbine or solar panels. But a measure pending before the Legislature would transform this small-scale incentive program into a much broader, and costlier, renewable energy initiative.

While the proposed regulations do not impact permitting or ban the development of biomass energy in Massachusetts, they do set a high bar for qualifying to earn RECs under the state's RPS, the DOER says.

A federal order issued last fall is intended to make it easier to construct transmission lines, costly and controversial projects that are notoriously tough to build.

The city announced yesterday it is one of 103 Massachusetts cities and towns to receive a planning assistance grant from the Green Communities Program from state Department of Energy Resources. The grant will help communities like Newburyport take the necessary steps to becoming official Green Communities by providing free technical assistance to reach a set of pre-written standards.

Newburyport's wind turbine bugs some neighbors.Lifelong Newburyport resident Patty Spalding is trying to get the attention of the Massachusetts legislature as it considers an amendment to the Wind Energy Siting Reform Act. Currently in committee, Senate bill No. 1504 (House bill 3065), would among other things establish a full-time position to provide technical assistance to communities on the siting of wind energy facilities.

The first in a series of articles on issues facing the next governor. With electricity prices close to the highest in the nation, Massachusetts is no friend to the energy consumer. It lies at the end of the energy pipeline, getting its oil by ship and natural gas from far away fields. But the next governor will have a chance to make a significant improvement in supply by bringing more power, cleanly and efficiently, to the state. Energy demand in Massachusetts is rising close to 2 percent each year and a growing queue of energy projects are proposed on land and offshore.

Connecticut and Massachusetts negotiated agreements with the two companies that set the stage for regulatory approval. In Massachusetts, Northeast Utilities and NStar agreed to buy more than a quarter of the power that would be produced by the proposed Cape Wind offshore wind farm as a condition of the deal.

In July, the Bay State's House passed a resolution in support of efforts to have independent safety assessments conducted at nuclear power plants in Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. ...The Legislature also resolved that it's time the nation begin its transition "away from nuclear power to an affordable, clean and sustainable national energy policy." ..."I understand the concerns raised by the Commonwealth," wrote Samuel J. Collins, an NRC regional administrator, in response to the resolution. "However, I feel it is necessary to address some of the statements and assumptions conveyed in that document to dispel any misconceptions you may have ..."