"We have five instances of international fraud and corruption," House said at the hearing, according to a transcript. "This authority would be derelict in its duties if it did not look into your past and assume it was possible that your future might resemble what you've done in the past." Before the hearing, Iberdrola answered questions from PURA about the fraud and corruption cases.

General Connecticut

BNE won't say how much they spent on Colebrook South, but the financing includes a $14.9 million construction loan from Webster, a $2 million loan from the Connecticut Green Bank and $5.6 million from a California bank tied to federal tax credits. Wind power doesn't pay for itself yet on the open market; rather, taxpayers and ratepayers make up the difference in bidding for contracts, in an effort to expand the technology.

General Connecticut

New England’s most populous states are looking to tap Canadian dams and rivers for more of their electricity, a change that officials say would help cut greenhouse-gas emissions and help keep some of the nation’s highest power prices in check.

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Developing that electricity system locally has proven a challenge. It's hard enough to get buy-in to string power lines or pipelines through the densely populated, educated and politically savvy Northeast. Building a dam or putting up a wind farm stirs even deeper antipathy.

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Addressing a list of public benefits that Iberdrola outlined later in the merger proceeding, regulators called many of them "polite gestures" but overall insignificant compared to the size of the merger. The "list of additional conditions, separately and in total, are too little and too late. They are unquantifiable, have assigned values of zero and do not offer sufficient benefit for ratepayers."

Energy Policy Connecticut

Legal experts say the challenge to Connecticut’s renewable incentives is unique for many reasons. While the dormant Commerce Clause has been cited in cases regarding clean energy policies, it has not been used against a state that limits its renewable energy to the region, rather than the individual state.

Legal Energy Policy Connecticut

In a long-awaited draft ruling, the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority found Vermont’s renewable energy credits are acceptable despite some claims that Vermont RECs are “double counted.” The credits represent the environmental attributes of electricity generated from renewables such as wind and solar.

Energy Policy Connecticut Vermont

The governors of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island teamed up Wednesday to begin looking for ways to increase the region's reliance on renewable energy sources while also expanding natural gas capacity.

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This report by the Yankee Institute examines the State of Connecticut's mandate requiring electricity providers to get a certain percentage of their power from renewable energy sources. The executive summary of the report is provided below. The full report can be accessed by clicking the links on this page.

Impact on Economy Energy Policy Connecticut

The report, released last month, concludes that the state's energy initiatives are helping to reduce the demand for electricity and encourage the use of clean energy sources, but that the state and region face challenges in addressing price and supply over the next 10 years, 

Energy Policy Connecticut

There is a complex, unwieldy, interconnected morass of concerns to consider. A top one is the rate structure that resulted in the large increases PURA approved earlier this month for Connecticut Light and Power. Others are the projected power crunch created by inadequate natural gas pipelines and the shutdown of several major power plants. There are questions about how best to integrate individual power systems, how to make electricity less polluting; and how to help utilities re-invent what they do.

Energy Policy Transmission Connecticut

U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled Wednesday that Allco Finance both lacked standing in the case and failed to establish that Connecticut energy officials "fixed" wholesale power prices in approving the contracts. Thomas Melone, chief executive of Allco Finance, said Wednesday that he will appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

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The circular logic of REC market fundamentals would have low REC pricing jeopardizing future development. As renewable energy project profit margins get squeezed, fewer projects will be built and forward REC prices would rebound as forward supply tightens.The worry is that offshore wind projects could break this self-correcting market logic in the New England Power Pool (NEPOOL).

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The Connecticut Supreme Court announced Monday a unanimous decision backing a state agency regulating wind energy, rejecting a challenge by opponents of a wind energy project. The court ruled 6-0 that a trial court was correct to dismiss appeals by opponents of the project by BNE Energy Inc. to build three wind turbines in Colebrook in northwestern Connecticut.

Legal Connecticut

The group argued that the projects, with a combined capacity of 9.6MW, were too close to homes, meaning that the noise from the turbines and the light cutting through the blades would be detrimental to the health of local residents.

Legal Connecticut

Building more electricity transmission into New England isn't about an "energy crisis." It's about economics, jobs, corporate profit, failure to make the small fixes that add up, failure to do detailed analysis, failure to resist stampede crisis mentality, and lots of other things.

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The price of wholesale electricity in New England fell 14 percent in May, continuing the two-month downward slide from the record high prices from the first quarter, according to regional grid administrator ISO New England.

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“The states and NESCOE are deliberately working out the details of this plan in secret, consistent with the view of one of NESCOE’s staffers that the plan should be ‘formulated behind closed doors’ because the ‘court of public opinion can be fickle and recalcitrant,’ ” Courchesne wrote, quoting an email from a NESCOE staff member to Executive Director Heather Hunt.

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The six New England governors, working with the New England States Committee on Electricity (NESCO) and regional grid operators, have launched a process under which Northern Pass partners may be able to acquire substantial ratepayer funding and eminent domain powers for the controversial plan to bring hydroelectricity from Quebec into New England.

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Wind is not the most cost efficient source of energy everywhere, just in certain places, explained Jose Zayas, program manager for the Wind and Water Power Program in the federal Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In essence, wind power makes great sense across the Plains and in west Texas where wind speeds are strong and opposition to megaprojects is light.

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