The COVID-19 pandemic upended legislative business across New England in 2020, though state legislatures still managed to advance significant legislation to transform the region’s energy industry.

At its annual legislative update last week, the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association reviewed recent developments and issues to watch next year, including climate change, evolving technologies, consumer impacts and the results of the upcoming elections.

Here are some insights from around New England.

Connecticut

Gov. Ned Lamont (D) signed the Take Back Our Grid Act, which had bipartisan support in both the House of Representatives and Senate and creates a performance-based system for utilities like Eversource Energy to protect consumers during long-term outages. The bill also calls for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to produce a study by Jan. 15, 2021, on whether the state should continue its participation in the wholesale energy markets administered by ISO-NE. Five New England governors, including Lamont, last week signed a joint statement calling for reform at the RTO. (See related story, New England Governors Call for RTO Reform.)

Kevin Penders, policy adviser at Preti Strategies and former general counsel for Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, said the study is a reflection of the frustration that Connecticut has over its struggles to implement its clean energy policies within the RTO’s markets.

Meeting the targets within ISO-NE “has been a real challenge,” Penders said. “Connecticut is taking a really open position that they don’t feel like [the RTO] is taking their needs seriously.”

Penders added that Connecticut might feel that it has “leverage” because of “the size of its generation base or the size of its load” and “certainly that inherent frustration between state goals and regional procurement is what’s driving that study,” he said.

Massachusetts

The Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate voted to stay in session through Jan. 5, 2021, because of the coronavirus crisis. Penders said lawmakers reviewed more than 250 pieces of legislation on a wide range of energy topics, including carbon emissions, climate change, offshore wind and natural gas safety measures, among others.

Penders said both chambers passed bills, but the House took a “kitchen sink” approach. Its bill contained robust changes to deploy environmental justice community protections, pilot programs for renewable natural gas and geothermal deployment, electric vehicle charging stations and the institution of safety oversight of the natural gas distribution industry.

There is also an “exceptional amount of pressure,” according to Penders, to move a net-zero emissions bill forward.

“Everyone’s in agreement with the vision. Now we just have actually to get the wording and alignment for passage,” Penders said. “The reality of the situation is there is an inordinate amount of pressure on both the House and the Senate to get something to the governor before New Year’s Eve so that they can implement the policy goals that are envisioned.”

New Hampshire

Madeleine Mineau, executive director of Clean Energy NH, said the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and Senate in New Hampshire passed “a lot of clean energy legislation” that was ultimately vetoed by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu.

Legislative work was suspended from mid-March through mid-July, except for a few remote committee work sessions or executive sessions. Mineau said “partisan bickering” led to some clean energy bills in the House dying because of a two-thirds vote requirement to extend deadlines on legislation. Bills on expanding renewable portfolio standard goals and investing Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative revenues into energy efficiency also met with Sununu vetoes. A special session to attempt to override Sununu’s vetoes failed to overturn any of them.

Maine

Dan Hendrick, head of external affairs for the east region for Clearway Energy Group, said Maine lawmakers have discussed creating a nonprofit utility owned by consumers and cutting Central Maine Power and Versant Power out. The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down such legislation, but Hendrick said action via a future ballot referendum could move it forward. Looking toward 2021, Hendrick added that lawmakers and Gov. Janet Mills (D) appear open to additional procurement opportunities for large-scale renewables.

“We’re at a really exciting time in Maine right now, with a governor and legislature that are very oriented toward climate and clean energy progress,” Hendrick said. “Just thinking where we were several years ago under the previous administration … it’s exciting to be where we are.”

Vermont

The Global Warming Solutions Act became law after the Vermont House of Representatives and Senate voted to override the veto of Gov. Phil Scott (R). The legislation requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. Emissions would need to be 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80% below by 2050. If the government fails to meet these goals, individuals can sue the state to force compliance.

“I think the goal of [the law] was really to put some teeth behind some of their greenhouse gas-reduction goals,” Mineau said.

“Vermont has had some great goals, but they’ve had mixed results on actually achieving them or moving toward reducing those emissions,” Mineau added. “It is challenging. They’re trying to put a stick along with the carrot to have some consequences if they’re not making the progress they’re expecting.”

Decarbonizing the Thermal Sector

When asked about the best chance of success for decarbonizing the thermal sector, Mineau said it has to be a combination of solutions, especially in New Hampshire and Maine.

“It’s a huge undertaking to decarbonize the thermal sector here in New Hampshire. We’re still extremely reliant on fuel oil; same in Maine,” Mineau said. “We need to use what we can, where we can. We do have some areas of natural gas distribution, and some of our natural gas utilities are very interested in switching to renewable natural gas and hydrogen and mixing those approaches, and that may make sense where current distribution exists.”

Mineau said heat pumps also “make a lot of sense” in rural areas. New Hampshire is one of the few states with renewable thermal as part of its RPS, mostly achieved through centralized modern wood heat with emissions controls.

Penders added that Massachusetts has a similar situation, and “there is no one-size-fits-all solution.”

“So if it’s a combination of renewable assets, a combination of heat pumps, and … they’re ready to run through the existing systems, then that mix really needs to be something that can be targeted for anyone’s available use now,” Penders said. “But along with that, it needs to be done in a way that doesn’t create heating winners and losers.”