Maine energy: Delayed US-Canada Hydro Project Gets Go-Ahead.

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What’s up today:

• Maine energy: Delayed US-Canada Hydro Project Gets Go-Ahead.

• Meme Of The Week.

• $150 Billion In US Clean Energy Investments Announced Since Inflation Reduction Act.

• Quick & Clean Weekly Bites.

Maine energy: Delayed US-Canada Hydro Project Gets Go-Ahead.

An energy project that sparked an uproar has been given the go-ahead in Maine after a jury ruled a referendum on the proposal was unconstitutional.

Proponents say it would eliminate over three million metric tonnes of carbon emissions every year.

But the project, which connected Canadian hydropower to New England via Maine, was controversial.

Concerned for its environmental and economic impact, Mainers voted to cancel its permits in 2021.

On Thursday, a jury in a civil suit unanimously ruled those permits were still valid because construction had already begun at the time of the referendum, which was the second-largest in Maine's history.

Funded by utility company Hydro-Quebec and Central Maine Power (CMP), which is owned by the Spanish energy giant Avangrid, the New England Energy Connect (NECEC) had received final approvals, including a Presidential Permit from the US Department of Energy.

Construction on the $1bn (£800m) project began in January 2021, despite court challenges.

Proponents of the project say the route through Maine is the shortest path and most environmentally sound way to connect Quebec, where the hydropower is generated, to Massachusetts, a burgeoning market for green energy.

But several local groups, and competing energy companies, opposed it.

"We're giving up a lot for getting nothing," Tom Saviello, a former state senator, told the BBC last year.

Meme Of The Week.

$150 Billion In US Clean Energy Investments Announced Since Inflation Reduction Act.

There has been US$150 billion of announced investments into the US’ upstream and downstream clean energy industry since the Inflation Reduction Act was passed, according to American Clean Power (ACP).

The investment announced in the last eight months since the Act passed represents more than the previous five years’ (2017-2021) investment in commissioned projects combined, the trade body said in its ‘Clean Energy Investing in America’ report. The period it covers goes up to 31 March, 2023.

The figure includes 46 new or expanded clean energy manufacturing facilities as well as 96GW of downstream clean energy capacity, including wind, solar and storage, announced since August.

The 46 facilities breaks down as 26 solar, 10 utility-scale battery storage, eight wind power and two offshore wind power facilities, illustrated in the map from the report further down. They are expected to bring a total of 18,000 new jobs with them.

Major utility-scale battery storage manufacturing facilities announced in the period include giga-factories from metal-hydrogen battery firm EnerVenue, iron rust battery firm Form Energy and expansions by lithium-ion battery firms Freyr and Pomega, from Norway and Turkey respectively.

  Quick & Clean Weekly Bites.

• Australia has passed tough new laws capping oil and gas emissions. The breakthrough legislation requires coal mines and oil refineries to curb their emissions by about five per cent each year. The centre-left Labor government behind the new laws estimate it will prevent 200 million tonnes of carbon emissions over the next decade. Link.

• United Nations member states have adopted a historic resolution on climate justice. It aims to hold highly polluting countries legally responsible for failing to address the climate crisis. More than 130 UN member states voted for the resolution at the General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. It calls on the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, to clarify states' obligations to tackle the climate emergency. Link.

• Repurposed underground mines could store enough energy to power “the entire earth” for a day, new research suggests. During good weather conditions, wind and solar often generate more power than a grid can use. So where can we store this excess energy? According to scientists at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), abandoned mines could provide a solution. Link.