Transitioning from fossil fuels requires something to transition to.

A combination of cheap natural gas and increasingly ambitious state climate policies in the last decade drove the region’s fleet of old coal- and oil-fired power plants into retirement. Gas has picked up much of the slack. ISO New England reports that the fuel accounted for more than half of the region’s power generation last year. But other large-scale renewable projects meant to replace New England’s retiring power plants have not come to fruition. A decades long effort to build offshore wind won’t yield its first major project before 2024. Maine voters blocked a transmission line that would have brought more hydropower from Canada into the region. And utility-scale wind and solar projects onshore have been few and far between. The challenges have been compounded by the region’s limited gas infrastructure.

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