Energy

Grafton will be home to Central Massachusetts's largest residential solar electric system, thanks to a project completed Monday, according to the company that designed and installed it.

It appears A123 Systems' presence in MetroWest has survived following bankruptcy and sale of the lithiom-ion battery maker to a Chinese firm, and will perhaps emerge more robust than it was before A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2012. The Livonia, Mich.-based company announced a new organizational structure with its owner, Wanxiang Group, last week. In short, Wanxiang will roll its battery-making activities in China into A123 operations that existed there before Wanxiang bought the majority of A123's assets in January. What does this mean for A123's facilities in Westborough and Hopkinton? Not much, according to Roger Lin, director of marketing for A123 in Massachusetts.

Should Massachusetts buy electricity from large Canadian hydropower facilities? Ask Christophe Courchesne of the Conservation Law Foundation, a group dedicated to environmental causes, and he says “the devil is in the details.” Ask Robert Rio of the business group Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), and he uses the exact same phrase.

No wind turbine goes up in Massachusetts without a fight. That's a key reason the Bay State ranks just 35th in wind power capacity, several industry experts argued.

With passenger vehicles leaving Logan International Airport every 20 minutes on weekdays, the cost of fuel for Knight's Airport Limousine in Shrewsbury adds up quickly. Owner Michael Hogan said the business spent $1.1 million on gasoline in 2012 and was on track to spend about the same this year.

A123 Systems, which has offices in Hopkinton and Westborough, outlined its organizational alignment with The Wanxiang Group and announced the appointment of a new CEO, after Wanxiang purchased nearly all of A123's businesses in January.

First Wind, a Boston-based renewable energy company, announced Monday that it's begun solar projects in Millbury and Warren that will generate power for the University of Massachusetts Lowell and UMass Medical School in Worcester.

Formally known as hydraulic fracturing, this method has led to a sharp decline in the cost of natural gas by making it easier to mine and therefore making it much more plentiful.

Massachusetts is a national clean energy leader, and not by accident. The Patrick-Murray administration has made energy...

Residents of western Worcester County want rural Massachusetts to stay that way, according to a planning meeting Wednesday.