SOLAR: A new study suggests Connecticut could generate more than a third of its annual electricity consumption with solar canopies built over large, existing parking lots. (Energy News Network)
ALSO:
• Public hearings in an upstate New York town over a proposed 90 MW solar array gained no negative comments and instead drew support from landowning farmers. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• As solar development explodes in Maine, new community solar projects are modest in number but play an outsized role in getting residents to adopt renewable power. (Maine Public Radio)
WIND: A reported incident in the waters off of Ocean City, Maryland, involving a US Wind survey boat has set off a fury among fishers who say the energy developer’s work threatens their livelihoods. (Salisbury Daily Times)
RENEWABLES:
• After nearly a year of delay, New Hampshire’s utility regulator ends state-run and utility-administered energy efficiency programs in favor of an open market, aggravating utilities and environmental advocates alike. (InDepth NH)
• A New Hampshire legislative committee recommends a bill that would allow state and municipal governments to avoid paying into the renewable portfolio standard fund. (New Hampshire Public Radio)
UTILITIES:
• National Grid’s previously published predictions that certain ratepayers would see almost 50% power bill increases were greatly exaggerated, the utility says. (Times Union)
• Newport, Rhode Island, city councillors vote to pursue a community choice aggregation program and give residents another option beyond incumbent utility National Grid. (Newport Daily News)
• As Vermont’s largest employer looks to form its own utility, a local public news outlet answers questions about impacts on rates, emissions reductions and regulation. (Vermont Public Radio)
• Some Rochester, New York, residents are frustrated that their bills are much higher than expected now that the city has formed a community choice aggregation program. (WHEC)
CLIMATE: Maine’s blueberry harvest is a crucial traditional industry, but the climate crisis threatens the crop. (News Center Maine)
TRANSPORTATION:
• The federal infrastructure bill will provide Connecticut with $53 million to build more electric vehicle charging stations. (Hartford Courant)
• Pointing to currently high gas costs, Massachusetts opponents of the regional Transportation and Climate Initiative say it would push prices even higher. (Boston Herald)
GRID:
• A strong wind storm on Friday knocked out power for a few thousands of residents of Rhode Island, Vermont, and eastern Massachusetts. (Providence Business News, Associated Press, NBC Boston)
• Tornadoes touched down in parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut on Saturday evening, resulting in a few thousand power outages that have largely since been restored. (WPRI, NBC Connecticut)
COURTS:
• The trial of numerous Connecticut utility regulators is postponed because one of their defense attorneys has contracted COVID-19. (The Day)
• Nearly a dozen climate activists were found guilty in Delaware on charges of disorderly conduct and civil unrest following a protest outside of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank in late June. (Associated Press)