EFFICIENCY: Maine launches a $4 million program to help its smallest towns make efficient improvements to public buildings, cutting energy use and bills. (Energy News Network)

OIL & GAS: Connecticut agrees to buy a $7.3 million natural gas power plant in Hartford to power heating and cooling, despite a state order to move toward clean energy. (Hartford Courant)

SOLAR:
• While Maryland, Washington, D.C., and New York have gotten the ball rolling on building community solar arrays for low-income residents, Pennsylvania still hasn’t passed legislation to authorize the practice. (Bay Journal)
• A national farmland preservation group joins forces with clean energy developers to build arrays in states with strong community solar programs, including New York. (Times Union)
• After installing a solar array and seeing major electricity cost savings, a northern Maine town’s sewer department encourages a local school to do the same. (Bangor Daily News)

UTILITIES:
• New York City’s electricity provider Con Edison sells its clean energy division to German company RWE, making the latter the second largest U.S. solar operator. (PV Magazine)
• Maine officials order Central Maine Power to remove timber mats and felled trees along a 22-mile stretch of the New England Clean Energy Connect corridor that was cut before its license was suspended. (Maine Public)
• A coastal Massachusetts town’s municipal utility seeks input on a proposed underground transmission line. (Boston Globe)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• New York City announces a plan to turn defunct newsstands into electric bicycle charging hubs where delivery workers can recharge themselves and their bikes. (Streetsblog)
• With only one fast charging station in all of Manhattan and the Bronx, New York City faces a major challenge as the state plans to transition to electric vehicles. (Vice)
• Maine electric motor sellers say both commercial and recreational boaters are adopting battery power, though it’ll take a while for larger diesel-guzzling workboats to make the switch. (Maine Public)

POLICY: Massachusetts’ governor approves a fix to a legislative loophole that kept communities served by municipal light plants from receiving grants for clean energy projects. (State House News Service) 

STORAGE: New York announces a new lithium-ion battery plant will be built in Chautauqua County, producing batteries for electric forklifts, trucks and buses. (WKBW)

EMISSIONS: New Jersey climate advocates say a proposed bill would consider energy produced by waste incinerators to be renewable, ignoring the pollutants and greenhouse gases they emit in the process. (Patch)

COMMENTARY: Rhode Island’s coastal resources agency faces a staffing shortage that hinders its ability to build resilience against climate change and handle wind development siting issues, an advocate writes. (Providence Journal)

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Kathryn brings her extensive editorial background to the Energy News Network team, where she oversees the early-morning production of ENN’s five email digest newsletters as well as distribution of ENN’s original journalism with other media outlets. From documenting chronic illness’ effect on college students to following the inner workings of Congress, Kathryn has built a broad experience in her more than five years working at major publications including The Week Magazine. Kathryn holds a Bachelor of Science in magazine journalism and information management and technology from Syracuse University.