SOLAR: A 70 MW solar farm in central Pennsylvania was supposed to help Philadelphia reach its climate goals, yet no construction progress has been made on the facility in the roughly four years since the city made the deal. (NBC 10)
ELECTRIC VEHICLES:
• Maine environmental officials decide that a massive deposit of lithium — a critical component of most electric vehicle batteries — is subject to metallic mining policies stricter than the quarrying policies its owners had hoped would apply. (Maine Monitor)
• Connecticut expands the number of electric vehicles eligible for state rebates, raising the retail price cap to $50,000. (Associated Press)
CLIMATE:
• Although the city has been completely powered by renewable resources for over a decade, officials in Burlington, Vermont, now want to reach net-zero status by 2030. (Next City)
• Experts say the number of monarch butterflies in Maine has fallen between 22% and 72% in the past decade, partially attributing that decline to climate change. (Bangor Daily News)
• The heat wave across the Northeast is increasing air conditioning demand and putting pressure on ISO New England’s power surplus and peaking power assets. (Hartford Courant)
GRID:
• Even as increasing storms knock down Connecticut trees and cause power outages, residents push back on an Eversource plan to cut down hundreds of trees. (News Times)
• Connecticut regulators want state power utilities to consider ways to expand transmission and distribution without new wires. (Microgrid Knowledge)
• Central Maine Power faces high power outage numbers, leading it to work on grid hardening through vegetation management, coating wires and improved poles. (WMTW)
TRANSIT: A project to upgrade Pittsburgh’s bus service will now cost millions of dollars more than initially pitched and will now not include numerous previously planned improvements. (Trib Live)
GAS: An anaerobic digester at a Maine farm helps minimize food scraps ending up at landfills and secure the finances of one of the state’s largest farms. (Maine Public Radio)
AFFORDABILITY:
• New York City senior citizens suffer from a freeze on new state home energy assistance applications and a backlog of existing requests, demand for which has risen roughly 200% since last summer, according to a U.S. senator. (SI Live)
• A report issued by Maine economic and education interests finds that high energy prices are a top problem for the state’s businesses. (Maine Public Radio)
• In New York, Central Hudson Gas & Electric plans to soon bring back overdue utility bill late fees, which were suspended during the early days of the pandemic. (Daily Freeman)
COMMENTARY: A city planner living in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, writes how the city’s ordinances are “noticeably hostile to [electric vehicle] infrastructure.” (Portsmouth Herald)
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