Connecticut couldn’t pass most major climate efforts last year

Editor’s note: Maryland faces a budget shortfall of $1.1 billion. An item in Friday’s digest misstated the total.

POLICY: Connecticut lawmakers were unable to pass most of the provisions outlined in major climate bills in 2023, despite extreme weather and regional policy progress. (CT Mirror)

GRID:

• A developer’s plans to bring 400 MW worth of energy storage projects to Connecticut are key to helping the state reach its decarbonization goals with intermittent energy sources. (Hartford Business Journal)
• Connecticut regulators have more than doubled the amount of upfront incentives for residential customers looking to adopt energy storage at home. (electrek)

OFFSHORE WIND: Rhode Island’s top court denies a joint venture company’s appeal to continue permitting proceedings for a power cable that would run up the Sakonnet River for the SouthCoast Wind project. (Providence Journal)

REGULATION:

• Massachusetts environmental justice advocates say potential host communities for clean energy projects need to be consulted early in development to help speed up permitting. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Connecticut’s governor says he met with state utility regulators last week to warn them to improve their working relationships and make progress on policy priorities or potentially face a commission overhaul. (CT Mirror)
• The former chair of the Maryland Public Service Commission will now lead two teams at PJM Interconnection focused on state government policy and solutions. (RTO Insider, subscription)

UTILITIES:

• The Attleboro, Massachusetts, council wants to see if the town can form a municipal power authority, as some members criticize the amount of preventative maintenance and outages with National Grid. (Sun Chronicle)
• Several homeowners still haven’t received rebate checks from Mass Save, Massachusetts’ energy efficiency program, even though utility executives said there was a plan to fix the situation a year ago. (WCVB)

FLOODS: Maine businesses are still struggling to recover from the December floods, with some closed for the entire past month and others facing over $100,000 in recovery costs after insurance denials. (Portland Press Herald, Maine Monitor)

CLIMATE:

• Maine’s governor calls a meeting of the state climate council to discuss the record number of weather disasters that struck the state in 2023. (Portland Press Herald, Maine Monitor)
• Maine officials are debating partisan solutions for how to help inundated coastal towns, with Democrats leaning toward increased clean energy and climate resiliency investments and Republicans preferring a relief fund supported by budget surpluses. (Bangor Daily News)

FOSSIL FUELS: In Pennsylvania, a state contractor says it should finish plugging 24 orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells in Butler County, where officials have identified 550 similar sites, in the spring. (Butler Eagle)

GEOTHERMAL: New York City launches an affordable housing lottery for a new complex that will have the city’s largest geothermal heating and cooling system, estimated to cut emissions by 60%. (Brownstoner)