Federal funds for low-income solar locked up

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POLITICS

• Across New England, some $435 million in federal funding for low-income solar programs is inaccessible as awardees find themselves locked out of the online platform used to claim the money. (Boston Globe)

• In Maryland, programs supporting solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, and renewable energy workforce training have all found themselves unable to access their approved federal funds in the confusion surrounding President Trump’s attempted spending freeze. (Baltimore Sun, subscription)

• Maine Republicans propose two bills to scale back or completely revoke net-energy billing, which provides financial incentives to owners of home solar panels or other renewables, but which opponents say unfairly shifts costs to other ratepayers. (WGME)

GEOTHERMAL

A Massachusetts utility announces it will give up on a networked geothermal pilot project that would have been one of the first in the country, citing higher-than-expected costs. (CommonWealth Beacon)

EFFICIENCY

Boston approves a plan to require large new buildings and properties that add substantial square footage to achieve net-zero emissions from the day they open their doors. (Utility Dive)

OFFSHORE WIND

• The developers behind a New York offshore wind project announce their intention to push forward with the project despite hostility from the Trump administration, but will scale back their other clean energy goals. (Recharge News, subscription)

• Commissioners of a coastal Maryland County push back against a recently approved expansion of an in-progress offshore wind farm that they say will raise electricity prices, drive away tourists, and damage property values. (WBOC)

• The Trump administration cancels public meetings on an environmental impact study for an intended 117-turbine wind project off New York. (WorkBoat)

• State leaders and environmental advocates in New Jersey grapple with the blows to offshore wind in the state. (NJ Spotlight News)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

The nine Maine school districts that bought electric school buses from now-bankrupt Lion Electric Co. started having safety and reliability problems nearly immediately, but are still waiting for answers about whether they will receive any reimbursement for the faulty vehicles. (Kennebec Journal, subscription)

TRANSIT

Environmental and community advocates call on Connecticut to provide more money for the state’s public transit offerings and make the system more accessible to residents in disadvantaged areas. (CT Mirror)

TRANSMISSION

A Maine city approves a tax plan that will generate $1.4 million in annual revenue for hosting a converter station for a transmission line carrying hydropower from Canada to Massachusetts. (Sun Journal, subscription)

UTILITIES

Connecticut utilities oppose a bill that would give more authority to a single utility commissioner, saying the move would concentrate too much power in one person, and allege the same issue in a lawsuit against the utility commission. (CT Mirror)