Feds give $90M to Pennsylvania coal-to-solar project

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SOLAR: Federal officials will spend $475 million to fund five clean energy projects on current or former mining lands across the country, including $90 million for Pennsylvania’s Clearfield County, where a former coal mining area is slated to become a 402 MW solar field. (news release, electrek, WHYY)

ALSO:

• A developer will sell two community solar projects totalling 10 MW within Delmarva Power & Light’s territory to a Brookfield investment firm subsidiary. (news release)
• A developer hosts an open house to educate residents of New York’s St. Lawrence County about a proposed 60 MW solar farm slated for operations by December 2027. (WWNY)
• A small group of neighbors of a 2 MW solar array on New York’s Long Island fear the facility will be too close to homes and impact the local ecosystem. (Newsday)

OFFSHORE WIND:

• A Maryland lawmaker wants to change the law to allow the state to buy or sell energy credits from developers whose planned offshore wind projects are technically in Virginian or North Carolinian waters. (Cecil Daily)
• The U.S. Coast Guard solicits public comments on the location of temporary safety zones off the Rhode Island coast during the Revolution Wind construction period. (news release)

POLICY: Pennsylvania’s governor is going to need Republican buy-in to form his newly proposed Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative alternative. (Spotlight PA)

GRID: In Connecticut, United Illuminating plans to build a replacement to the Pequonnock substation five feet above federal 100-year flood estimates and further from the shore to avoid storm outages. (News 12)

BUILDINGS:

• Vermont’s governor expresses concern that state residents can’t handle the cost of the updated renewable energy standard state legislators are considering. (WAMC)
• A Burlington-based climate reporter writes about his family’s journey to electrify their home, starting with heat pump installation. Grist)

HYDROGEN: A Delaware newspaper recounts what is currently known about the development of the Mid Atlantic Hydrogen Hub, although few firm details are available. (Delaware News Journal)

UTILITIES: If New York legislators can’t pass a bill to arrange a vote on whether to transition the Long Island Power Authority into a fully public utility, contracted operator PSEG might have its deal extended. (Newsday)

CLIMATE: Philadelphia’s Drexel University launches a new research center focused on policymaking that protects city dwellers from the health and equity impacts of climate change. (WHYY)

COMMENTARY: A founding faculty member of Syracuse University’s energy program writes New York will need a massive amount of lithium to reach its energy storage and electric vehicle adoption goals, though there’s no real strategy to recycle the material. (Syracuse.com)