New Hampshire wants IRA grant for low-income solar

SOLAR: New Hampshire seeks $70 million in federal funding and is partnering with housing advocates to expand solar access for low- and moderate-income residents. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:

• After canceling an earlier solicitation that resulted in too-high bids, New Jersey utility regulators open a new request for grid-scale solar power proposals for projects up to 300 MW in capacity. (RTO Insider, subscription)
• Amazon begins construction of a solar farm on a former coal mine in Maryland’s Garret County. (Utility Dive)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Delaware adopts the Advanced Clean Car II Act, requiring a phase-out of gasoline-fueled vehicle sales between 2026 and 2032. (Delaware News Journal)
• New York makes $100 million available for public school districts to purchase zero-emission school buses. (NBC 5)

UTILITIES:

• Maine’s state ethics commission publishes documents showing NextEra hid its identity to funnel large donations to oppose Central Maine Power’s western Maine transmission line, fining two dark money groups the company allegedly supported. (Portland Press Herald, Bangor Daily News)
• Maine’s state ethics commission fines a political action committee that opposed the public power push for late notice that it received a $250,000 donation from Versant. (Portland Press Herald)
• In New York, a state legislative commission finds that turning the Long Island Power Authority into a fully public utility would save ratepayers tens of millions of dollars every year. (East End Beacon)

OFFSHORE WIND:

• A developer signs a lease with the port of Providence, Rhode Island, to build and operate an offshore wind turbine staging and shipping area on a currently undeveloped site. (Providence Business News, Providence Journal)
• New Jersey’s governor tells state utility officials to open a fourth offshore wind power solicitation, the winners of which will be announced in 2025. (Asbury Park Press)

LEGAL:

• A group of New York City employees and a conservative nonprofit sue the city for deciding to divest of fossil fuel investments in the public pension, a court case that may be the first to test anti-ESG sentiments. (E&E News)
• Fossil fuel interests look to use the same legal playbook that toppled a gas hookup ban in Berkeley, California, to stymie similar legislation in New York. (City Limits)
• In Pennsylvania, four environmental groups join the governor’s appeal of a court ruling preventing the state from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

BUILDINGS: The Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, undergoes a sustainability-minded renovation, including a conversion to LED lighting from the current array of halogen bulbs. (Yale Daily News)