New Hampshire’s first open community solar project moves forward

SOLAR: The first publicly available community solar project in New Hampshire hopes to pave the way for more such developments in a state where low net metering rates have made them challenging to complete. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:

• Local officials in Glens Falls, New York, agree to work with the state’s bidder of choice to install a solar array on a capped landfill. (Post-Star)
• A wholesale beverage distributor in Pennsylvania’s Dauphin County will use a $1 million federal agriculture grant to install roughly 1.4 MW of solar panels. (Penn Live Patriot-News)
• A Connecticut town issues a stop-work order on the development of a 2 MW solar project after a contractor cut down a swath of trees that were supposed to be protected. (News 12)

NATURAL GAS: Massachusetts utility officials approve contracts between a liquefied natural gas terminal and three gas utilities that extend the facility’s life by at least six years. (Boston Globe)

COURTS: A Maryland circuit court judge dismisses complaints in a wider climate accountability lawsuit against the American Petroleum Institute but gives the city of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County 30 days to prove the trade group engaged in conspiracy. (E&E News, subscription)

GRID:

• New York’s grid operator says it should be able to handle typical peak demand this summer but that a significant heat wave could weaken reliability. (Times Union)
• A startup founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says its ceramic bricks can be used as thermal batteries for industrial heating and energy storage. (Inside Climate News)

RENEWABLE ENERGY: Dozens of companies have responded to a call from the New York Power Authority to help the agency develop more renewable energy via public-private partnerships. (Times Union)

CLIMATE: Facing an unprecedented number of declared disasters since taking office, Maine’s governor plans to create a new commission to understand climate threats and mitigate potential impacts. (Portland Press Herald)

UTILITIES: New England utilities Avangrid and Central Maine Power may soon be taken private by the Spanish utility Iberdrola, which is already the utilities’ main stockholder, pending regulatory approvals. (Mainebiz)

BUILDINGS:

• Connecticut’s green bank is now providing free technical assistance to owners of affordable multifamily housing buildings to adopt solar and battery energy storage projects, a service enabled by 2021 legislation. (news release)
• Connecticut wants the public’s feedback and assistance in designing the program that will disperse $100 million in federally funded home energy rebates. (Hartford Courant)

TRANSIT: Pittsburgh’s regional transit agency decides to permanently adopt a pilot program that automatically extended fare discounts to people receiving food assistance. (Pennsylvania Capital-Star)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• In New York City, two bikeshare stations will now be able to recharge e-bike batteries, although scaling up across the entire system will take time as officials figure out the on-road permitting. (Streetsblog)
• Tesla is constructing a dealership and service center on a gravel pit in Londonderry, New Hampshire, its first such location in the state despite years of development. (Concord Monitor)