NH law adds new solar incentives, drops ineffective rebate program

SOLAR: A recent New Hampshire law makes significant changes to the state’s Renewable Energy Fund, directing money to develop municipal solar projects and ending a residential solar rebate program generally viewed as deeply flawed. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:

• A developer receives a special use permit to build a 3.25 MW community solar project on a former landfill in central New York. (energy news)
• In Vermont, a developer has one 2.2 MW solar project rejected and another approved, with regulators denying an application for the former because they view it as part of an existing project. (Bennington Banner)
• Some residents of Davisville, Rhode Island, are frustrated with a 4 MW solar proposal that would clear 36 wooded acres prior to construction. (ecoRI)

COURTS: Baltimore officials say they plan to appeal a circuit court judge’s decision to dismiss their climate deception lawsuit against over two dozen fossil fuel companies. (Daily Record)

WIND: A top executive at Vineyard Wind says Massachusetts should go big in its next offshore wind procurement round, saying the economics of projects should be stable for some time but further climate action needs to take place now. (CommonWealth Beacon)

EMISSIONS: The U.S. EPA grants Pennsylvania $396 million to reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions, the ​“second-largest federal investment in the state’s history,” for projects like electrifying steel smelters and building geothermal heating and cooling systems. (ABC 27, Public Source)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES:

• Federal officials grant nearly $250 million to Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey for building out charging infrastructure for medium-to-heavy-duty electric vehicles along the I-95 corridor. (NJ Spotlight, NJ Advance Media)
• The transit agency serving Maine’s Mount Desert Island area will use a $23 million federal grant to buy 23 electric buses and related charging infrastructure. (News Center Maine)
• New York City plans to let businesses install e-bike battery charging cabinets in front of their establishments, as well as next to residential buildings, to reduce a spate of lethal lithium-ion battery fires. (Gothamist)

• Vermont will help flood victims whose combustion vehicles are waterlogged beyond repair up to $5,000 to swap into an electric vehicle. (Burlington Free Press)
• In New York, Orange and Rockland Utilities invests $2 million into an electric vehicle charging project at a condo building. (news release)

TRANSIT: One of the most high-ranking supporters of Manhattan’s traffic congestion program says the plan isn’t dead, but his ability to defend the policy is hamstrung by the fact that his boss is New York’s governor, who pushed for its demise. (City & State New York)

BUILDINGS:

• Federal officials plan to grant up to $72 million to Maine for electric heat pump and heat pump water heater installations; Rhode Island will receive up to $40 million from the same program. (Portland Press Herald, PBN)
• Thousands of Pennsylvania homeowners will be waitlisted for the state’s in-demand whole-home repairs program, which helps with energy efficiency, because it didn’t receive more funding in the latest budget. (Spotlight PA)

An advocacy group led by mothers helps educate residents of Brookline, Massachusetts, on the ​“baby steps” they can take to electrify their homes. (Brookline News)