Solar installers seek compromise on Massachusetts fire code

SOLAR: Changes to Massachusetts’ fire code have left solar installers confused and frustrated, who are now working with fire officials to find compromise. (Energy News Network)

ALSO:

• A DC-area council of governments sets a goal to see rooftop solar added to 250,000 properties in the region by the end of the decade. (Virginia Mercury)
• A real estate firm that handles solar site transactions sues Bennington, Vermont, over its ​“politically motivated” steps to block a solar project. (Bloomberg Law)
• A car dealership sues a Maine power utility for violating its interconnection agreement by forcing its solar facility offline for three months. (Bangor Daily News)

WIND:

• Federal officials approve the Empire Wind projects off the New York coast as the offshore wind industry navigates troubled waters. (E&E News)
• A solar developer wants to build a 2.2 MW wind turbine in southern Vermont, a proposal that serves as a test for the state’s appetite for large turbines. (Seven Days)
• Although the project was canceled by developers, officials in Ocean City, Maryland, continue fighting an offshore wind farm’s proposed transmission line. (OCNJ Daily)

POLICY:

• Pennsylvania’s governor appeals two court decisions blocking him from entering the state into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. (Spotlight PA)
• New Jersey officials announce a new regulation to end all gasoline-fueled vehicle sales in 2035. (Associated Press)

GRID:

• In Maine, an executive of the firm developing the 160-mile Aroostook Renewable Gateway transmission line says ​“there’s no certainty this is going to happen” as the company waits on the state to sign contracts. (Portland Press Herald)
• Rural northern Mainers band together to fight off the proposed Aroostook Renewable Gateway transmission line supported by top political leaders. (Maine Monitor)
• Avangrid partners with an energy tech company to use advanced monitoring of New York’s overhead power lines to increase the state’s transmission capacity. (news release)

HYDROGEN: In western New York, the Tonawanda Seneca Nation says the development of a hydrogen project on the border of their reservation is being done without their input and could affect their game and medicine. (Inside Climate News)

BUILDINGS:

• Massachusetts grants $27 million to several affordable housing developments for energy efficiency improvements and clean energy projects. (WBUR)
• Rhode Island kicks off a $2.6 energy efficiency grant program to help municipalities reduce their carbon intensity and community energy demand. (news release)

GAS:

• Elected officials in western Pennsylvania tout the dozens of jobs they say a new, five-mile-long gas line will bring to their township. (Tribune-Democrat)
• ConEdison resumes new gas hookups in New York’s Westchester County after an over four-year-long moratorium put in place due to outsized demand. (The Real Deal)
• Cambridge, Massachusetts, considers banning gas-powered leaf blowers. (Boston Herald)

TRANSIT: Transit officials in Maryland’s Anne Arundel County take steps to make bus service free and more accessible, adding about a third more riders since last fall. (Capital Gazette)

CLIMATE: A new federal map of plant hardiness zones shows Massachusetts and New England have warmed over the past decade. (WBUR)