The rise and fall of community solar in Maine

This roundup of energy news headlines comes from our Northeast Energy News newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning.

SOLAR

• Community solar development has come to a standstill in Maine, where a new law removed incentives for such projects and imposed hefty fees on existing installations. (Canary Media)

• The Connecticut state Senate passes a bill extending solar incentives, imposing a one-year moratorium on solar development in two towns, and paving the way for plug-in solar systems. (Connecticut Public)

• New York state legislators consider a bill that would streamline the process of connecting new solar projects to the grid. (CBS6)

FOSSIL FUELS

• A New Jersey environmental board issues the final approval a controversial natural gas pipeline needs to move forward. (New Jersey Monitor)

CLIMATE

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announces a budget deal that includes rollbacks of the state’s climate laws, though some state legislators say the agreement is far from final. (Gothamist)

• Environmental groups intervening in the Trump administration’s lawsuit against New York and Vermont’s climate superfund laws argue that a recent Supreme Court ruling supports their case that federal law does not always override state law. (E&E News)

OFFSHORE WIND

• Orsted, one of the developers behind Revolution Wind, turns its attention to projects in Europe and Asia in the face of the Trump administration’s continued hostility to offshore wind. (Rhode Island Current)

• A coalition of offshore wind opponents sues the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, seeking expanded protections for right whales that would prevent construction along the animals’ migratory routes. (WBOC)

ELECTRIC VEHICLES

• More than 10% of New York state’s light-duty fleet is now made up of zero-emissions vehicles. (News10)

GRID

• PJM Interconnection releases a whitepaper that envisions a total revamp of its design and mission as it faces increasing pressure from political leaders over rising prices and a power supply crunch. (E&E News)

DATA CENTERS

• A wave of central New York towns move to ban or tightly restrict data centers after the neighboring community of Lansing was caught unprepared by a controversial development proposal. (Ithaca Voice)

BATTERIES

• A New York City pilot program giving residents batteries to power air conditioning units at times of high demand is expanding to another 1,000 homes this summer. (Associated Press)

BIOFUELS

• Scientists in Massachusetts are developing strains of kelp that can be turned into fuel for use in ships or planes, though challenges remain to producing the biofuel at scale. (Associated Press)