Gov. Ned Lamont wants to expand the role of the Connecticut Green Bank to include funding for climate change projects.
Connecticut Green Bank
Posted inEnergy & Environment
A shocker in the plan to finally update residential solar rates: No complaints
Connecticut is on the verge of changing one of the key financial underpinnings for residential solar electric systems.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Energy bill takes on storm response and grid reform challenges
Energy legislation wasnāt on the radar for any special legislative sessions called to deal with critical issues lost to the COVID-cancelled session from this winter. Even the annual July electric rate adjustment ā- which this year contained big increases that sparked public outrage ā would not have warranted legislation. That was until Tropical Storm Isaias […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Never let a good crisis go to waste
Experts say the pandemic gives Connecticut an opportunity to make big advances in clean energy — and reap the profits.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Shared solar program heading towards approval, complaints in tow
After more than five years of arguing, final program rules for a shared solar program in Connecticut are ready for approval. And just about everyone is still arguing.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Solar policy fight is picking up where it left off
The solar compensation policy that nearly derailed major energy legislation last session is back for a new go-round this session.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Energy bill heads for committee showdown, uncertain future
With the Energy and Technology Committeeās approval deadline for bills this session on Thursday, committee leaders, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the governorās office and environmental advocates are racing the clock on one of the most consequential energy bills in years. Solar policy could stop them — again.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
Lawmakers urge reversing clean-energy cuts, but lack budget fix
A coalition of legislators and energy-efficiency advocates pledged Tuesday to work to restore at least some of the roughly $175 million stripped from green programs in the new two-year state budget. But none identified offsetting spending cuts or revenue increases.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Solar is again the flashpoint in CT’s new energy strategy
The final version of Connecticut’s new energy strategy and the bills that would implement it are before the legislature. So is a controversy that has dogged the plan since it was first released – solar policy.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
CT’s clean energy edge: Going, going . . . or coming back?
Connecticut, once a national leader in clean and renewable energy and energy efficiency, has slipped behind many other states, including its neighbors. Most of the finger-pointing is at the state’s budget problems and questionable choices by the legislature. But the state may have started to lose its energy edge before then. The question is, can it get it back?
Posted inEconomic Development, Energy & Environment, Money
Green Bank says the budget plan would effectively shut it down
The Connecticut Green Bank – an international model for funding clean energy projects – says it would have to shut down under the latest budget proposal. The bank says it would lose essentially 100 percent of the funding it uses to leverage much larger amounts of private financing.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
DEEP taking heat on its proposed changes to solar policy
Provisions in the Connecticut Comprehensive Energy Strategy that would drastically limit the number of solar systems people and businesses can put on their roofs and could change the payment structure for excess electricity those systems generate have riled the state’s solar industry and those who support it.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Malloy names Gina McCarthy to Green Bank board
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy engaged in some high-level recycling Monday, bringing back Gina McCarthy to serve on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Green Bank. Before becoming the EPA administrator, she was commissioner of environmental protection in Connecticut.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Green Bank raid upsets business, environmental communities
The raid on the Green Bank and other clean energy programs to help plug the state’s huge budget deficit is bringing together groups often at odds. Environmentalists and business interests, including the state’s most prominent business lobby, agree the raid is a bad idea.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Raiding clean energy programs will cost, not save, Connecticut money
Budget crises require tough, but necessary choices. They do not require self-inflicted wounds. Raiding $22 million from clean energy and efficiency programs funded by proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, as the proposed budget from the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee does, is a self-inflicted wound.