Pennsylvania coal community feels forgotten amid clean energy transition

COAL: A former Pennsylvania coal community says the federal government has forgotten about them as they struggle to replace lost jobs and tax income, highlighting President Biden’s need to convince similar communities that they won’t be left behind in a clean energy transition. (Washington Post)

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SOLAR:

• Some Wareham, Massachusetts residents are frustrated with plans to develop an 18-acre solar project in undeveloped woods next to a residential neighborhood, but local officials say they must follow the state’s solar-supportive laws. (Wareham Week)
• Some residents of a Pittsburgh area township say they don’t want a solar farm built on 88 acres of rural fields that surround their homes. (KDKA)
• As New Hampshire’s governor considers signing a bill to require a quick and cost-effective interconnection process for customer generators, numerous solar projects still see extensive delays in hooking up to the grid. (New Hampshire Bulletin)
• The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority comes to an understanding with a developer seeking to site a solar farm on a western New York landfill, giving permission for a project feasibility study. (Niagara Gazette)
• A south-central Pennsylvania town’s events center uses a $657,000 federal grant to complete a $1.3 million rooftop solar project that will provide the county fairgrounds with 140% of its daily power needs. (Sentinel)

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GRID:

• A consultancy is helping Maine decide if it should form a distribution system operator to spur the installation of more distributed energy resources. (PV Magazine)
• A LS Power affiliate company and the New York Power Authority submit several joint proposals to the state’s grid operator for transmission upgrade projects to deliver 8 GW of offshore wind power to New York City in the coming decade. (Utility Dive)

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TRANSIT: New York’s governor dodges questions about replacement funding for New York City’s transit agency in light of her indefinite delay of Manhattan’s congestion tolls; a reporter is booted from her event after asking about her plan. (New York Focus)

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POLICY: Easthampton, Massachusetts, releases a draft climate action plan that includes electrifying buildings and increasing low-emissions transit options. (Daily Hampshire Gazette)

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WORKFORCE: As Massachusetts looks to achieve climate goals that will require over 30,000 new workers, five high schools use state grants to create renewable energy career pathway programs in the renewable energy field. (WBUR)

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GAS: A fuel provider opens a renewable natural gas station in Carney’s Point, New Jersey, to fuel up heavy-duty trucks and vehicles traveling between Philadelphia, Delaware and the New Jersey Turnpike. (news release)

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COMMENTARY: Maryland’s public advocate writes that ratepayers in the state are left paying higher rates because of three Exelon utilities’ “aggressive and highly profitable capital spending.’ (Baltimore Sun)

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Editor’s note: Maryland’s Montgomery County is using an automated permitting system to hasten rooftop solar installations. An item in yesterday’s digest misstated the location.

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