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Wind Power News: Connecticut
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Details of Connecticut’s newest ethics snafu remain secret
Trouble shrouded in mystery continues to infest the Connecticut Port Authority. The Office of State Ethics reached an agreement with CPA contractor Seabury Maritime, which will pay $10,000 for giving impermissible and unreported gifts to two CPA employees and a board member. In 2017 and 2019, Seabury Maritime provided a variety of gifts to the employees and board member, all unnamed. They included attendance at a college fundraising event in New York. “CPA Employee One” and “CPA Employee One’s spouse” . . . Complete story »
Electricity grid operator expecting more demand and renewables in New England
New England’s electricity grid is in for major changes, according to a yearly report from ISO New England, the organization that manages the region’s grid. The report says decarbonization will become the way of life in New England, with heating and transportation becoming electrified through technology like heat pumps and electric vehicles. That will increase regional demand for electricity. At the same time, the grid, which now predominantly runs on natural gas, will shift towards renewable energy. All New England . . . Complete story »
Consultant fined $10,000 for gifts given to Connecticut Port Authority employees, board member
A New York-based maritime consultant and financier has agreed to pay a $10,000 penalty for gifts the company made to employees and a board member of the Connecticut Port Authority in 2017 and 2019 including National Hockey League tickets and overnight stays at a Greenwich club. The Office of State Ethics announced the fine Tuesday afternoon, ruling that while bidding for port authority business and attempting to establish a long-term business relationship with the quasi-public agency, Seabury PFRA, LLC of . . . Complete story »
Federal regulators uphold controversial grid proposal that could slow clean energy
Despite months of protests by clean energy activists and official pleas from public figures including Elizabeth Warren, federal regulators approved a plan by the region’s energy grid operator that could slow the development of clean electricity for two years. The decision, handed down by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ( FERC), late Friday night, affirms a plan by ISO New England to wait two years to remove a mechanism that makes it harder for clean energy projects to enter the . . . Complete story »
Port Authority chair: Officials knew State Pier would cost more than $93M
The chairman of the Connecticut Port Authority said Thursday that officials knew as far back as May 2019, when the project was first pitched, that the cost of converting the State Pier in New London into the staging point for an offshore wind farm was going to exceed estimates. The Port Authority and Gov. Ned Lamont’s office announced in May 2019 that the project would cost an estimated $93 million. But officials even then knew the cost was going to . . . Complete story »
The final $20 million: State board approves additional funds for controversial State Pier project
Once $93 million, improvements to the controversial State Pier in New London have now increased to $255 million, but the chairman of the Connecticut Port Authority on Thursday assured the State Bond Commission that the $20 million it approved for the public-private partnership should finally ready the site for new life as a hub for the budding wind-power industry in Connecticut. But the two Republicans on the Democrat-dominated board, Rep. Holly Cheeseman of East Lyme and Henri Martin of Bristol, . . . Complete story »
Eversource eyes potential big payday to back out of CT wind farm
Eversource Energy is soliciting buyers for its share of the long-planned Revolution Wind offshore energy project. Revolution Wind is one of two major wind farms planned off the southern New England coast that would generate electricity for Connecticut. The other project is the Park City Wind farm in the works by Orange-based Avangrid. Park City Wind construction will be staged primarily out of Bridgeport. Connecticut is counting on both projects to meet statutory goals it has set to cut carbon . . . Complete story »
Connecticut solar developer expands lawsuit against offshore wind projects
The solar developer suing in federal court to overturn approvals for the country’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm is now taking aim at a second project. Thomas Melone, president of Allco Renewable Energy, in February amended his complaint against the Vineyard Wind project to also call into question government approvals for South Fork Wind, a smaller project with different owners. Vineyard Wind’s 62 turbines are to be located about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, the island community where . . . Complete story »
Connecticut’s State Pier was to be a world-class hub for offshore wind. Now it’s overdue, overbudget and under investigation
The ambitious plan to transform an aging New London pier into a hub for Connecticut’s offshore wind industry has long been besieged by delays and ballooning costs. When Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration announced in 2019 that it had reached a harbor development agreement to redevelop the dilapidated State Pier, the initial price tag was $93 million, and officials aimed to complete it by March 2022. Now, the project remains a year from completion, its estimated cost has swelled by 250%, . . . Complete story »
Watchdog: CT Port group lacked authority to launch partnership tied to offshore wind hub
The Connecticut Port Authority launched a public-private partnership tied to development of a major offshore wind-to-energy project without proper authority to do so, the State Contracting Standards Board concluded Friday. The watchdog agency also concluded that the $523,000 “success” fee the Connecticut Port Authority paid to a consulting firm closely tied to a former member is eerily similar to the “finder’s fees” scandal that sent a former state treasurer to prison in 2001. “This is just terrible in terms of . . . Complete story »
