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Wind Power News: Connecticut
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational mission 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. The original articles, links to which are provided, may have additional links and photos and other media that were not included here.
Feds conduct wide-ranging criminal investigation of port authority
A federal grand jury has subpoenaed six years of Connecticut Port Authority records pertaining to a wide-ranging investigation of the quasi-public agency’s business, from its comprehensive management contract for New London’s State Pier to a communications/marketing deal that went to a former associate of Deputy Secretary of the State Scott Bates, when he was chairman of the authority. The subpoena by a grand jury sitting in New Haven was dated March 16 with a required return date for the requested . . . Complete story »
Reserve margin may need to rise to 300% by 2040 as more renewables added to grid: ISO New England
“This scenario would require such a large amount of wind and solar that it may present significant challenges [to] the transmission system and require an outsized amount of land or offshore areas to be sited and developed for the necessary wind and solar farms,” the report warned. Complete story »
Is Mass. eyeing out-of-state nuke, wind power for clean energy?
The climate and energy bill sitting on the governor’s desk contains two policy sections that could open the door to clean energy procurements involving onshore wind from Maine and nuclear power from Connecticut, according to one of the key drafters of the legislation. Rep. Jeffrey Roy of Franklin, the House chair of the Legislature’s Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee, said the sections are designed to help the state begin exploring new ways to procure clean energy to meet emission targets, . . . Complete story »
Zoning change complicates Park City Wind’s Bridgeport plans
BRIDGEPORT – Previously heralded by local leaders as “more than a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the city with thousands of jobs and more than a billion dollars in direct investment,” the Park City Wind renewable energy project’s construction phase has suffered a setback due to a local zoning change. As reported recently, despite an announcement in May 2021 that Park City Wind had leased some East End harborfront property from the Bridgeport/Port Jefferson ferry company as a temporary staging area for . . . Complete story »
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 »
