Clean Energy Finance Forum

Residents in Springfield, Massachusetts question the "green" light for a biomass facility in an area where many live with asthma.

A Massachusetts Senate proposal to set aside funding for solar projects in low-income neighborhoods will do little to improve access without bigger changes to the state’s solar incentive program, advocates say.

Seven states – Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont – have enacted legislation to promote pollinator-friendly solar development. A new white paper by the Clean Energy States Alliance provides an overview of these state efforts and offers suggestions for what other states can do to promote solar while also creating or preserving healthy habitats for pollinators.

The Ohio Supreme Court threw out FirstEnergy Solutions’ lawsuit arguing that the recently enacted law bailing out its two nuclear power plants on Lake Erie cannot be subjected to voter referendum.

Questions remain about where the money is coming from to fund both the petition drive for a public vote on FirstEnergy’s subsidies and the inflammatory campaign against it by a group called Ohioans for Energy Security.

Documents show the company retained the law firm arguing that HB 6 is exempt from state referendum procedures.

With the opening of a solar facility in North Carolina built by solar developer SunEnergy1, the Cincinnati regional bank's pact to acquire its renewable energy credits is up and running. The solar facility is expected to generate clean power that is more than or equal to the amount Fifth Third uses in a year: 202,000 megawatt-hours – enough to power 25,000 homes.

Opponents fear the law will send the growing wind and solar industry to neighboring states while Ohio homeowners are stuck boosting old, uneconomical power plants.