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.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc and EDP Renovaveis SA agreed to sell power from a wind farm they’re building in the Atlantic Ocean for a record-low price. The 804-megawatt Mayflower wind farm, located south of Martha’s Vineyard, will supply electricity to utilities in Massachusetts for $58 a megawatt-hour over the life of the contract.

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said its review of the Vineyard Wind offshore wind project would be completed by June 12 and a final decision on the project issued by December 18 — 15 months later than originally projected.

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.

Rocky Mountain Power contends that rooftop-generated power is not worth much, while clean-power advocates and the solar industry counter that rooftop systems provide broad benefits to the public at large and to the utility in the form of reduced stress on the electrical grid and power-generation needs.

Cities in California and Massachusetts are advancing what has become the newest trend in the local fight against climate change: bans on natural gas hookups in new buildings.

Industrial giant General Electric is investing in wind power, hoping its offshore products can soon rival the might of its onshore sector. In Massachusetts this week, it received a 351-foot blade that will be part of the Haliade-X windmill, what it is calling the most powerful offshore wind turbine in the world. The blades will undergo fatigue tests over the coming months.