Connecticut’s home battery storage program, Energy Storage Solutions, just doubled its upfront incentive to help homeowners invest in backup power – here’s how it works.
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Revolution Wind, Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first utility-scale offshore wind farm, can begin offshore construction in 2024.
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While legislators battle over federal infrastructure bills, some US states are out of the gate when it comes to adopting clean energy.
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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
Today in EGEB, Connecticut solar policy is in the crosshairs, in more ways than one. The Department of Energy offers funding for a floating wind turbine project.
SolarCity will produce the electricity, Tesla Energy will store it – and the SolarCity Utilities Services will deliver it to you at night. Recently, Tesla said they would install more energy storage with Solarcity in 2016 than the USA installed in 2015. This morning SolarCity put out two press releases – one announcing the focus on Utility and Grid Services and a second regarding a 13MWAC solar power systems and at least 1.5 megawatts/6 megawatt-hour of storage with the Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative (pictured above). Is all of this a warm up to build a (solar)city on Mars?
While the bill SB3, a new legislation to allow electric automakers to sell directly to consumers in Connecticut, appeared to have died during the weekend after bill sponsor Bob Duff said that his caucus was divided on the issue and that he didn’t have the votes:
“I think the car dealers and others have been very effective in lobbying in their favor. We’ll come back again and try in another year.”
Now in a last-ditch effort as the legislative deadline approaches on Wednesday night, Tesla offered the state a new distribution center with 150 jobs to sweeten the deal.
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For the second year in a row, Tesla tried to pass a bill sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk in Connecticut, to allow the sale of electric vehicles directly to consumers without having to go through the franchise dealerships model. Last week, the bill SB3 was in consideration and awaiting a vote in the state Senate, but it is now officially dead following an impressive lobbying campaign led by GM and the local dealership association.
The electric automaker is currently entrenched in several battles over its business model of selling directly to consumers without a third-party dealership. While it is not an issue in most of its markets, Tesla is not allowed or under restrictions to sell its cars in several states including Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Connecticut, Utah and West Virginia.
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Tesla is currently facing strong opposition from the dealership lobby in Connecticut over a new legislation that would allow the automaker to sell directly to consumers in the state. The bill SB3 is currently in consideration and awaiting a vote in the state Senate. It would enable Tesla to open up to 3 stores in the state.
Besides the dealership monopoly, Connecticut has been very friendly to Tesla, offering up the first Supercharging stations on the East coast, hosting a service center in Milford and an upcoming Gallery multi-purpose location in Greenwich.
This week Tesla published the results of a survey showing strong support for its direct sales business model in the state, but the Connecticut Automotive Retailers Association is challenging the relevance of the survey.
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Following a unanimous approval of the Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals last week, Tesla is going forward with its first gallery in Connecticut even though the direct sales bill to allow the automaker to sell its cars in the state is still pending.
The gallery will be located in Greenwich on Greenwich Avenue and will exist for educational purposes rather than as a retail location, but it has more to do with local zoning restrictions than the current prohibition of direct vehicle sales in the state of Connecticut.
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A bill proposed by Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff to allow electric vehicle makers in Connecticut to bypass direct sales laws and sell directly to consumers, also called the “Tesla bill”, has been “overwhelmingly endorsed” by the transportation committee on Monday. The legislation will now be moving to the state senate for a vote.
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After a small win in Indiana, where a state Senate committee decided to table for further review a bill that would have prohibited Tesla to sell its cars directly to consumers and forced them to go through third-party auto dealerships, the automaker is readying to challenge the states of Utah and Connecticut over similar direct sale laws.
Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff introduced a bill that would allow electric car manufacturers to sell their vehicles directly to Connecticut consumers. The bill would represent a compromise similar to agreements Tesla has in other states like New Jersey or New York, where the automaker is limited to a certain number of stores, in the case of Connecticut, it would be three stores across the state.
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At a news conference with Tesla representatives today, Connecticut Senate majority leader Bob Duff unveiled a new bill to allow Tesla’s direct sales model in the state.
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