Newsletters
Newsletters
April 2023 Newsletter
Sixth Green Liberty Notes Investment Offering is Now Open
CGB Green Liberty Notes LLC, a subsidiary of the Connecticut Green Bank, has opened their sixth Green Liberty offering, a crowdfunding campaign made possible in partnership with Raise Green, a social and environmental marketplace for impact investing. Through this offering, Connecticut residents and citizens nationwide can invest as little as $100 to support small businesses improving their energy efficiency and reducing energy costs.
Learn more about the investment opportunity here.
Building Owners Can Now Finance EV Charging Infrastructure Using C-PACE
It was recently announced that building owners can now use C-PACE (Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy) retrofit financing to pay for the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. When building owners install EV charging infrastructure, they improve their ability to attract and retain tenants, provide value to employees and customers, and help Connecticut achieve electrification goals. Learn more about this update to C-PACE at an upcoming webinar.
- Informational webinar, Wednesday, April 19 @ 11 am – Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7196893371671427159
- Webinar for contractors, Tuesday, April 18 @ 11:30 am – Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6556810478538480731
Portland Announces Solar Project at Brownstone Intermediate School
The Town of Portland recently announced the installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) system at Brownstone Intermediate School, 14 Main Street. The 67 kW system is projected to save the Town more than $10,000 annually in energy costs and more than $206,000 over the term of the power purchase agreement (PPA).
Read more about this project here: https://www.ctgreenbank.com/portland-solar-brownstone-school/
Energy Storage Solutions Commercial Tranche 2 Opens Two Years Ahead of Schedule Due to Demand
The second Commercial & Industrial (C&I) capacity tranche for Energy Storage Solutions was opened in March, two years ahead of schedule due to overwhelming demand. The Energy Storage Solutions program was approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) and launched in 2022 to provide upfront and performance-based incentives for the installation of battery storage. The 100-megawatt tranche is double the capacity of the first tranche. To date, the program has approved 46.4 MW of C&I energy storage with a total energy capacity of 139.4 megawatt hours (MWh).
Read more about the opening of tranche two here and read about the program at www.energystoragect.com.
Leigh Whelpton Announced as First Director of Environmental Infrastructure Programs
After an extensive, nationwide search, the Connecticut Green Bank is pleased to announce that Leigh Whelpton, Executive Director of the Conservation Finance Network (CFN), will become its first Director of Environmental Infrastructure Programs. Whelpton will develop and implement the new business unit which will transfer the Green Bank’s successful model of using public dollars to leverage private investment in “clean energy” to the “environmental infrastructure” sector.
Read more about this exciting addition to the Green Bank team here.
“Climate Smart Technologies and Home Medical Devices for Affordable Housing” Program Provides Technical Assistance to Multifamily Properties
No Cost Energy Assessment to Identify Ways to Reduce Energy Costs and Increase Energy Security of Multifamily Affordable Housing
The Connecticut Insurance Department and Connecticut Green Bank, in partnership with Yale University, Operation Fuel, and the Clean Energy Group, are providing energy cost reduction and energy resilience support to affordable housing providers in Connecticut through the “Climate Smart Technologies and Home Medical Devices for Affordable Housing” program. HUD is supportive of promoting this exciting program to multifamily affordable housing property owners and managers.
Through this initiative, multifamily affordable housing providers whose residents include medically vulnerable individuals (such as those reliant on electricity dependent medical equipment and refrigeration for medication) are eligible for:
- No cost solar and battery storage assessment from a third-party engineer, resulting in an easily digestible report summarizing findings and potential solutions
- No cost ASHRAE Level 2 weatherization audit
- Significant upfront incentives to help reduce the cost of solar and battery storage, as well as performance payments that improve clean energy economics through the CT Residential Renewable Energy Solutions, and battery storage economics through the CT Energy Storage Solutions program
- One-on-one support for property owners/managers to understand solar and battery storage, including available incentives and CT Green Bank financing opportunities
- Engage residents to obtain an understanding of their experiences of daily life with electricity-dependent home medical devices (e.g. oxygen machines, ventilators, wheelchairs, and even refrigerators for temperature-regulated medicines). Operation Fuel and the Yale Center on Climate Charge work closely with properties to facilitate resident engagement.
To learn more about the program, please contact Marriele Mango, Clean Energy Group Project Director, at [email protected]. Alternatively, you can fill out an intake form to begin the assessment process here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/newTAF
Carbon Credit Capital Funding Secured to Deploy Electric Vehicle Charging
In February, the Connecticut Green Bank and its partners announced that their pioneering collaboration has secured innovative carbon credit capital funding to help accelerate the deployment of electric vehicle (EV) charging systems across the United States. The issuance of these EV charging carbon credits represents the Green Bank’s first entry into the carbon markets. The environmental benefits of these initial credits are the equivalent of removing 5,278 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, the equivalent of not burning 538,778 gallons of gas, or the carbon sequestered by 5,666 acres of U.S. forests for one year. The minting of these very first EV charging credits proves the success of this public-private partnership model designed to ensure the vibrancy of the carbon market as applied to e-transportation and create low-fee access to such capital for smaller EV charging partners.
Read more about this innovative achievement here.
Climate Haven Launched in New Haven
The Connecticut Green Bank is proud to support the launch of ClimateHaven, a community of climatetech entrepreneurs and the passionate people that support them based in New Haven. ClimateHaven “provides incubation space, accelerator programming and valuable partners for startups that will deliver the solutions we need to propel us towards carbon neutrality and create a healthy planet for all.” The Green Bank’s Sara Harari was appointed to ClimateHaven’s founding Board of Directors.
For more information, visit https://www.climatehaven.tech.
Successful Beach Cleanup!
At the end of March, a group of more than 20 Green Bank staff, plus family members and folks from the community, helped collect 490 pounds of garbage off the beach at Fort Hale Park in New Haven! The cleanup was organized by ORCA (Ocean Recovery Community Alliance), which provides opportunities for people to give back to their communities in a meaningful way by cleaning our coastlines, oceans and waterways.
Learn more about ORCA on their Facebook page.
