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September 7, 2017 CT Green Guide

Green groups push CT for more ambitious renewable standards

By Matt Pilon

An array of environmental and consumer groups are calling on the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to be more ambitious in its strategy for the state’s energy future.

Two dozen officials from groups like Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Acadia Center, Sierra Club, CT Roundtable on Climate & Jobs and Connecticut Citizen Action Group signed a letter delivered to DEEP ahead of its Thursday afternoon public hearing on the draft Comprehensive Energy Strategy (CES), released last month.

The letter calls for a more ambitious renewable portfolio standard (RPS) target than what the draft CES lays out – 30 percent renewable energy by 2030, which the letter contends won’t be enough to meet long-term emissions reduction goals.

The groups also don’t want the state to cap rooftop solar incentives. DEEP is considering limiting so-called “behind-the-meter” solar panels in favor of larger solar developments, which the agency says are less costly.

Among other requests, the groups want the state to increase energy efficiency targets and shared solar developments, spur more electric vehicles use and “firmly reject” new natural gas infrastructure.

The public hearing today on the draft CES is the second-to-last of six. The final hearing will take place Friday in New Haven at 6:30 p.m. at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station on Huntington Street.

The signatories to the letter have organized a rally for the final hearing that they expect to be attended by “hundreds of supporters” of clean and renewable energy.

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