There are stories told and retold that define the U.S. spirit of ingenuity and innovation. In particular, there’s a well-known garage in Palo Alto called “the birthplace of Silicon Valley.” In a cramped shed in 1938, William Hewlett and David Packard started an electronics company backed by just $538 in cash. Later, multi-billion-dollar Hewlett-Packard became the largest personal computer manufacturer in the world. It’s widely considered the pioneering startup of Silicon Valley.

Their story captures the public’s imagination by demonstrating how the most transformative innovations can spring from the most unlikely places. At the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, we constantly scan the horizon for transformative solutions in clean energy markets and finance. And as far and as wide as we look, we are drawn back to study the remarkable work across our home state of Connecticut.

In a story just now being written, there’s a nondescript office building in Rocky Hill, Conn. that many years from now may be viewed as “the birthplace of state green banking.” On July 1, 2011, the Connecticut General Assembly established the nation’s first green bank to achieve clean, affordable and reliable sources of energy while creating jobs and supporting local economies. Since its founding, the Connecticut Green Bank has attracted over $1 billion in capital, created thousands of jobs, and established new markets and business models.

In recognition of this achievement, on July 12, 2017, the Connecticut Green Bank received the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award, the “Nobel of policy,” for its role in “sparking the green bank movement.” Yet this award tells just a part of the story.

Just as Hewlett-Packard pioneered and established the startup culture and approach that defines Silicon Valley, there are early signals that the Connecticut River Valley is becoming the hub for a new culture and approach. Connecticut may well pioneer how individual states expand and accelerate the growth of clean energy.

To better understand this story, Yale University developed a dynamic case study on the Connecticut Green Bank, which we are making available to the public free of charge.

Our partners also developed this video which shows the growth of solar power in Connecticut. It is based on our Solar Energy Evolution and Diffusion Study (SEEDS) research. It looks best when viewed with Chrome.

In researching the material, we took stock of all the new business models, groundbreaking research, thought leadership, and new markets that we have reported on before. To give all of our readers a view of what we found, our team carefully crafted a special issue of our newsletter to illuminate the thriving state of clean energy innovation and experimentation in Connecticut.

Note: Bryan Garcia, president and CEO of the Connecticut Green Bank, is in a leadership role on the advisory board of Clean Energy Finance Forum.

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Solar power faces some financial headwinds these days, but the industry is moving forward in Maine. 

A property developer announced Friday that a re-purposed mill complex in Biddeford will host a solar array that will be the biggest privately-owned facility of its type in the state.

The mills of Biddeford and Saco originally got their energy from water wheels that were placed in hand-dug sluiceways under the textile factories in the early 18th century. Now, developer Doug Sanford will install 1200 solar panels on the rooftops of the million-square foot Pepperell Mill Campus, which houses a mix of light manufacturing, commercial businesses and residential units.

“We’ve been chasing this for probably ten years,” he says.

Sanford says he is still crunching the numbers, but he expects to spend between a half-million and one million dollars to install more than an acre of panels and operating systems. He’ll fold those costs into rents with the goal of paying off the system within ten years — and enjoying free solar electricity for decades after.

“Ultimately, on paper, the numbers work, but you always get concerned about, at the end of the day, the issues that happen and how much sun is created,” Sanford says. “So we’re sort of dipping our toes in.”

Phil Coupe is co-founder of Portland-based ReVision Energy.

“The thing that Mainers have to understand is that today, solar panels are cheap.”

Coupe says that state incentives for solar energy have gone down under the administration of Gov. Paul LePage, and that recent tariffs imposed on cheap solar panels imported from China have boosted their price in general. But federal tax credits worth 30 percent of the investment are still available, and the new tax law accelerates depreciation write-offs that businesses can take too. That means that as much as 50 percent of the investment can be recouped through the tax code, he says.

“I think it’s incredible that this mill was built 150 years ago to take advantage of hydro-kinetic energy from the Saco River, and here we are today transitioning this mill property to basically clean, renewable solar energy,” says Coupe.

The mill’s renovation is ongoing, with 50 new residential units under construction. The solar array is expected to start making electricity next year.

Workers for GRID Alternatives work on the finishing touches for the company’s 2000th installation in the Central Valley. Photo by Frank Lopez

published on July 27, 2018 – 1:53 PM
Written by Frank Lopez

Nonprofit solar installer GRID Alternatives celebrated its 2,000th solar panel installation in the Central Valley Friday.

Representatives, workers, and trainees of GRID gathered at a home in Fresno on Leisure Avenue near Chestnut Avenue and McKinley Avenue to finish and commemorate the latest installation, as well as the work they’ve done for low-income communities in the Central Valley.

 

“We are going to save a lot of money on our PG&E bill,” said Brenda Burgess, owner of the home. “The company, GRID Alternatives, has been really great to work with. They are really nice and everyone is really knowledgeable, and these guys that worked on our roof worked really hard.”

The installation took two days to complete because of the heat and the planned festivities, but normally, a standard home installation could be done in one day.

The 3.7-kilowatt DC system installed on Burgess’ home could save her 92 percent on her monthly energy bills, and will add up to a total 7,961 kilowatts that GRID has installed in the Central Valley. Such a system costs on average $11,000-$14,000.

GRID was founded in 2001 by two engineering professionals with the idea that free, clean electricity from solar power should be available to everyone. Today, GRID is the largest non-profit solar installer in the country and offers its Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) incentive program to provide solar power for low-income communities.

Solar panel systems from Grid Alternatives will save families in the Valley over $73 million over a lifetime and bring savings to over $320 million for families across the country over a lifetime.

“I’m honored and amazed with the opportunity that we’ve had over the past years to impact our Central Valley communities in such a way that our families are going to have a huge amount of savings in the future to help provide a better quality of life for their family,” said Grid Alternatives Workforce Development Director Karina Gonzalez.

In total, GRID has installed more than 10,660 solar power systems across the country.