Accelerating New England's Clean Energy Economy
Transcription
Accelerating New England's Clean Energy Economy
11/14/2014 News from the New England Clean Energy Council Accelerating New England's Clean Energy Economy In This Issue NECEC News New Members After a busy fall that included a DC Fly-In, the Global Cleantech Meetup and our 6th Annual Green Tie Gala, 2014 has kicked off with two lively months here at NECEC. On the early-stage innovation front, our Innovation & Entrepreneurship Programs, partnerships, and team are in the midst of a significant transition and growth. We wrapped up our two-year federal grant for a pilot-scale innovation network program and began an exciting transition to our new innovation initiative. As announced on February 18th, NECEC has formed an alliance with Cleantech Open Northeast and created a new program, Cleantech Navigate Northeast, to connect cleantech entrepreneurs with valuable innovation help from across the Northeast region. Alexandra Adler joined the NECEC team as our Senior Director, Innovation & Entrepreneurship to lead Cleantech Navigate, and our collaboration with all of the region's innovation agencies and partners. Our policy efforts continue to provide the much needed guidance and expertise the clean energy sector needs to move new legislation and regulations forward. NECEC VP, Policy and Government Affairs, Janet Gail Besser continues to take on strong roles in committees and task forces with public officials in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, cutting across renewables, efficiency, financing, siting, transportation and other topics. Rhode Island Distributed Generation legislation, the Grid Modernization proceeding in Massachusetts, and solar net-metering and wind siting in multiple states have been hot issues in recent months and will continue to gather steam in 2014. As the we learned through 60 Minutes' unfortunate mischaracterization of the nation's cleantech sector in January, our role in education and communications remains more important than ever, especially here in New England where all six states have gubernatorial elections in 2014. Our Communications Director Kate Plourd is driving a new, important communications (and advocacy) initiative coordinating NECEC member company executives to educate and influence the 2014 gubernatorial candidates to support clean energy as part of their campaigns. Policy & Government Affairs Update NECEC Institute Update Upcoming NECEC Events Cleantech Talent Fair March 6, 2014 Greentown Labs, Somerville, MA Massachusetts Clean Energy Day March 11, 2014 Boston, MA Maine Clean Energy Day March 20, 2014 Hallowell & Augusta, ME Rhode Island Clean Energy Day April 8, 2014 Providence, RI Upcoming Partner Events Cleantech Open Northeast 2014 Boston Kickoff March 11, 2014 Boston, MA E2Tech's Annual Augusta Forum March 20, 2014 Hallowell, ME View Upcoming Industry Events Don't Miss Cleantech Open Northeast's 2014 Kickoff events in Boston & New York Winter 2014 To our Members & Sponsors, thank you to those who participated in the first in our series of Clean Energy Days this week in Hartford, Connecticut. We are looking forward to seeing our members at our upcoming Clean Energy Days in Massachusetts, Maine and Rhode Island, as well as many industry conferences and networking events. Members and the broad cleantech community in Massachusetts have a double dose of clean energy activities on March 11, as we celebrate our vibrant industry with Massachusetts Clean Energy Day at the Massachusetts State House, and follow with the Cleantech Open 2014 Kickoff at District Hall in Boston that evening. https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1119153555604&format=html&print=true 1/4 11/14/2014 News from the New England Clean Energy Council Read on to find out more about these and other NECEC initiatives. Connect with us and let us know how to make our programs and your companies more successful. Regards, Learn more: northeast.cleantechopen.com Peter Rothstein, President Welcome to NECEC! New Core Members: BCC Solar Energy Advantage Biomass Power Association Bloom Energy Corporation Cotuit Solar Grasteu Associates Gravity Renewables Hannon Electric HB Agency Hyde Boston Capital The Nanosteel Company Newport Solar Performance Talks Quebec Government Office in Boston STEM Solar Explorations Sustainable Strategies 2050 TDI (Transmission Developers, Inc.) Utilidata Viewpoint LLC Policy & Government Affairs Update On December 11 and 12, we held our annual DC Fly-In, where the NECEC Policy and Government Affairs team brought executives from 10 member companies, to Washington DC for meetings with 19 congressional offices as well as key administration officials. We were joined by our partners Advanced Energy Economy and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Please read NECEC's Federal Policy Platform here. On Thursday, February 27, we kicked off our 2014 Clean Energy Days in Connecticut, where we recognized the leadership Senator Robert Duff, Representative Lonnie Reed and Senator Clark Chapin with our first Connecticut Clean Energy Champion Awards. Massachusetts Clean Energy Day is on March 11, Maine on March 20 and Rhode Island on April 8. Recent months have been active on state policy issues from wind siting and grid modernization to net metering and helping influence state energy plans. For an update on the our state activities, please visit the NECEC website for full details on developments related to the state policy topics below: Connecticut RFP for Biomass, Landfill Gas and Hydro Projects Wind Siting Regulations Departure of DEEP Commissioner Dan Esty NECEC Blog Highlights A Step Towards the Bridge to Clean Energy NECEC Announces Formal Alliance with Cleantech Open Northeast Assessing New England's Cleantech Innovation Landscape NECEC Members Named Most Innovative in the World NECEC President Defends Rhode Island's Renewable Energy Standard NECEC Goes to Capitol Hill to talk Energy Innovation Clusters Maine Maine Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee Meetings on Carry Over Renewable Energy Legislation Legislative Proposals to Halt Wind Energy Development The Maine Public Utilities Commission approval of the Aqua Ventus I 2-trubine 12 MW floating offshore wind technology Massachusetts Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) Grid Modernization Proceeding Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) Proceedings on Electric Vehicles and Time Varying Rates Solar Renewable Energy Credits II and Net Metering Governor's Clean Energy Procurement Bill Renewable Thermal & PACE Bills New Hampshire Wind Siting and the Defeat of Wind Moratorium Bills https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1119153555604&format=html&print=true 2/4 11/14/2014 News from the New England Clean Energy Council New Hampshire 10-Year State Energy Strategy Future looks bright for clean technology in Maine Maine Offshore Wind Project Clears Important Hurdle Cleantech Strikes Back NECEC Member News Conservation Services Group Partners with Retroficiency to Deliver Advanced Building Analytics to Thousands of Multifamily Residences To build DC presence, Boston PR firm merges with rival Construction Begins on Ground-Mounted Fixed Tilt Solar PV Project in Massachusetts Massachusetts Continues to Lead in Energy Efficiency Solar Power To Save Kuala Lumpur International 2.1 Million RM Per Year In Energy Costs First Wind Surpasses Projected 2013 Portfolio Growth FirstFuel Ends 2013 with Record $250 Million in Annual Energy Savings Found Through Its Analytics Platform See more member news Stay in Touch! Follow us: @NECEC Join Our Group Rhode Island Distributed Generation Legislation Rhode Island State Energy Plan Regional Policy Regional Green House Gas Initiative Regional Infrastructure Initiative Contact: Janet Gail Besser, jbesser@cleanenergycouncil.org Innovation & Entrepreneurship The past few months have been a transitional period for our innovation programs, announcing new partnerships and a new initiative, while ramping down and wrapping up Cleantech Innovations New England (CINE), our US Department of Commerce, Economic Development Agency (EDA) funded Virtual Proof of Concept Center program. Over the past two years the CINE program directly managed eight solicitations, evaluated more than 165 different businesses and awarded a total of $381,000 of direct financial support to 15 companies in 11 different cleantech sectors. These awards resulted in the creation of more than 25 jobs throughout the region and at least $15.5 million of follow on funding to date. A total of 35 percent of these awards went to companies located in distressed areas, six companies were formed as a result of the support, and more that 60 regional advisors were leveraged to support promising cleantech companies. Read about one of the numerous grantees Pika Energy on our blog and stay tuned for more updates about how CINE funded entrepreneurs are growing their companies. To grow our support for innovation and entrepreneurship, we are pleased to announce that NECEC has formed an alliance with Cleantech Open Northeast and has created a new initiative called Cleantech Navigate Northeast. With support from MassCEC, NYSERDA, National Grid and other innovation partners across the Northeast, Cleantech Navigate Northeast will launch over the next few months as a strong region-wide network to help cleantech entrepreneurs from New York to Maine connect to the Northeast's innovation ecosystem and robust innovation resources. In addition to this exciting news, we recently published New England Cleantech Innovation Landscape, a one-of-a- kind cluster analysis that provides a snapshot of the region's cleantech innovative capacity, showcasing clusters of cleantech startups and the robust network of resources that support them. We have also published a new online directory of cleantech innovation labs, test beds and demonstration sites throughout the Northeast. Contact: Alexandra Adler, aadler@nececinstitute.org Cluster Research & Economic Development In the last quarter of 2014, our Cluster Research & Economic Development program continued to finalize plans for the 2014 launch of NECEC's Corporate Sustainability Initiative to accelerate the creation and adoption of sustainable technologies. The goal of the NECEC Institute's Corporate Sustainability Initiative is to accelerate the creation and adoption of https://ui.constantcontact.com/visualeditor/visual_editor_preview.jsp?agent.uid=1119153555604&format=html&print=true 3/4 11/14/2014 News from the New England Clean Energy Council sustainable technologies. NECEC staff is working with the Boston Green Ribbon Commission, among others, to connect the region's technology innovators with large energy users in order to facilitate demonstration projects and access to first customers. This will be accomplished through technology roundtables and a demonstration project practice guide. Contact: Charity Pennock: cpennock@nececinstitute.org Education & Workforce Development - Kevin Doyle Our partners at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) have begun accepting applications for the spring session of the 2014 Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Internship Program, which means students and recent graduates can now apply online for paid internships at Massachusetts-based cleantech companies. Visit http://ma.cleanenergyeducation.org/ for more details on the program, which is a partnership between MassCEC and the New England Clean Energy Council (NECEC). Contact: Kevin Doyle, Workforce Development, kevinldoyle@gmail.com Compiled by the NECEC Communications Team | Contact Us Members & Sponsors: Send us your news stories Forward email This email was sent to astrauss@necec.org by news@cleanenergycouncil.org | Update Profile/Email Address | Rapid removal with SafeUnsubscribeâ„¢ | Privacy Policy. 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