Verogy, which works with all things solar energy, has a knack for turning landfills no longer fulfilling their original purpose into renewable energy. “All the landfills we’re using are what are called closed and capped,” said Brian Fitzgerald, the company’s director of development. “They’re no longer accepting any bulky waste and trash.” It’s one of the many ways Verogy uses land creatively to build solar facilities. In Glastonbury, it plans to use to sheep to maintain 15 acres of farmland for a solar facility there, a concept that has been proved successful at its facilities in East Windsor, Bristol, and Southington. Fitzgerald said many municipalities have these closed and capped landfills. At the same time, those communities might be looking for space for solar. That’s where Verogy comes in. “Every capped closed landfill has a set of plans to which the landfill was capped by,” Fitzgerald said. “Our engineers will review that and bring in third-party engineers to help in the review and make sure we’ve got everything covered so that our design won’t pose any issue. It’s really that initial diligence. Landfills do come in different shapes and sizes. It’s rare to see the same landfill.” Once completed, Fitzgerald said, a municipality should start seeing savings on its energy bills. In Middletown, that eventually will be turning the 2.5-acre and 80-foot-high landfill at the Middletown Transfer Station that was closed in 1991 into something more beneficial for the city, he said.

https://www.middletownpress.com/westhartford/article/west-hartford-ct-verogy-solar-landfills-19367874.php

Superior Court Judge Matthew Budzik sided with PURA in dismissing nine of the 12 counts of Aquarion’s appeal. He remanded two counts to PURA, along with part of a third. Budzik upheld PURA’s methodology in determining rate cases, saying that the agency has broad discretion. He dismissed Aquarion’s claim that the rate decision was “confiscatory.” He added: “It bears repeating that PURA possesses broad regulatory authority and equally broad discretion in setting rates.” The ruling also held that PURA correctly determined that, to be included as a pro forma adjustment to rate base, expenditures must be found to be prudent, and “used and useful.” Utilities have argued that they need to be able to recover costs of future capital investments. However, PURA says that utilities “may only earn a return on capital assets that are complete and servicing customers” – which the court decision affirmed.

‘Broad discretion in setting rates’: Judge sides with PURA, dismissing most claims in Aquarion’s rate cut appeal

As Eversource Energy continues to explore the sale of its Aquarion Water subsidiary, it’s unclear exactly how many companies may be interested in buying it. The purchase, however, will have a ripple effect across Connecticut with more than 236,000 customers in 72 municipalities across three states. Financial analysts have said the California-based corporate parent of Connecticut Water Co. is one of the likely suitors for the Bridgeport-based utility. Eversource acquired Aquarion for $1.675 billion in 2017. Another possibility is that Aquarion could be acquired by a private equity firm or a company that does infrastructure investment, according to Miller. One other scenario of Aquarion Water being acquired could involve the state of Connecticut.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.ctinsider.com/business/article/multiple-suitors-likely-for-aquarion-water-19305092.php&strip=0&vwsrc=0

Many of the bids came back in the $140 million range on a project budgeted at $107 million, Capital Region Development Authority officials told the agency’s board on Thursday. Higher costs for labor and materials likely pushed the bids up above the original budget, according to Michael Freimuth, executive director of the CRDA. The first batch of bids will be shelved due to the high costs. The XL Center construction manager, design team, and CRDA construction experts will work together to reconfigure the renovation plan to cut costs, Freimuth said. The redesigned project plan is scheduled to be completed by mid-April and go out for a new round of bids in May.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/hartford-xl-center-renovation-bids-budget-19362576.php

The fate of the North 7 development plan is unknown after Stamford developer Building and Land Technology yanked its application for a 266-unit mixed-use apartment building over a city requirement that developers bury the utility lines. “At this point, to underground the overhead utilities that currently exist would literally cost several million dollars, and by our consulting engineers’ estimate, it would take about a year to do it,” Waters said. Despite BLT’s claims, several P&Z Commission members said they believed this requirement is fair. Commissioners were shocked by the withdrawal of the application.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/norwalk-blt-north-7-bury-underground-utility-19362713.php

Real estate developer Daniel Bertram, a principal with BRT Companies of Danbury, came before the Board of Selectmen earlier this month to explain proposed updates to the project. Construction is proceeding at the 14.7-acre property at the corner of Main (Route 17) and Marlborough streets (Route 66), near the Arrigoni Bridge. New traffic lights at the intersection have been installed by the state Department of Transportation, and are ready for use. The Board of Selectmen tabled the request for a tax abatement for a future meeting. Bertram told the board on March 6 that four EV charging stations will be installed in the underground parking garage at one of the buildings, with a capacity of 125 vehicles.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/brainerd-place-portland-ct-19359308.php

Established in the late 1800s, Drescher’s occupied the building at 21 Leavenworth in various forms until 2021, when the pandemic shuttered many of downtown Waterbury’s restaurants. Now the area is slowly stirring back to life, and the co-owner of Tullamore Public House hopes to help bring business to the entire downtown district. The Tullamore’s opening downtown is just one hopeful sign in the long-beleaguered Brass City, which saw factories that once employed more than 50,000 people at their peak shut down decades ago. The city of about 114,000 was left with dozens of hulking abandoned factories, acres of poisoned land and the third-poorest population in the state.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/business/article/waterbury-population-increase-downtown-18885860.php

Connecticut is one of the most heavily dammed states in the country, with about 4,800 spread throughout cities and towns, 84 percent of which are privately owned and many more than a century old. According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state is home to 54 dams per every 100 miles of free-flowing rivers — more than any other state per river mile. The national average is six. Over half of the dams were originally built to supply local water power to mills or to make small ponds. They easily blend into the landscape, largely going unnoticed until catastrophe strikes. Making matters worse, there are no federal or state laws that require owners of high risk or significant hazard dams to disclose who might be in the flood zone should a dam fail, or get clogged and backup.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/aging-dams-connecticut-hidden-flood-hazards-18926438.php

The last pile was driven on March 13, and dredging around the pier wrapped up in February, later than initially anticipated but still in time to accommodate the arrival next month of offshore wind turbine components for Ørsted and Eversource’s next project, Revolution Wind. Hundreds of the piles, which are metal pipes ranging in diameter from 30 to 42 inches, were used to shore up the newly constructed pier. Marlin Peterson, construction manager for AECOM, said there are more than 1,000 of the piles, including the piles to create walls containing the 390,000 cubic yards of fill material used to fill in the 7 acres of water that used to separate two piers. Hammond said contractors are in the final stages of preparing for the arrival of offshore wind turbines associated with Revolution Wind, a 65-turbine offshore wind project to be construction off the coast of Rhode Island by partners Ørsted and Eversource — the first project to deliver power to Connecticut.

https://www.theday.com/article/20240323/state-pier-construction-nears-completion/

A major renovation of Hartford’s XL Center would cost tens of millions of dollars more than an estimate of $107 million, throwing into uncertainty a long-debated makeover of the aging arena and likely forcing another downsizing. Five months ago, the Capital Region Development Authority sought bids for what the already-downsized renovation of the sports and entertainment arena would actually cost. Since then, an analysis by the quasi-public CRDA of the bids — covering the individual components of the project — came in at more than $140 million. That’s not only well above the estimate, but also the state funding and private investment tentatively in place to finance the renovation. Freimuth said the $140 million is clearly a “nonstarter.” But Freimuth said he believes the project could be trimmed down to $125 million, making some deep cuts without sacrificing what is needed to make the venue profitable, critical to securing the private investment. The approach will require a new set of bids, as required under the state’s procurement rules, Freimuth said. A decision would be pushed out until June and it’s not certain, even then, if the project will go forward. If it does, renovations would potentially get underway in the fall. If the next set of bids comes in close to the $125 million, the project still may require additional money, perhaps from the local corporate community.

Renovation of CT sports and entertainment arena skyrockets to $140M. It’s a ‘nonstarter.’