As of last January, utility-scale battery power storage made up 46% of applications for new power sources to be connected to the grid, as reported by ISO New England, which oversees the region’s wholesale power market. ISO New England lists about 30 active battery farm projects statewide in Connecticut where developers want to hook up to grid substations operated by Eversource and the United Illuminating subsidiary of Avangrid. This year, feasibility or impact studies for at least 10 more battery farms have been filed as well. A year ago, the Norwich-based Connecticut Municipal Electric Energy Cooperative issued a request for developers interested in building as many as five battery farms for its customer territories, which include portions of Norwalk, Norwich, Groton, Griswold and Bozrah. Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration has been offering incentives to encourage battery storage systems, with the primary goal reducing electricity prices. Under a 2022 law passed by the Connecticut General Assembly, the state must achieve a carbon-emission-free electric grid by 2040 by phasing out polluting sources of power generation.

https://www-ctpost-com.translate.goog/business/article/ct-battery-farms-eversource-avangrid-electricity-19985515.php?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_hist=true

The final report hasn’t been written, but research so far on a wide-ranging study of the Route 44 corridor in Canton endorses widening the roadway to create left-turn lanes at Dowd Avenue and adding a traffic roundabout on Dowd about a half-mile to the west. Engineers and traffic planners studied the cost, viability and potential benefits of a long series of ideas for improving safety and traffic flow along the a roughly 1.5-mile section of Route 44, the most heavily traveled road in Canton, and a shorter section of Dowd Avenue. Based on state transportation department’s forecast as well as the amount of properties open to potential development, planners projected a nearly 24% increase in traffic volume in the study area by 2050. One of the boldest and most challenging proposals that came up during the study was to convert the center of the Canton Village Shops’ long parking lots between Dowd Avenue and Route 44 into a full-scale road with sidewalks. However, the study fully recommends another large-scale change: installing a roundabout where the Canton Village Shops parking lot connects to Dowd Avenue.

In central CT town, Route 44 study predicts more traffic, high-density development

The Connecticut State Pier in New London is already serving as a new launching point for offshore wind turbines, but two sections of the newly renovated port facility will need to be fixed due to flaws in parts of the $311 million construction project. Correcting those problems is expected to cost, at a minimum, several million dollars, Whitescarver told legislators, and the work might not be completed until 2027, due to the ongoing use of the pier as a staging ground for offshore wind projects. Officials with the Port Authority believe Kiewit, the construction manager on the project, should be responsible for fixing the mistakes, since the company oversaw the construction effort and won several bids to build large portions of the pier. But Whitescarver acknowledged that Kiewit, one of the largest construction firms in North America, is unlikely to accept that outcome willingly. Kiewit told The Connecticut Mirror on Thursday that it stood behind its work on the project, and the company said it was not to blame for the issues it encountered with construction.

New London State Pier construction fixes likely to cost millions

The state Bond Commission is poised to authorize tens of millions in borrowing Friday to help fund multifamily developments throughout the state. Housing development is a big chunk of the $423.1 million borrowing package going before the bond commission on Friday. The agenda includes $50 million for the state Department of Housing’s Build for CT program, which helps developers finance affordable and middle-income rental housing projects. The state Department of Housing is up for another $20 million, which will pass to the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority to fund construction or rehabilitation of 186 housing units. The Bond Commission will vote on a proposed $6.5 million for CRDA, which the quasi-public agency would lend to Simon Konover to help the company finance an approximately 150-unit apartment complex in East Hartford. The development would be located on a 35-acre site at 341 East River Drive, near the Connecticut River.

https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/state-poised-to-borrow-tens-of-millions-to-incentivize-multifamily-development

Town officials are moving forward with a $16.7 million plan to protect the sewage treatment plant from powerful storms and rising sea levels by building a floodwall around the riverside facility. The town council voted unanimously this week to issue bonds and appropriate funds to pay for the construction project, which is now expected to start as soon as May and take about two years to complete. The treatment plant, which has the capacity to process up to 11.5 million gallons of sewage a day, sits in a flood zone on the banks of the Housatonic River, making it especially vulnerable to rising sea levels. At a Water Pollution Control Authority meeting last month, David Barstow of GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc., an engineering firm hired to help lead the project, said the floodwall would be 18 feet high at its tallest point. Barstow said he hopes to get authorization to move forward with the project from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection by March and start construction in May. He noted the work is expected to take two years to complete.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/stratford-approves-16-7m-floodwall-protect-19978328.php

The proposed, block-size Village at Riverside mixed-use development, planned for property bordered by Court and Main streets and deKoven and Dingwall drives, is anticipated to help the city finally reconnect to its riverfront via a walking bridge over Route 9. The Village is expected to include “affordable, luxury” housing units, with some 19 townhomes, 258 apartments consisting of studios and one- and two-bedroom units, and about 56 new on-street parking spaces, Wonder Works Construction of New York has said. The city is applying for a $250,000 Community Investment Fund planning grant from the state, according to Economic and Community Development Director Christine Marques, who provided project updates during the Dec. 10 meeting. Work on the former Mattabesett Canoe Club at 80 Harbor Drive, occupied by Tate’s restaurant since early May, is nearly done, Community Development Specialist Brian Gartner reported.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/middletown-ct-river-redevelopment-parking-housing-19984206.php

The first 11 tenants have moved into The Anthem at Square 10, the first building to be nearly completed in a sweeping remake of the downtown commercial site where the New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum once stood. An outdoor pool, gym and some co-working spaces also are ready, along with the second and third residential floors. Developer LWLP New Haven LLC is working to get the fourth through seventh floors of the $76 million “Phase 1A” building ready to be lived in this winter. The nearly complete building, development of which was aided by a $999,000 state remediation grant, is the first of several high-rise commercial buildings going up off South Orange Street as part of the project. The five-acre site, which has been a parking lot since the coliseum was imploded on Jan. 20, 2007, is at the city’s front door, where vehicles exiting Interstate 95 and Interstate 91 on Route 34 first enter downtown.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/square-10-former-new-haven-coliseum-19983459.php

The cold drizzle Monday was perfect for the groundbreaking for two elementary school projects — one in the north end of town and the second at Norton Elementary, according to Cheshire Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey Solan. Costing $90 million, the north end school will be the largest capital project the town has ever undertaken. The reconstruction and modernization of Norton Elementary at 414 North Brooksvale Road is projected to cost $76 million. Officials anticipate the construction at both schools will be completed by fall 2026. For most municipalities, one school project is a massive undertaking and expense; it’s rare to see two school projects undertaken simultaneously. However, Cheshire has seen a steep increase in elementary school students in recent years, with enrollment at Highland Elementary alone increasing by 200 over five years ago when enrollment bottomed out for the district.

https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/cheshire-schools-north-end-norton-construction-19982314.php

The state awarded the borough a $3 million Community Investment Fund grant last year to advance the industrial park project – specifically the construction of infrastructure for the property at 280 Elm St. The borough is applying for another $3 million CIF grant to complete the road network for phase two of the subdivision of the 86.5-acre parcel. Lanxess Corp., a successor to Uniroyal, owned the site until it sold most of the land to the borough three years ago for $1 in a remediated condition with brownfield protection for all future purchasers. “Our entire effort in this project is designed to finish, get the site back on the tax rolls and take a nonproducing piece of property and turn into once again one of our better producing properties in the entire borough,” said Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess, the project manager at a Dec. 3 public information hearing at Town Hall. Lanxess has spent $20 to $30 million for remediation, while the borough’s obligation is to cap the site, manage the soils and develop the property under a stewardship permit, Hess said.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/12/15/naugatuck-seeks-additional-3m-grant-to-advance-industrial-park-3-development/

The executive board of the state’s AFL-CIO is asking Steve Schrag, a volunteer with the Naugatuck Valley Project, to voluntarily resign from the state’s AFL-CIO Health & Safety Committee because of his vocal opposition to a planned Amazon distribution center on the Waterbury-Naugatuck line. “Due to your opposition, you endangered the approval of this project, which would provide 1 million work hours for members of the Connecticut Building Trades,” the board wrote in a letter to Schrag on Tuesday. “This project has the potential to create thousands of good paying jobs with strong benefits for Connecticut workers.” The letter includes a notice for Schrag to cease and desist, halting all actions “opposing projects that would benefit the hardworking members of the Connecticut State Building and Construction Trades Council.” Ed Hawthorne, president of the AFL-CIO, said he wholeheartedly stood behind the contents of the letter and in full support and solidarity with “the hardworking men and women of the building trades. Mayor Paul K. Pernerewski Jr. said the site on which the planned facility will be built is in an industrial park. “It was always designated to be a property that was to be developed,” he said, adding that the city has extensive greenspaces including Washington Park, Bunker Hill Park among others that people can enjoy. He added that the development of the property will bring in 1,000 jobs and millions of money in tax revenue.

https://www.rep-am.com/localnews/2024/12/15/afl-cio-urges-activist-to-resign-over-opposition-to-amazon-project-on-waterbury-naugatuck-line/