(NEW HAVEN—WTIC News) Mayor Justin Elicker of New Haven says with the White House cancelling billions in funds for solar and wind energy projects, and stopping projects like Revolution Wind in their tracks, it’s up to cities like his to provide environmental leadership.
“The Trump administration is anti-environmental initiatives… They’re anti-environment,” says Elicker. “I’ve seen almost everything they do to be pulling back from the recent leadership that we’ve seen in the United States to address climate change.”
To do its part, New Haven leads a number of initiatives, including solar panels on top of city schools and other municipal buildings. Now, in a creative use of otherwise unusable land, a solar array will be built atop a capped landfill east of downtown.
“There’s nothing better to do here than to put solar on top of this landfill,” said Greenskies Clean Energy VP Ryan Linares. He joined Mayor Elicker in a press conference Tuesday at the neighboring New Haven Transfer Station on Middletown Ave.
Greenskies will do the work of erecting nearly 2,000 solar panels, then pay the city more than $1.4 million dollars over 20 years for use of the space. 1.4 million kilowatt hours of power each year will be directed to the United Illuminating grid.
Elicker and his staff argue that clean energy projects not only improve the environment, they improve the economy by creating jobs and much-needed energy supply.
“We’ve seen a lot of reporting about how concerned everyone is about their energy bills,” says Steven Winter, executive director of New Haven’s Office of Climate & Sustainability. “The best way to bring down those costs in the long run is to bring on facilities like this—and Revolution Wind—not to stop them.”
The Trump administration recently issued a stop work order for Revolution Wind, the massive wind turbine project off the shores of Connecticut and Rhode Island. Officials say assembly is 80 percent compete.
Democratic governors including Ned Lamont of Connecticut this week demanded that the project be allowed to resume.
Trump has slashed billions in funding for solar and wind energy projects, while falsely claiming that they fail to provide power when the sun goes down or the wind stops.