{"id":568088,"date":"2026-04-06T15:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/568088\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T15:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T15:44:09","slug":"a-ct-town-wants-to-run-on-100-clean-energy-by-2050-heres-what-they-just-did-to-achieve-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/568088\/","title":{"rendered":"A CT town wants to run on 100% clean energy by 2050, here’s what they just did to achieve it"},"content":{"rendered":"

The town of West Hartford<\/a> is continuing to invest in renewable energy after installing solar panels on the town\u2019s Department of Public Works<\/a> building on Brixton Street and installing six food scrap drop-off bins around town, as part of a decades-long commitment for the town to run completely on clean energy by 2050.<\/p>\n

The panels were developed and constructed by Greenskies Clean Focus<\/a>, which will own and operate the system over the long term, according to the town. The installation provides on-site renewable electricity for the facility under a 20-year agreement through 2046.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunities like West Hartford are demonstrating how municipal infrastructure can play an important role in advancing practical clean energy solutions,\u201d said Ryan Linares, head of real estate at Greenskies Clean Focus. \u201cWe\u2019re proud to support the Town\u2019s long-term energy strategy and help deliver reliable renewable power that benefits both taxpayers and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The solar installation is part of the town\u2019s commitment to expanding renewable energy across municipal infrastructure and achieving its goal of 100% clean energy by 2050. The project offsets a portion of the building\u2019s electricity use and will help lock in a lower energy rate to reduce municipal operating costs. The town\u2019s comprehensive energy plan, adopted in 2021, is one of the most robust in the state for renewable energy, according to the town.<\/p>\n

The new system replaces a solar array originally installed at the facility in 2012, which was removed in 2022 to accommodate the building\u2019s roof replacement, according to the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Town of West Hartford is committed to a clean energy future and actively pursues opportunities for both on-site and off-site solar, as well as purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) to offset carbon emissions from traditional grid-based consumption,\u201d said Catherine Diviney, energy specialist for West Hartford and West Hartford Public Schools.<\/p>\n

The town also recently installed six new food-scrap bins, helping reduce trash and turn food scraps into energy, the town said. West Hartford\u2019s food scraps are sent to Quantum Biopower in Southington, where they are converted into electricity and compost. Over the last year, 1,169 residents have downloaded the required free MetroKey app to unlock the bins and are participating in the program, the town said.<\/p>\n

The new food-scrap bin locations are:<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt Park \u2013 36 Frederick Road
\nFernridge Park \u2013 567 Fern St.
\nKennedy Park \u2013 160 Oakwood Ave
\nCornerstone Aquatics Center \u2013 55 Buena Vista Road
\nNorfeldt Field and Eisenhower Park each now have a second bin<\/p>\n

Other locations include the town hall and the public works recycling center at 25 Brixton St., according to the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program has exceeded expectations, diverting over 100,000 pounds of food scraps from our waste stream since the program started last Earth Day,\u201d the town said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In recognition of the town\u2019s ambitions energy goals, West Hartford earned gold-level certification from Sustainable Connecticut in 2024.<\/p>\n

Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The town of West Hartford is continuing to invest in renewable energy after installing solar panels on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[2973,20242,15861,192,52804,250862,983,79,8998,250861,5039,128053],"class_list":{"0":"post-568088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-clean-energy","9":"tag-connecticut-news","10":"tag-ct-news","11":"tag-environment","12":"tag-green-energy","13":"tag-greenskies-clean-focus","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-solar","17":"tag-solar-installation","18":"tag-solar-panels","19":"tag-west-hartford"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}