This week, solar supporters in Massachusetts rallied to send a clear message that the state should act immediately to raise the net metering cap and keep solar shining. 100 concerned citizens showed up at the Capitol for a hearing of the legislature’s joint energy committee. The number of solar supporters signed up to testify in support of raising the caps filled a whopping 5 pages. This in-person support was echoed online with a social media action that reached 173,330 people. You can add your voice with a quick tweet now . . .
#SolarIsWorking for MA! Time for lawmakers to #RaiseTheCaps on #solar success #MAPoli
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Solar is supporting thousands of jobs, driving billions of dollars of investment and reducing the need for expensive, polluting fossil energy — delivering real benefits to Massachusetts families and businesses. But now that’s at risk due to an unecessary cap on net metering, the critical program that gives customers fair credit on their utility bills for their valuable solar energy. Massachusetts’s impressive solar growth means that half the state has already hit this limit on net metering for larger installations, including many school, business, local government and community shared solar projects. As a result, hundreds of solar projects in more than 170 towns and cities that should be moving forward have instead ground to a halt.
Net metering is one of the most important policies behind Massachusetts solar success to date. It’s helped cities like New Bedford reduce energy costs by $6 to $7 million annually, dollars that can be directed instead toward critical community services. It’s helped Drury High School in North Adams save thousands of dollars, enough to help the school avoid cuts to programs and teachers in the face of low tax revenues. It has even expanded solar access to those who can’t put solar on their own rooftops through community shared projects like the Mill Street Solar Project in Gardner. The electricity generated by the shared solar offsets as much as 80% of the power needs of four local organizations: an assisted living facility, an affordable housing development, a non-profit dedicate to delivering services to those with disabilities, and a family-owned hardware chain that has been a fixture in Gardner since 1908. The one-megawatt system sits on the remediated site of a former furniture manufacturing plant, long since abandoned and razed.
Vote Solar’s Nathan Phelps testifies
By generating reliable, affordable local power, net metered projects like these are lowering electricity costs throughout their communities for solar and non-solar customers alike. The stakeholder-led Net Metering and Solar Task Force (“NMSTF”) found that when all of the net metering costs and benefits are taken into account, there are significant net benefits ranging from slightly under $8 billion to slightly over $9 billion in a 2,500 MW scenario. The same Task Force report concluded that a scenario with no net metering caps would be the most cost-effective way to develop solar in the state. These savings are particularly critical given that Massachusetts has some of the highest electricity costs in the nation.
In advance of this week’s Energy Committee hearing, Attorney General Maura Healey weighed in with her support for quick action to lift the cap. At the hearing itself, testimony from Vote Solar (PDF) and others also encouraged lawmakers to act immediately on a two-pronged approach to keep solar working for Massachusetts. First and foremost, they should raise the net metering cap to get the state’s solar growth back on track in the near-term. Second, they should direct the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to begin the process of establishing a long-term sustainable solar policy framework that will deliver solar benefits for years to come.