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Massachusetts Legislators Finally Reach Solar Deal

After months of stalled negotiations and a big push from solar advocates, Massachusetts legislators have reached an agreement to lift the state’s net energy metering (NEM) cap. As with most compromises, though, the resultant legislation has some good and some less-good parts to it.

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), utility National Grid reached its allotted NEM cap a year ago, and other power companies in the state hit theirs more recently.

In 2015, the House and Senate each passed a bill to raise the NEM limit. However, the House version proposed changing the value of NEM credits for projects from retail rates to wholesale ones, which are much lower.

A conference committee was tasked with reconciling the differences between the two bills, but the members failed to negotiate a deal for several months. In March, solar advocates and local officials publicly called on the committee to both lift the NEM cap and reject the potential rate cuts.

In a joint letter, about 100 representatives wrote that after passing the House bill in November, “our offices have been contacted by constituents, municipalities and businesses that are concerned this legislation will lead to job losses, jeopardize environmental progress and raise electricity bills.”

Separately, a group of Massachusetts mayors and town leaders issued a letter in support of lifting the NEM cap, and solar stakeholders worked hard to get the message out about the price of the state’s policy inaction. For example, SEIA and Vote Solar issued a report saying that the impasse “stopped construction of more than 500 solar projects valued at $617 million, which is costing cities and towns $3.2 million in annual tax revenues.”

It appears the committee leaders got the message.

The compromise legislation will raise the cap by 3%, which is more than the 2% increase both the Senate and House versions had originally called for.

According to the Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs website, the state NEM program allots caps to each utility based on a specific percentage of the company’s “highest historical peak load.” The caps have stood at 4% for private installations and 5% for public projects.

According to Sean Galligher, SEIA’s vice president of state affairs, the 3% rise is expected to lead to 650 MW more of solar.

Furthermore, the compromise legislation will continue offering retail NEM rates for residential, small commercial and municipal solar projects, and all existing projects in the state will be grandfathered in under the retail rates for a long period.

Now for the less-good part: New community and large commercial projects will receive wholesale prices, which are estimated to be about 40% lower than retail rates.

Rhone Resch, president and CEO of SEIA, has welcomed the long-awaited compromise legislation.

“Massachusetts has been one of the leading solar energy markets in the U.S. for the last decade,” he says in a press release. “By raising the caps, the commonwealth is showing it values the well-paying local jobs that solar provides and the energy independence of its residents. Bay Staters have made it abundantly clear they want access to clean, affordable, reliable renewable power.”

Resch adds, “While the compromise ... includes cuts to the rates at which some customers are credited for solar power, it gets the industry moving again.”

Sean Garren, Vote Solar’s northeast regional manager, agrees, saying the legislation “will put solar workers back on the job and enable more families and communities to save with solar.”

Nonetheless, he says Vote Solar is worried about “the tough choices in this short-term compromise and hope[s] to remedy them in future sessions.”

“With the bill’s three percent increase to the program cap, we expect to address net metering again next year in order to avoid endangering solar jobs yet again,” explains Garren. “As part of that conversation, we hope to chart a long-term policy path that creates sustained opportunities for solar growth and consumer energy choice.”

Shortly after the committee released its compromise bill, the House approved it in an almost-unanimous vote of 152 to 1. The very next day, the Senate passed it unanimously. At press time, the bill has been sent to Gov. Charlie Baker, who is expected to sign it into law. - Joseph Bebon

 

Oregon Establishes Another Solar-Friendly Law

Not long after signing a 50% by 2040 renewable portfolio standard (RPS) into law, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has signed legislation that will establish an incentive program for large-scale solar projects in the state.

At the Pendleton Early Learning Center, the governor formally approved the bill, H.B.4037. According to the bill’s language, the new law directs the Oregon Business Development Department to establish a program to encourage the development of solar projects in Oregon with a nameplate capacity of between 2 MW and 10 MW. The projects will receive a monthly payment of one-half cent per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated for a period of five years.

The legislation limits the cumulative nameplate capacity of systems in the program owned or operated by a single enrollee and any affiliated business to 35 MW, and the program will close when it reaches a total of 150 MW or on Jan. 2, 2017, whichever comes first.

“We want to make solar energy more affordable and more accessible,” said Brown, according to a local KVEW-TV report. “We have a lot of land in Oregon - and at least in some parts of the state, we have a lot of sun in Oregon - and so it’s a great way for us to create a partnership around that.”

Although the state House of Representatives passed the bill in February and the Senate followed suit soon after, H.B.4037 received little fanfare, possibly overshadowed in the public eye by S.B.1547-B. Known as the Clean Electricity and Coal Transition plan and approved by legislators in March, S.B.1547-B increases the RPS for Pacific Power and Portland General Electric, the state’s two biggest utilities, to 50% by 2040 and requires the companies to eliminate their use of coal.

 

New York Passes Regulations To Help Boost Solar

The New York State Public Service Commission has announced new regulations that it says will make it faster and easier for solar energy, microgrid and other distributed generation (DG) projects to connect to the electric grid and advance the development of renewable power throughout the state.

“[This] action is another step in New York’s long-term commitment to bringing clean, low-cost power to every corner of New York State,” remarks Commission Chair Audrey Zibelman. “These new regulations will make it easier for distributed generation developers to work with utilities to find the best places to connect innovative solar power projects that will protect the environment, lower energy costs, and improve the efficiency and reliability of the electric grid.”

The commission’s order increases the size of DG projects (from 2 MW to 5 MW) that may apply under the state’s “standardized interconnection” process. In addition, under the previous regulations, interconnection developers had to pay the entire cost of interconnections up front. That upfront cost will now be cut to 25%, although construction will not begin until full payment is received.

The commission says it has also amended its rules to enable utilities to more easily process and analyze the large numbers of applications currently filed by solar and other DG power developers.

In developing the order, the commission took comments and suggestions from industry developers, utility managers and environmental groups. For example, the commission will now require the filing of a pre-application report that helps utilities determine whether a proposed interconnection project is viable and located in the right geographical area.

“While other states have recently slowed solar development through regulatory actions, New York has strongly embraced the development of renewable power as it considers changes to encourage and promote the financing and installation of solar and other clean power sources,” says Zibelman.

John B. Rhodes, president and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), adds, “The new standardized interconnection requirements, in conjunction with other actions taken by the state, will improve coordination between solar developers and utilities, and provide a smooth pathway for additional solar projects that can help achieve the governor’s energy vision.”

Dennis Phayre, director of New York City-based commercial solar developer EnterSolar, says the new regulations “will help create a cleaner, more reliable and lower-cost electric grid.”

“In addition to facilitating the deployment of greater amounts of solar electricity, it will enable the utilities to better manage the grid by playing the role of a ‘distributed energy resource platform’ provider,” he adds. “Above all, however, it removes unnecessary obstacles that add time and cost to projects. We feel that it is a balanced approach to ensuring the physical integrity of the grid and the financial well-being of its service providers and ratepayers.”

Furthermore, NYSERDA and the Department of Public Service will provide ombudsman services to assist developers and utilities with interconnection applications and new DG projects.

The commission says that from 2012 to 2015, New York has seen an increase of 575% in the amount of solar power installed and in development.