WITH THE STATE BUDGET expected to tie up the House the rest of this month, time is starting to run short for other bills to make it through the legislative process before the term ends at the end of July. Rep. Brian Dempsey of Haverhill, the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said […]
Electricity
Posted inUncategorized
Solar net metering bill moving fast
COMPROMISE SOLAR NET METERING LEGISLATION that allows the industry to resume expansion while reining in some costs borne by ratepayers appears likely to hit the governor’s desk by the end of the week and be signed into law shortly after that. The Massachusetts House voted 152-1 in favor of the legislation on Wednesday, and the […]
Posted inState House News Service, Uncategorized
Solar negotiators reach a deal
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FIVE MONTHS OF NEGOTIATIONS resulted in a deal Tuesday between House and Senate leaders to raise the cap on the amount of energy that public and private solar power generators can sell back to the grid while slashing the net metering rate that those generators get paid. The compromise would also […]
Posted inUncategorized
Cape Wind appeals permit extension rejection
CAPE WIND IS URGING A STATE BOARD to overrule its staff and grant an extension of a permit needed to run a power line from the proposed wind farm in Nantucket Sound to Barnstable on Cape Cod. With the Energy Facilities Siting Board set to hear final arguments on Wednesday, Cape Wind’s attorney submitted a […]
Posted inOpinion
What Massachusetts can learn from New York’s solar experience
Over the past several years, Massachusetts has been able to deploy more than 1000 megawatts of solar capacity. This remarkable success is due to an interrelated set of policies that made solar an attractive investment for customers and a viable business opportunity for developers to invest and hire in the Commonwealth. These policies are now […]
Posted inOpinion
Solar power is not a zero sum game
MORE BAY STATERS ARE BENEFITTING from solar power than ever before.   Such widespread adoption of the technology represents a growing consumer desire to control and cut their electricity costs while reducing their environmental impact. It is the result of thoughtful, stable policies that have cultivated a solar workforce boasting 15,000 jobs and – at nearly […]
Posted inOpinion
Solar isn’t the cause of high electricity costs
LIKE MANY UTILITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, National Grid blames high electricity costs on net metering while claiming to protect ratepayers. But that’s not the real reason utilities object to this highly successful policy that enables ratepayers to take control of their own energy future and use independently owned electricity generation to reduce and stabilize their […]
Posted inThe Download
Utilities, environmentalists duke it out on energy policy
While lawmakers on Beacon Hill are debating energy legislation in private, the state’s environmental advocacy groups and utilities are making their respective arguments in public. The Acadia Center today wraps up a three-part series in CommonWealth that calls for no new natural gas pipelines into the region, continued price supports for solar power, and an […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
A roadmap for the omnibus energy bill
Final in a series. The first installment focused on natural gas and the second on utilities. A DECADE FROM NOW, electricity mix in Massachusetts could look quite different from what we see today. A new offshore wind sector could allow Massachusetts to tap a world-class resource, while generating jobs and investment in a growing industry. […]
Posted inEnvironment, Opinion
Utilities aren’t afraid of solar
IN 2009, MASSACHUSETTS DECOUPLED our electricity rates, eliminating the incentive for us at National Grid to sell more electricity to our customers. This change in the way we do business enabled us to throw our support behind intensive energy efficiency programs for our customers. This fact is noticeably missing from the Acadia Center’s lengthy argument […]