Plugging In

Energy and the Environment

Time running short on solar

By CommonWealth Staff Energy, Massachusetts politics, Solar power 0 Comments Apr 4, 2016

With time starting to run short on Beacon Hill, solar power advocates are mounting an inside-outside campaign to convince a six-member legislative conference committee to lift the cap on net metering. Inside the State House, the advocates played a key, behind-the-scenes role in convincing 100 House members to walk away from a previous vote slashing(...)

What Massachusetts can learn from New York’s solar experience

Utility profit incentive in MA not fully aligned with public interest

By Peter Shattuck and Mark LeBel Electricity, Energy 6 Comments Apr 4, 2016

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(...)

Nuclear wasted

By CommonWealth Staff Energy, Nuclear Power 3 Comments Mar 31, 2016

Since the Shippingport Atomic Power Plant in Pennsylvania went online nearly 60 years ago, becoming the first peacetime use of nuclear power in the world, proponents have touted the low cost and clean output of nukes, which can supply energy for generations. More than 130 nuclear plants were built in the ensuing years, including two(...)

Inaction is driving solar firm out of Mass

Industry on hold waiting for Beacon Hill

By Stephen Christy Massachusetts Legislature 3 Comments Mar 29, 2016

THERE ARE 400 SOLAR COMPANIES working throughout the value chain in Massachusetts and I’m proud to own one of them. When I started my business, Sustainable Energy Professionals (SEP), our state had good policies that made starting a business here in my home state the right move for me. In the summer of 2013, realizing(...)

Solar power is not a zero sum game

Net metering is also not an incentive

By Zaid Ashai Electricity 9 Comments Mar 29, 2016

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(...)

Solar isn’t the cause of high electricity costs

It's the outmoded utility business model

By Fred Unger Electricity 5 Comments Mar 29, 2016

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(...)

Utilities, environmentalists duke it out on energy policy

By CommonWealth Staff Electricity 0 Comments Mar 28, 2016

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(...)

Utilities aren’t afraid of solar

The truth is our customers pay way too much for it

By Ed White Electricity 7 Comments Mar 24, 2016

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(...)

Inside the solar negotiations

Size of net metering cap hike emerging as problem

By Bruce Mohl Energy, Massachusetts Legislature, Solar power 0 Comments Mar 24, 2016

A legislative conference committee trying to bridge a philosophical gap between the House and Senate on solar power is making progress, but some new stumbling blocks are emerging. Sources familiar with the discussions say the two sides are starting to bridge their differences over how much solar developers should be paid for the electricity they(...)

Baker amenable to offshore wind

Governor’s primary focus is Canadian hydroelectricity

By Bruce Mohl Electricity 1 Comment Mar 22, 2016

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER said on Tuesday that he would support omnibus energy legislation that would spur the development of offshore wind, but he stopped short of backing a special carveout for the industry. Baker said his primary focus in the upcoming energy debate is legislation he filed that would allow the state’s utilities to solicit(...)