Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Honorable Thomas H. Golden, House Chair
The Honorable Benjamin Downing, Senate Chair
Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy
State House, Boston
Dear Chairman Golden, Chairman Downing, and Members of the Committee,
On behalf of the cities and towns of the Commonwealth, the Massachusetts Municipal Association appreciates the opportunity to offer written testimony on several bills, including support for An Act Relative to Net Metering (H. 2911, S. 1784, and S. 1787) and our opposition to An Act Reducing the Cost of Solar Power Through Increased Competition (S. 2896).
Please Support H. 2911, S. 1784, and S. 1787–An Act Relative to Net Metering
The MMA supports the major component of this legislation: lifting the net metering cap. Net metering is a critical part of solar development financing, but the public sector cap of 5 percent has been reached in the National Grid area, stalling existing municipal projects currently under development and precluding new ones from beginning.
A solar bill was signed into law last session, which raised the cap on public projects from 3 percent to 5 percent of a utility’s total power generation and raised the cap on private projects to 4 percent. However, the Legislature did not take action on a proposed comprehensive overhaul of the state’s net metering allocation system for renewable energy projects. Instead, the Legislature created a task force to study the long-term feasibility of net metering in Massachusetts. The MMA would like to thank the task force members for their detailed and thoughtful suggestions on the continued growth of solar energy here in the Bay State.
In recent years, Massachusetts has become a true leader in solar development, with over 841megawatts (MW) of installed solar capacity statewide. This far exceeds the original solar goal of 250 MW by 2017, established in the 2008 Green Communities Act. Cities and towns have been the bedrock of this success, hosting solar developments on municipal property statewide. However, in order to meet the Commonwealth’s new goal of 1,600 MW by 2020 and to continue to build on past achievements, the net metering cap for municipal projects must be increased to allow for sustained progress.
These bills would all lift the net metering cap. Two measures, H. 2911 and S. 1787, would raise the cap from 5 percent to7 percent, and one bill, S. 1784 would raise the cap to 8 percent. Increasing the cap is necessary to allow municipal projects to move forward in the near-term while the Legislature reviews the recommendations from the Task Force for the long-term viability of net metering and determines the best long- term path forward. We also support adding a provision to these bills that would remove any cap until December 31, 2016, to allow municipal projects to move forward and take advantage of the 30 percent federal tax credit due to expire on that date. This would leverage a great deal of progress over the next 19 months.
Please Oppose S. 2896, An Act Reducing the Cost of Solar Power Through Increased Competition
The MMA has grave concerns regarding H. 2896, because it would eliminate virtual net metering (VNM). We oppose the legislation because the measure would be harmful to cities and towns. Virtual net metering is a process that allows municipalities to partner with other municipal or nonprofit entities on solar development projects, with each involved municipality receiving significant energy cost savings through negotiated power purchase agreements. However, under this bill, virtual net metering would be prohibited. This would deprive those municipalities that have limited developable solar installation sites from realizing energy cost savings. The bill would make it more difficult to advance solar projects throughout Massachusetts.
In addition, this bill would place investor-owned utilities in charge of the solar procurement process, an anti-consumer and anti-renewable energy arrangement that would stifle solar competition and deny municipalities the ability to negotiate favorable power purchase agreements for long-term energy cost savings.
This bill runs counter to the recommendations of the Legislature's own Task Force, which made well-reasoned arguments on how to make VNM work to enhance competitiveness in the market place. We ask you to give S. 2896 an adverse report.
We ask you to support raising the cap on net metering, and to oppose measures that would interfere with virtual net metering. These policy positions are critically important to achieving Continued progress and meeting the Commonwealth ambitious solar energy goals.
Please do not hesitate to have your office contact Tom Philbin or Catherine Rollins of the MMA staff at (617) 426-7272 at any time if you have any further questions, or wish to receive further information.
Thank you very much.
Sincerely,
Geoffrey C. Beckwith
Executive Director & CEO, MMA