Local officials call for lifting cap that’s stalling solar projects

With large solar projects at a standstill in roughly half the state’s communities, local officials yesterday asked lawmakers to adjust the requirement on utilities to purchase a certain level of renewable energy.

State law requires utilities to purchase 5 percent of their power from renewable sources, but the law allows them to reject projects beyond this level, known as the “net-metering cap.” National Grid, for example, is at 5 percent, so it is not accepting interconnection applications for additional large solar projects in its service area, which covers 171 communities. This means that single-phase systems above 10 kilowatts and three-phase systems above 25 kilowatts cannot be built, effectively eliminating any project larger than one for a single-family home.

Net-metering allows utility customers to sell solar power back to the grid at the retail rate. Before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy yesterday, local officials testified in favor of lifting the net-metering cap.

In written testimony, the MMA urged the committee to “build on past achievements” and lift the cap so municipal projects could move forward and take advantage of a 30 percent federal tax credit set to expire on Dec. 31, 2016.

Amesbury Mayor Ken Gray asked the committee to vote to lift the cap immediately so a 9-megawatt solar array on a capped landfill in his community can move forward.

Easton Town Administrator David Colton told the committee that his town has an agreement in place for a facility that cannot be built due to the cap being reached in the National Grid territory. The facility is expected to generate approximately $2 million in new revenue for the town over the next 20 years, or $100,000 per year that does not have to come from property taxes or fees.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton told committee members that the administration opposes raising the cap without a mechanism to ensure that ratepayers without access to solar projects do not pay disproportionately for maintenance of the electrical grid.

Last session, the MMA supported compromise legislation that would lift the net-metering cap, but included a minimum charge on bills, proposed by utilities, to allow for solar customers to contribute to the cost of maintaining the grid. The bill did not pass, however, and a Net-Metering Task Force was created instead to look at the long-term feasibility of solar power and to raise the cap slightly.

In January, MMA members unanimously adopted a resolution asking the governor and Legislature to “approve lifting the public net-metering cap and ensure the continuation of solar renewable energy credits to allow municipal renewable energy projects to advance, giving cities and towns the capacity to continue to build a statewide renewable energy infrastructure that is among the strongest in the nation.”