Talks on raising net-metering cap continue

A group of stakeholders is continuing to meet to craft compromise language that would raise the renewable energy net-metering cap.

In March, the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy voted to extend the deadline for two bills addressing net metering to be reported out by the committee, but the extension order will expire on June 15.

The net-metering provision in the Green Communities Act allows local governments to sell a portion of the electricity they generate from solar panels and other small renewable energy sources back to utilities at a fair market price.

The net-metering cap was set at 2 percent when the Green Communities Act became law five years ago. In response to concerns raised by local officials, the state last year increased the proportion of renewable energy that could be sold back to utilities from 2 percent to 3 percent. Today municipalities such as Haverhill, Winthrop and Palmer are bumping up against the 3 percent net-metering cap and are not able to move forward on otherwise financially viable projects.

At a March 11 hearing on bills addressing net metering, the MMA expressed concerns about a bill (S. 2030) that would raise the net-metering cap to 4 percent, but would introduce a competitive bidding process, run by investor-owned utilities, for large-scale solar installations. The MMA argued that the proposal would undermine the feasibility of municipal collaboration on solar projects to take advantage of net-metering credits.

The compromise language might call for lifting the net-metering cap while reducing other incentives as the solar industry matures.

• Link to Department of Public Utilities’ Massachusetts Net Metering Homepage