SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2113        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1926

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Michael J. Barrett

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to advance shared solar.

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 2113        FILED ON: 1/18/2019

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1926

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act to advance shared solar.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Section 139 of chapter 164 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out, in lines 60 to 64, the words “A solar net metering facility may designate customers of the same distribution company to which the solar net metering facility is interconnected and that are located in the same ISO-NE load zone to receive such credits in amounts attributed by the solar net metering facility” and inserting in place thereof the following words:-

A solar net metering facility may designate customers of the same distribution company, regardless of which ISO-NE load zone the customers are located in, to receive such credits in amounts attributed by the solar net metering facility.

SECTION 2. Subsection (i) of section 139 of chapter 164 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following sentences:-

Any facility at least 75% owned by, or at least 75% of which is producing net metering credits for, 3 or more individual residential customers, including a neighborhood net metering facility, in which no one residential customer owns more than 60 kilowatts of design capacity, or receives more credits than the amount of credits produced annually by a facility with a 60 kilowatt design capacity, shall be exempt from subsections (b½) and (k) of this section, and shall be allowed to either net meter and accrue Class I net metering credits, or receive on-bill credits associated with the energy produced by such a facility. Any such facility shall also be exempt from any limit on the aggregate net metering capacity set by subsection (f) of this section.

SECTION 3. The Massachusetts clean energy and technology center, established in chapter 23J of the General Laws, shall provide assistance in the form of financial, environmental, or economic benefits to shared solar facilities, so that residential electricity customers may participate in  or subscribe to such facilities at a reasonable cost, provided, that eligible facilities shall be qualified to accrue net metering credits or alternative on-bill credits associated with the energy produced by the facility. The center shall ensure the significant participation in shared solar facilities of citizens of all incomes, with particular attention to low-, moderate-, and middle-income individuals and households.

SECTION 4. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of public utilities shall develop an enforceable standard interconnection timelines for the negotiation of an interconnection services agreement for distributed generation facilities, and for the negotiation of a schedule for construction for distributed generation facilities. Such timelines may vary based on the size and type of the facility, provided, that in no event shall the time required to negotiate both an interconnection services agreement and a schedule for construction exceed 180 days. The timeline shall be finalized no later than January 1, 2021, and shall apply only to negotiations beginning after the date of finalization.