HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2729        FILED ON: 1/19/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3205

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Steven Owens

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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 promote solar energy development consistent with the commonwealth's 2050 next generation road map.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2729        FILED ON: 1/19/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 3205

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act to promote solar energy development consistent with the commonwealth's 2050 next generation road map.

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. The legislature shall establish annual targets for solar based on the Governor’s stated intent to develop 10 GW of solar by 2030 (1.25 GW/year, or a lower target escalating as necessary), and instruct DOER to revise the SMART Program to meet these targets, as follows:

A. Establish sub-targets for the different types of solar installations (roof-mount, ground-mount, parking lot), and instruct DOER to increase the SMART Program adders in order to achieve those targets (i.e. increase adders for Building, Canopy, Community Shared Solar, Agricultural and Tracker—including single-axis in order that these adders accurately reflect true costs to incentivize adequate additional capacity to meet annual goals and are adjusted annually by DOER).

B. Instruct DOER to revise basic SMART rates to counter substantial component price increases over the past 12 months. The rate revision should be guided by a 3rd party assessment of what rates will be required to drive solar installations to established targets.

C. Instruct DOER to make rates consistent across all utility service territories.

D. Instruct DOER to increase the capacity per block, to lessen the declination between blocks, and to ensure that the revised SMART Program will meet the Governor’s stated goal of 10 GW of solar by 2030 (and subsequent goals to be established).

E. Instruct DOER to conduct a review of the SMART program every 2 years to ensure that it is on track to drive solar installations to or beyond established goals, and to address known issues.

F. Instruct DOER to eliminate the Critical Natural Landscapes restriction from the BioMap 2 language and exclusions to SMART program participation.

G. Eliminate the cap on the state investment tax credit for residential installations, and make it refundable.

H. Allow manual reporting for new systems under 60 KW

I. Instruct the Grid Modernization Advisory Council (GMAC) to permit the utilities to recover any grid modernization costs determined by the GMAC to be reasonable and prudent in order to create adequate capacity to interconnect 10 GW of new Solar by 2030;

J. Establish annual storage (without pairing with solar) goals to meet the Governors 2030 storage target goals, including net metering for mobile and stationary storage systems;

K. Enable the DOER to fund the CEC to establish a new solar loan program as a part of the Governor’s

proposed Green Bank;

L. Enable legislation to require the DOER to establish a separate solar and storage program in Municipal Light Plant cities and towns (MLPs) to be funded through general revenues of the Commonwealth or through a surtax on those Cities and Towns that opt into this program.