Amendment #19 to S1979

Solar Statewide Incentive Program

Mr. Hecht of Watertown moves to amend the bill by striking out Section 11 and inserting in place thereof the following text:

SECTION 11.

(a) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the department of energy resources shall adopt rules and regulations that lower the cost of the commonwealth’s solar incentive programs for the ratepayers of the commonwealth; provided, however, that such rules and regulations shall apply only to new solar generating facilities that become operational after the aggregate nameplate capacity of solar generating facilities in the commonwealth is equal to or greater than 1,600 megawatts.

(b) The department of energy resources shall develop a statewide solar incentive program to encourage the continued development of solar renewable energy generating sources by residential, commercial, governmental and industrial electricity customers throughout the commonwealth. The department shall, after notice and the opportunity for public comment, promulgate rules and regulations implementing a solar incentive program which: (i) promotes the orderly transition to a stable and self-sustaining solar market at reasonable cost to ratepayers; (ii) considers underlying system costs, including but not limited to module costs, balance of system costs, installation costs and soft costs; (iii) takes into account electricity revenues and any federal or state incentives; (iv) relies on market-based mechanisms or price signals as much as possible to set incentive levels; (v) minimizes direct and indirect program costs and barriers; (vi) features a known or easily estimated budget to achieve program goals through use of a declining adjustable block incentive; (vii) differentiates incentive levels to support diverse installation types and sizes that provide unique benefits, including, but not limited to, community-shared solar facilities and municipally-owned solar facilities, and which may include differentiation by utility service territory, the location or the size of the solar renewable energy generating source; (viii) considers environmental benefits, energy demand reduction and other avoided costs provided  by solar renewable energy generating facilities; (ix) encourages solar generation where it can provide benefits to the distribution system; and (x) promotes investor confidence through long-term incentive revenue certainty and market stability.

(c) Any solar incentive program developed by the department of energy resources under this section shall be submitted to the office of the attorney general for its review and approval. Notwithstanding the Solar Carve-Out II Program Capacity Cap, as defined under 225 CMR 14.02, generation units and aggregations shall remain eligible for qualification for the Solar Carve-out II under 225 CMR 14.05 (9) until the office of attorney general has approved a new solar incentive program.