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MA Senate votes to change renewable energy property tax exemption

April 4, 2018

Instead of passing a bill to raise net metering caps, the Massachusetts Senate voted last week to advance legislation that would alter the long-standing property tax exemption for renewable energy projects. The bill (S.B. 2364) was passed out of the Senate Committee on Rules on March 26th and voted on by the Senate on the same day.  Should this  bill become law, it will: 

Massachusetts is the best state for landfill solar projects

April 2, 2018

A recent study notes that Massachusetts is home to 38% of all the solar landfill projects in the country.  The Commonwealth's approximately 100 solar landfill projects generate about 18% of all the solar energy produced on landfills in the US.  An Energy News Network article discusses why Massachusetts is the best state for landfill solar projects: 

Solar Warranties: Boring But Necessary

March 21, 2018

I get it. Warranties are boring. And sometimes unnecessary (think extended warranties on kitchen appliances).

But when it comes to putting a small solar energy “power plant” on the roof of your biggest asset – your home –  you want to be confident in the workmanship, and that you are getting the performance and savings you were promised. Warranties provide that confidence.

Solar Snapshot 2018

March 17, 2018

The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) released its Solar Market Insight Report this week.  2017 was another banner year for solar, with 10.6 gigawatts (direct current) of solar photovoltaic capacity installed. In line with previous years, 59% of the installed capacity came from the utility PV segment, while distributed solar accounted for 41% of installations. 

AstroTurf: New 'Sustainable Energy' Coalition A Front For Gas Interests

February 26, 2018

Despite its green-sounding name, the Mass Coalition for Sustainable Energy represents companies who want to build more natural gas pipelines. On twitter they go by @massforenergy. Luckily they only have 27 followers so far - 3 of which are from National Grid including Marcy Reed.  

Massachusetts solar groups say policy changes needed to stem job loss

February 26, 2018

Massachusetts solar organizations fear a double-digit jobs slip will lead to a permanent employment slide for their industry if state legislators and agencies don’t tweak policies they say are not friendly to renewable energy.

Six industry and advocacy groups sent a letter to Republican Gov. Charlie Baker earlier this month spelling out how he can intervene to back the commonwealth’s 488 solar employers and 11,530 full-time workers.

Rooftop Solar Can Deliver 50% of Mass Electricity Demand

February 17, 2018

A report from the US National Renewable Labs has found that rooftop solar can provide up to 40% of the nation's electricity demand. 

New England doesn’t have the sunniest skies, but the limited need for air conditioning in the summer helps keep electricity use down. As a result, that region could produce about half its total electricity from rooftop solar. And if you consider residential buildings separately, they can produce about as much electricity as people use in their homes.

3,052 Massachusetts solar jobs lost last year!

February 8, 2018
The Solar Foundation released a stunning report on the state of solar in Massachusetts.  They announced that Massachusetts had lost over 3,000 jobs in the last year or 21% of all solar jobs in Massachusetts. 

Net Metering Cap Update

February 6, 2018

Net metering caps have posed a challenge for a number of solar projects the past couple of years (Note: Small-scale solar projects, e.g. most rooftop residential projects are exempt from net metering caps).  The legislature’s approach to net metering caps is to grant small cap increase every couple of years.  However, due to the high demand for solar, the cap increase never last long.  As soon as caps are hit, solar is put on hold across Massachusetts.

Challenging Eversource's new solar fees

February 6, 2018

Last month, our friends at Vote Solar announced that it will challenge the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities’ (DPU) recent decision to raise rates and create uncertainty for future solar customers in the Eversource utility territory. The non-profit advocate, represented by Earthjustice, is appealing a January 5th DPU order that forces residential solar customers to pay additional charges, which could range anywhere from $4,400 to $9,400 over the life of the solar system, depending on the customer.

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