The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources is looking to expand its solar development program to increase capacity and accessibility. But industry advocates have said a straw proposal presented at a series of stakeholder meetings held recently across the commonwealth does not go far enough.
The proposed expansion of the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target, or SMART, would add 800 MW of capacity and boost low-income-community access to the program, among other goals.
Massachusetts' SMART program was signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker in April 2016 and launched in November 2018 to diversify the commonwealth's energy mix, maintain grid resilience and reduce peak demand.
The straw proposal would bring the total capacity of the SMART program to 2,400 MW. Existing SMART capacity blocks for large systems — over 25 kW but less than 5 MW — are "full or nearly full," according to the proposal, and the additions would bring down the number of projects in limbo. With the expansion and an anticipated increase in application numbers, the program would be expected to last approximately five years.
Although the Solar Energy Industries Association, or SEIA, "welcomed" the straw proposal, David Gahl, the group's senior director of northeast state affairs, in a statement said "significant concerns remain."
"The 800-MW expansion is insufficient — it will not meet near-term customer demand, provide certainty to solar firms, or achieve the commonwealth's clean energy goals," Gahl said. SEIA would work with commonwealth regulators and the Baker administration to achieve "long-term success," he added.
Industry advocate Vote Solar released its own report Sept. 3 calling on the commonwealth to increase SMART program capacity to 4,800 MW, or double the total recommended by the Department of Energy Resources, or DOER. An expansion of that size, the report noted, would allow the commonwealth to "meet [its] clean energy deployment goals under the renewable portfolio standard ... and give solar workers confidence in a few years of consistent policy."
A department official, however, said the change recommended in the straw proposal would be sufficient to provide additional solar and storage growth for years while balancing market predictability and a changing technological landscape.
Vote Solar said Massachusetts' solar industry workforce lost 4,372 jobs — about 30% — from 2015 to 2018. According to the proposal, three utilities have active waiting lists for what the advocate's report describes as "shovel-ready solar projects [that are] now languishing." Increasing the expansion from 800 MW to 3,200 MW could lead to thousands of new in-state jobs, according to the group.
DOER also proposed expanding the definition of a "low-income customer" to cover those that meet certain environmental justice criteria. The move would enlarge the number of low-income residents eligible to participate in small-system capacity blocks of less than 25 kW as well as permit other low-income, community-shared solar models to qualify for incentive credits or solar adders. Currently, the number of low-income community members who have submitted qualified applications only amounts to 2.5% of the program's entire capacity, according to the commonwealth.
"We continue to be concerned about the level of low-income households participating," said Massachusetts Energy Undersecretary Patrick Woodcock, according to the State House News Service.
The straw proposal was presented at four stakeholder meetings held across the commonwealth between Sept. 5 and Sept. 10. A fifth public meeting is scheduled for Sept. 13 in Fitchburg, Mass. The next step will be for DOER to accept stakeholder comments, which it will do through Sept. 27, to consider while drawing up a draft amended regulation. Following an internal review process, the regulation will be filed and a full regulatory review will be completed within 90 days thereafter.
