House to debate energy plan
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Workers from California installer SolarCity put panels on a home in Connecticut. In Massachusetts, the discussion around renewables continues.
A plan that would require utility companies to solicit and purchase a combined 2,400 megawatts of renewable hydro and offshore wind power through long-term contracts is slated for debate in the House on Wednesday, pending a report on it from the House Ways and Means Committee.
Identified as a significant priority for House Speaker Robert DeLeo, the bill (H 4336) represents the House's attempt to address the more than 10,000 megawatts of reliable power generation from fossil fuel plants and Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station that is due to come offline in the coming years while also working toward the state's carbon emissions reductions goals -- all without driving up costs for ratepayers.
The bill recommended by the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy would direct utilities by next January to solicit contracts of between 15 to 20 years for the purchase of 1,200 megawatts of delivered hydropower. By July 2017, utilities would be required to solicit similar contracts for an additional 1,200 megawatts of "nameplate capacity" offshore wind.
Projects eligible for the contracts would be restricted to those operating in a "competitively solicited federal lease area," according to the bill, which environmental activists said would exclude the idle Cape Wind project. Baker, who filed his own legislation last summer calling for the solicitation of up to 2,400 megawatts of hydropower, has described the House bill as "a very strong bill that's built around the idea of expanding our portfolio, diversifying our energy sources and incorporating big slugs of hydro and wind into our portfolio here in Massachusetts."
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