Solar talks continue in informal sessions

State House News Service

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By State House News Service

Massachusetts lawmakers have settled into their winter recess, but Senate President Stanley Rosenberg says they are continuing to discuss a deal to raise caps on solar power and enacting a bill during informal sessions that run through December is not out of the question.

As formal sessions for 2015 ended last week, the House and Senate had each passed legislation to, among other things, raise the cap on the amount of solar power that can be sold back to the grid, and a conference committee was established to iron out differences between the bills. No deal was struck before the clock ran out last week.

Rosenberg said he spoke Monday with Sen. Benjamin Downing, one of three senators appointed to the conference committee, and Downing said the two sides spoke at the end of last week. Downing was to reach out to his House counterparts early this week.

"He will continue to try to negotiate and see if they can reach agreement. And as soon as there is agreement then we have the option of putting it on the floor whether it's in informal session or a formal session," Rosenberg said. "It's a type of bill that is typically easier to do in a formal session than an informal. That said, if they hit the magic note and it resonates with people then it could get on the governor's desk in an informal session."

During informal sessions, any lawmaker present can stop a bill's progress by merely objecting.

Rosenberg said that he has not spoken with House Speaker Robert DeLeo about the timing of the solar bill compromise - legislative leaders did not meet on Monday as they often do - but said that there is a level of urgency to finalizing a bill.

"The Senate put a bill over to the House in July and the governor put a bill over a few weeks ago," he said. "People's projects are on the line here, a lot of people's jobs are on the line and people have made a lot of investment in trying to advance solar and so we should be mindful that time is of the essence."

Lawmakers in both branches have expressed urgency to increase a cap on the amount of solar electricity produced by the private sector and public entities that can receive the retail rate.

A federal tax credit for solar production expires at the end of 2016, and caps have been hit in the National Grid territory and are close to being reached in other territories, including Eversource's, stalling solar projects that proponents say carry jobs as well as clean energy.

Reps. Brian Dempsey, Thomas Golden and Brad Jones and Sens. Downing, Marc Pacheco and Bruce Tarr are on the conference committee.

The state's net-metering program allows solar-producing businesses and municipalities to sell that energy back to the grid at retail rates. The current caps - 4 percent on private installations and 5 percent on public - are calculated as a percentage of the peak electrical usage.

After the House last Tuesday passed a bill that was roundly criticized by the solar industry for not going far enough on caps and undermining the value of reimbursements that make solar projects financially viable, the Senate on Wednesday updated its own plan to agree to the House's recommendation of a 2 percent cap raise across the board.

Differences remain, however, over how to reimburse solar-producing customers for the energy they generate. While proponents of higher reimbursement rates say the prices are necessary to encourage growth of the solar industry, critics question the need to continue subsidizing solar with higher incentives than those given to other clean energy resources like wind and hydropower.

Downing last week said the House bill went "too far on the cost side" to lower reimbursement rates after the state hits its target of 1,600 megawatts of installed solar capacity, while Dempsey said controlling cost for ratepayers that do not use solar is a prime concern to the House. In its version the Senate scrapped the House's plan to charge solar customers a minimum bill to offset the utilities' costs for maintaining infrastructure.

At a Senate Global Warming and Climate Change Committee hearing on Tuesday, Chairman Pacheco expressed hope about advancing legislation in the new year adding binding emissions reduction targets for 2030 and 2040 under the Global Warming Solutions Act.