In 2008, Massachusetts passed the Green Communities Act, which empowers all 351 cities and towns in the commonwealth by helping them find clean energy solutions and manage long-term energy costs.
2013 was an extremely successful year for the solar industry in the United States. After two horrible years of poor performance, solar companies have made a turn-around and stock values have more than quadrupled.
The month of December marks the start of Solarize Massachusetts Round 2, a community solar program designed for targeted outreach to residential and small business owners. This is the third year that the program is running, and marks a successful campaign to sign up Massachusetts residents for solar.
Every year, the growth of solar development in Massachusetts increases at an extraordinary pace. Almost all projects completed thus far in the Department of Energy Resources’ Solar Carve-Out program have been private. As more and more solar systems continue to be built, many nonprofit entities have begun wondering why they are being left on the sidelines.
The concept of net metering was first introduced to Massachusetts in 1982 as a policy to encourage small distributed generation into the local electric grid. Net metering, when originally implemented, was intended to allow small property owners to supplement their own electric consumption with onsite power generation.
The Massachusetts’ Department of Energy Resources held a series of stakeholder meetings to discuss the planning and structure of a new Solar Renewable Energy Credits program in support of continual support and development of solar renewable energy in the commonwealth. The program has not yet been signed into law, but it does outline a very promising model that prevents past market oversupply, and takes into account the concerns of residential and small business owners.
Solar stocks rallied in recent months as markets stabilized and recovered from oversupply and regulatory uncertainties. Bloomberg reports that the clean tech and renewable energy industry saw a 22 percent growth in the second quarter this year with increased spending by investors. Other analysts report that photovoltaic module manufacturers saw a turn-around from declining revenues to steady increases in sales and growth.
It may come as a surprise that incentives awarded to growing industries are not free handouts. Historically, subsidies and incentives have been given out as a boost to the economy or support for an emerging industry that lacked competitive advantage. These young industries would eventually wean off their supporting aid and eventually achieve a critical mass and become either self-sustaining, or highly competitive in pricing.
The gold rush era of solar in the United States is approaching an end. The market is consolidating and strategic alliances between participants are being put to the test. This change in the industry should be viewed as a coming of age for renewable energy as it reaches for grid parity with traditional sources and propel sits status towards a mature and proven technology.
Banks and new-wave financing groups are helping municipalities with their abandoned or idle landfill solar projects.
Solar, often on the backburner of energy financing, has recently surged in popularity due to its low-risk exposure, and government and state support. For solar to reach grid parity, developers and financing groups must work on projects of scale, and implement the same financing vehicles that have driven traditional energy funding.
