Massachusetts is a leader in solar energy due to its RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standard) that mandates utilities to use cleaner energy sources. Learn more in this interview with Solaris Renewables VP Brian Sadler.
John: Hi, I’m John Maher and I’m here today with Brian Sadler, Vice President at Solaris Renewables, a solar company in Massachusetts providing premium solar and storage technologies with exceptional customer service; and designing, installing and servicing solar systems in Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and Maine. Today our topic is why are Massachusetts Solar incentives so good? Welcome Brian.
Brian: Hi John. Thanks for having me in.
Fossil Fuels Used for Electricity Generation in New England
John: Yeah, sure. So Brian, we’re talking about incentives to get people to choose solar power and put solar panels on their roofs. As we know here in Massachusetts, a lot of our power comes from natural gas, and even the electricity that we get is created through natural gas at the power plant. But are there other fossil fuels for electricity generation that are being used here in New England and how much of a role do they play in it?
Brian: That’s a good question and it leads to why renewables is so well-supported in the region really, and even outside of Massachusetts. Massachusetts has been a leader for a long time and has made regulations basically with goals that they put upon the utilities for cleaner power.
Some of that was what you brought up with natural gas, right? We used to burn mostly coal. And I remember as a kid, my father was a tugboat captain and brought coal into the Salem power plant. We used to go visit him there, and now that power plant is natural gas, and a lot of that is through the state’s support of renewables and dictating to the utilities you need to have certain milestones.
They had a 2020 plan, 2030, and now a 2050 plan as well, and no more burning coal. So they needed to invest in that infrastructure to transfer that, or retrofit, I should say, that plant from a coal-burning plant to a natural gas, so obviously a huge investment. That investment gets passed on to us, the ratepayers, which is often why we have some of the highest electricity rates in the country.
Nuclear is part of the mix as well, and other states do have coal as well. Sierra Club just sued the state of New Hampshire and won to get rid of coal in New Hampshire, so they’re sunsetting their last two coal-fired plants in New Hampshire coming up in the near future. And all this is with the mindset of burning cleaner fuel, right, for our residents and the environment to have cleaner air, water, and land as well.
And then on top of that, we don’t have any fossil fuels that we source here in New England, and they all need to be insourced and brought in from other parts of the country or world. So we ship in, we pipe in, natural gas. We barge in, like I said, right, in the past, coal, or truck in or train in coal, and then there’s no security or independence to that. So the only way for our region to have any of that energy security and independence is to generate it ourselves. And really, here in the northeast, specifically New England, not having any of those fossil fuels, it’s with renewables, and that’s why most of our states are strong supporters of solar and wind, geothermal adoption as well.
Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS)
John: Okay. Can you explain what a renewable portfolio standard or RPS is and how it’s impacting the way that electricity is generated here in Massachusetts?
Brian: Sure. That’s kind of the next level on what we were just talking about, that due to that regulation that the states have imposed upon the utilities, they’ve set a standard that a certain percentage of that energy mix that they generate needs to come from renewables. And the utilities can go and clear cut land or try to find mixed use land opportunities to install essentially large scale solar or wind projects, which is an investment and a lot of resources on their end, or otherwise, they can invest directly in solar and wind by paying those homeowners and business owners and landowners who choose to invest in solar or wind in some cases as well.
The renewable portfolio standard sets milestones and benchmarks on how much of the percentage of electricity generated needs to come from renewables, and then it really creates a market where there are income programs that homeowners and businesses can take advantage of by investing in solar and then get an income stream that helps offset their investment in solar as well.
It’s really a powerful tool that we have here in New England for homeowners and businesses to adopt solar, and it’s fairly unique. There’s a handful of states throughout the country that do have renewable portfolio standards, but it’s not standard across the country and it’s not commonplace, but it’s really an opportunity for us to accelerate the adoption of solar.
John: So basically we’re, in Massachusetts, supposed to be having, like you said, a certain percentage of our energy coming from renewable sources, but rather than having the state doing that themselves, they’re basically giving money through incentives to homeowners and businesses to incentivize them to switch over to solar, and that counts toward that percentage.
Brian: More so it’s really the state creating legislation and regulation for the utilities and saying, “Utilities, you’re the power generators, you need to have cleaner mix of power.” And the utilities are now motivated to either get fined for not hitting these benchmarks or go have significant investment in infrastructure to generate, to invest in renewable solar fields, for instance, and then generate power that way, or otherwise, RPS is a really strong way for the utilities to create payments in a market directly to those who invest in solar like homeowners and businesses.
That’s what it’s really designed to do is to get more of an energy mix and hit the benchmarks for cleaner energy solutions, and there’s really a whole market around it. We have third party energy suppliers now, energy being deregulated, so folks can choose, on their electric bill, their supplier. And a lot of those suppliers, for instance, are brokers who are choosing and selling their energy at a higher rate for homeowners to feel like they’re investing in a cleaner energy that way.
How those brokers are making greener power or cleaner power is by buying these mechanisms. They’re usually called renewable energy credits, and they’re buying these renewable energy credits or RECs to support renewables in that fashion, and so that’s how folks can support renewables. Corporations buy renewable energy credits as well, but utility is a primary driver and through the state legislation for the renewable portfolio standard and cleaner energy mix.
John: You mentioned that Massachusetts has to bring in all of our fossil fuels that we use to burn and create electricity. Does increasing our reliance on solar, and possibly wind power as well, actually make New England more secure when it comes to our energy supply?
Brian: Yeah, absolutely, right? Any fossil fuel has a market as well. In the winter our utility rates go up significantly because, again, we don’t have natural gas here, so we’re bringing it in, but we’re also heating our homes with natural gas, so there’s even more demand for natural gas between creating energy and for burning it for heating in our homes and businesses.
That demand increase drives up the cost, and that’s why we have significantly higher electricity costs. And so, we are subjected to essentially the natural gas market throughout the year. And because we don’t control or source any of that natural gas, the only way for us to have any independence from that or security against that is to generate our own power. And really, the only way that we can generate our own power is through renewables.
Solar is one of the most deployable renewable energy sources, given that it’s come so far and the market has matured and the equipment has matured to the place where it’s much more easily deployable to homes and businesses than wind is, for instance, or for geothermal. Wind and geothermal don’t necessarily work everywhere, and solar doesn’t necessarily work everywhere, but it’s more accessible and it does work more readily in more places.
Challenges to Integrating Solar Power into the New England Power Grid
John: So we all know that solar power is better for the environment than burning fossil fuels, but are there any challenges to integrating solar power more fully into the New England power grid?
Brian: Well, one of the biggest barriers is, I would say, the utility and regulation and the stress on our antiquated grid. Our grid is one of the oldest in the country, and there’s been marginal and incremental improvements to that over the last 140 years. By naturally adding more power onto that grid, be it from more population, more homes, more businesses, and then you’re adding another power source to it with solar or wind, it does create more stress on it.
And so one of the biggest barriers is the acceptance of the utility to update their equipment, and we have a whole movement called the grid modernization where the renewables industry, the utilities, the state and constituents are all looking at how do we modernize our grid in a safe and reasonable fashion that’s not disruptive.
It’s a huge challenge, and it’s a hard problem to solve, but one really great way to solve that is through smart adoption of renewables, and we just need to all work together to try to make that happen. But some of the grid infrastructure itself is limiting, and we have a lot of customers that have to invest in transformers upgrades in order to do their solar system, and it’s hard to make the ratepayers pay for that infrastructure, and that’s kind of how the rules are set right now.
I think that just the regulations that we have here make it challenging. There’s a lot of red tape. I mean, it’s also part of the reason our standards of living are so high here in New England is that we do have regulation that protects the general public as well. There’s certainly a balance, but I would say that’s one of the biggest challenges is the grid infrastructure.
By smaller systems being incrementally added, so mostly residential individuals investing in solar on the homes, we’re truly distributing power and distributing that load throughout state, and it’s really the most efficient way for us to get energy security and the energy independence and really distribute that power and energy generation throughout our state, our neighborhoods and communities and benefit for everyone as a whole.
Key Things Massachusetts Needs To Do To Become More Energy Independent
John: So in terms of that energy independence, what do you think are some of the key things that Massachusetts has to do in order to become more energy independent and less reliant on outside sources for electricity?
Brian: I think a lot of it is education of the general public and understanding how simple and easy the adoption of solar is. I think we’ve had some challenges in our industry with bad actors that have muddied the waters and make it confusing for homeowners and businesses and that has led to some hesitation with the quick and easy adoption.
We’ve seen a couple different bursts and boosts in our industry as a whole, and the adoption as a whole in Massachusetts and New England has been tremendous and growing mostly year-over-year, but there are still a lot of folks out there that don’t understand it yet or have been given conflicting information, which makes it confusing. I think a big piece is the education, and that’s on companies like ourselves and organizations that we work with to help get the information, the right information, into the general public’s hands.
And then I’d say other folks getting involved as well is a huge piece, but we have, fortunately, some of the best incentives here in New England due to these strong policy measures set by the state that allow us to have some of the best energy savings opportunities with the net metering programs we have, which are really strong and are secure for some time to come because of these benchmarks that the state has set, as well as because we have a strong renewable portfolio standard, there is quality income for homeowners and businesses to offset their investment in solar.
John: All right. Well, that’s really great information, Brian. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Brian: Thanks, John, I appreciate it.
John: And for more information, you can visit the Solaris Renewables website at SolarisRenewables.com or call 781-270-6555.