Massachusetts is on the cusp of adopting one of the largest
renewable energy procurement programs in New England. So why aren't renewable
energy advocates cheering more loudly?
Perhaps it's because half of the 2,400 megawatts of new
clean energy will come from Canadian hydro dams, effectively bypassing U.S.
firms that argued that developing homegrown energy resources would spur more
economic development and better diversify New England's energy market.
Or it could be that half of the new clean energy will come
from yet-to-be-built offshore wind farms. While offshore wind is a promising
new source of electricity for New England, it remains a higher-cost form of
energy than either utility-scale solar or onshore wind power.
Gov. Charlie Baker (R), who has strongly backed hydropower
imports to help Massachusetts meet its obligations under the 2008 Global
Warming Solutions Act, has said the bill could be one of the most important
policies to emerge from this legislative session, which expires at the end of
July.
Among other things, the addition of large amounts of hydro
and offshore wind would help offset the loss of coal and nuclear power
generation, which has been gradually diminishing in the commonwealth since
2014. The state's last baseload coal plant, the 1,500 MW Brayton Point Power
Station, is scheduled to close by the end of 2017.
And last year, Entergy Corp. said it would close the state's
last commercial nuclear plant, the 680 MW Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in
Plymouth, by no later than June 2019. It pointed to poor market conditions and
high operating costs.
The dramatic shift in Massachusetts' power portfolio has
created new opportunities for clean energy and spurred enthusiasm for
large-scale renewables, including offshore wind, which could produce several
thousand megawatts of power along the Atlantic coast, according to experts.
But critics, including some of the state's leading
environmental groups, still see a plate half-full.
"The House bill would be a step in the right direction
for ramping up the state's use of renewable energy, particularly hydropower and
offshore wind. But we need to think bigger," said Ken Kimmell, president
of the Union of Concerned Scientists and former commissioner of the
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
Cheapest sources left out
UCS and other organizations argue that the state is
short-selling its clean energy generation potential. In addition to calling for
an even larger offshore wind procurement target by 2027, Kimmell said, "we
need to take better advantage of our land-based renewables."
Such resources would include onshore wind -- which could be
built in western Massachusetts or imported from New York, Pennsylvania or Maine
-- and solar power. Massachusetts has tapped solar extensively at the
residential and commercial scale, with 1,080 MW of installed capacity, but has
lagged behind with large-scale utility projects.
Clean energy advocates say the House bill hamstrings
Massachusetts' clean energy prospects by stipulating that only two energy
resources -- large hydro and offshore wind -- could bid on major new generation
requests from utilities as stand-alone projects. Other renewables, including
onshore wind and solar, would be allowed to bid only if they're paired with
hydropower, according to the legislation.
Advocacy groups, including the Environmental League of
Massachusetts and the industry coalition RENEW Northeast, are now urging the
Senate to restore onshore wind and solar to the list of generation options in
the energy bill set to begin taking shape this month.
"By failing to allow all renewable energy sources to
compete, the Massachusetts House of Representatives is leaving out the most
cost-effective clean energy resources, plain and simple," said Francis
Pullaro, executive director of RENEW Northeast. "Clean air doesn't have to
come at a higher price."
Josh Craft, program director for energy and climate policy
at the Boston-based Environmental League, said his organization is not opposed
to importing more Canadian hydropower if it allows Massachusetts to wean itself
from natural gas generation, which provided roughly 60 percent of the state's
electricity last year.
But boosting Canadian hydropower, which would be carried
over new transmission lines from Quebec to New England, should not come at the
expense of fully tapping existing resources of Massachusetts and neighboring
states. "We're talking about a very large missed opportunity if we don't
facilitate these renewables getting to market," he said.
Senate hasn't weighed in
While the Senate has yet to draft its energy legislation,
Craft said the chamber has traditionally been "more ambitious in their
work on climate change, and also more supportive of solar" than the House
of Representatives. He believes, however, that the two bills will have
significant overlap.
Much of the attention in the near term will focus on state
Sen. Ben Downing (D) of Pittsfield, chairman of the Joint Committee on
Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy.
The five-term lawmaker, who has been recognized by advocacy
groups for his support of clean energy, was not immediately available Friday.
Last month, however, Downing told The Boston Globe that he would like
to see the legislation broadened to include provisions on other advanced
technologies and energy management strategies, such as battery storage and
efficiency.
In April, Downing was instrumental in reaching an agreement
between House and Senate lawmakers that preserved key elements of
Massachusetts' solar net-metering program, a policy that has stimulated the
commonwealth's solar market over the last decade.
Under the new net-metering law, public and private caps on
net-metered power were raised by 3 percent, and proposals to reduce
compensation for owners of large solar arrays from retail to wholesale power
rates were softened.
"Solar is a key piece of our strategy to combat climate
change and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels," Downing said in a
statement marking the passage of the net-metering bill.
Meanwhile, offshore wind developers are positioning
themselves to capitalize on the new Massachusetts energy law.
Last year, Danish firm DONG Energy secured a federal lease
roughly 15 miles south of Martha's Vineyard to build up to 1 gigawatt of
offshore wind capacity that would be sold into the Massachusetts market.
Other firms looking to sell offshore wind power into
Massachusetts and the broader New England market are Deepwater Wind, the
builder of Rhode Island's Block Island Wind Project, and Cape Wind Associates,
which continues to pursue construction of a large wind farm in Nantucket Sound.
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