Signed by Governor Maura Healey

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to adopt a conference report and pass a bill that reduces clean energy infrastructure permitting requirements, mobilizes innovative technologies, and expands electric vehicle networks in Massachusetts.

Highlights:

• Establishes this bill as an Act Promoting a Clean Energy Grid, Advancing Equity, and Protecting Ratepayers (Sec. 2-135).

• Reduces clean energy infrastructure permitting requirements, mobilizes innovative technologies, expands electric vehicle networks, incentivizes innovative technologies such as battery storage, fusion energy, advanced metering, and meter socket adapters, includes measures to protect residents from high energy costs, and equips state agencies with the mandate to fight climate change in Massachusetts (Sec. 2-135).

• Amends policies to transform the future of energy generation, distribution, and consumption in Massachusetts (Sec. 2-135).

• Increases and expedites siting and permitting to consolidate reviews of clean energy siting and permitting, which will speed the pace of planning, constructing, and bringing clean energy infrastructure online to support clean energy technologies such as solar, wind, and storage to create an electrified future and reduce emissions (Sec. 2-135).

• Specifies large projects that require state, regional, and local permits will be consolidated into a single permit that requires action within 15 months and small projects with multiple local permits will also be consolidated into a single permit and require action within 12 months (Sec. 2-135).

• Specifies that each process is modeled on the work of a commission established by the Healey-Driscoll Administration that received extensive feedback from a diverse group of stakeholders (Sec. 2-135).

• Authorizes expedited permitting shall be paired with enhanced community review via new offices created by the bill, including (Sec. 2-135):

• The Office of Environmental Justice and Equity;

• The Office of Public Participation at the Energy Facilities Siting Board; and 

• The Division of Siting and Permitting at the Department of Energy Resources.

• Specifies that these new offices shall be created to help protect residents from bearing the cost of building new infrastructure (Sec. 2-135).

• Requires the Energy Facilities Siting Board to first consider maximizing the efficiency of current infrastructure through the use of innovative technologies such as advanced transmission technologies or grid-enhancing technologies before approving new construction (Sec. 2-135).

• Establishes an online clean energy infrastructure dashboard to promote transparency and public accountability in real-time (Sec. 2-135).

• Authorizes and incentivizes gas companies to pursue the expansion of climate and cost-friendly networked heat pump systems and geothermal heating by directing the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to consider greenhouse gas impacts when it weighs a petition by a gas company to expand its territory, reigning in a mandate that historically offered preferential treatment to natural gas infrastructure over other methods of heating (Sec. 2-135).

• Establishes a special legislative commission to study the impacts of the energy transition and decarbonization on the current fossil fuel workforce and further directs utility providers to offer lower rates to eligible low-income and moderate-income utility consumers (Sec. 2-135).

• Expands electric vehicle (EV) use and the availability of charging stations along with making pole-mounted charger installation easier on streets and in parking lots (Sec. ).

• Amends and centralizes statewide coordination of charger installation via the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Coordinating Council (EVICC) (Sec. 2-135).

• Specifies that the EVICC will also be responsible for identifying sites for a statewide network of fast charging hubs along Massachusetts highways and major roadways, as well as forecasting EV charging demand and determining its impact on the electric distribution grid over the next 10 years (Sec. 2-135).

• Repeals and further removes EV charger installation restrictions for residents who own parcels within condominiums, homeowner associations, and historic districts, and authorizes condo boards to install EV chargers on community parcels (Sec. 2-135).

• Extends the MOR-EV program through 2027, to give residents more opportunities to qualify for a $3,500 to $6,000 rebate for the purchase of qualifying new or used electric vehicles (Sec. 2-135).

• Reduces provisions to make it easier for cities and towns to procure electric school vehicles, including electric school buses, and EV charging equipment for municipalities (Sec. 2-135).

• Amends and dispels misinformation about electric vehicle and electric battery storage safety risks by requiring state guidance on the public health, safety, and environmental impacts of these technologies (Sec. 2-135).

• Establishes Massachusetts as the first state in the nation to add fusion energy to the list of Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) Class I renewable energy generating sources, to be in a strategically beneficial position as fusion energy becomes commercially viable (Sec. 2-135).

• Specifies and sets a 5,000 MW energy storage procurement to back up intermittent clean energy resources such as solar and wind (Sec. 2-135).

• Authorizes DOER to coordinate with other New England states to consider competitive solicitations for long-term clean energy generation, including existing nuclear generation, for the benefit of the Commonwealth and the region (Sec. 2-135).

• Authorizes and allows future offshore wind contracts to be set for terms of 15 to 30 years instead of the previous 20-year maximum (Sec. 2-135).

• Requires the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) to review the effectiveness of existing solicitations in contributing to state emissions requirements and ensuring high labor standards in clean energy, including offshore wind, clean energy generation, and storage procurements (Sec. 2-135).

• Requires DOER, in consultation with DPU and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), to issue guidance on long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) between offshore wind developers and municipalities, including approved aggregation plans (Sec. 2-135).

• Expands existing tax credits for offshore wind facility employers, who now only need 50 full-time employees to be eligible for tax credits and refundable credits for capital investment (Sec. 2-135).

• Specifies that as demand on the electrical grid increases with the adoption of electric vehicles and heat pumps, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) including smart meters, communications networks, and data management systems will enable efficient grid management and improved resiliency (Sec. 2-135).

• Increases support for the rollout of these crucial technologies by requiring the utilities deploying them to create a centralized data repository to provide access to detailed AMI customer data, subject to customer approval (Sec. 2-135).

• Authorizes DPU to provide cost recovery for necessary expenses incurred by utilities in AMI implementation. It further maintains consumer protections by establishing an opt-out option for electric customers (Sec. 2-135).

• Authorizes and allows customers to install EV chargers or heat pumps without triggering the need for expensive electrical upgrades by authorizing the installation of meter socket adapters to effectively manage increased load (Sec. 2-135).

• Establishes new policies to facilitate the deployment of solar energy through updates to historic district laws, providing policy recommendations through a solar canopy working group, and requiring DPU to explore expanding access to net crediting (Sec. 2-135).

• Expands affordability and access for low-income customers in the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program and authorizes the transfer of SMART solar credits to customers in any electric utility territory (Sec. 2-135).

• Authorizes condo association boards to install energy efficiency devices and EV chargers in common areas and increases the efficiency of heat pumps by allowing installers to use the most up-to-date refrigerants (Sec. 2-135).

• Extends the purview of MassCEC to include carbon removal, embodied carbon reduction, and nuclear power (Sec. 2-135).

• Requires MASSCEC to promote carbon removal and embodied carbon activities, and study opportunities for future carbon removal (Sec. 2-135).

• Requires and directs the state to analyze its own climate impacts and how state infrastructure can be more climate-friendly (Sec. 2-135).

• Requires and directs the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) to evaluate the climate impacts of state buildings and seek options for emissions reductions, and directs Massport to prioritize reducing emissions while pursuing commerce and growth (Sec. 2-135).

• Expands the mission of the Board of Building Regulations and Standards to include reducing emissions and embodied carbon (Sec. 2-135).

• Specifies that the provisions of this bill shall take effect immediately upon passage and approval by the Governor (Sec. 136-140).

Full Bill Text