Emergency revisions to Massachusetts solar programme include energy storage mandate

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, photographed in 2017 at a local hospital that received energy and facilities upgrades including a solar-plus-storage plant. Image: Office of Gov. Charlie Baker.

The US state of Massachusetts has issued an emergency regulation to its Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) programme, that includes doubling the PV capacity it seeks to help deploy as well as mandating the addition of energy storage on projects over 500kW.

In a move that national trade body Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) said will “help stabilise the solar industry” during the difficult period of the COVID-19 crisis, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and other policy makers announced on 14 April a set of revisions to the existing programme. SMART will now support 3,200MW of new solar generating capacity, instead of 1,600MW, the revised document reads.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Under the SMART programme, solar power system owners in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts receive fixed rate payments for the solar energy they produce based on the kilowatt-hours of power produced. Those agreements last 10 years and vary based on system size, with owners of smaller systems receiving a little more than double what larger systems get, per kilowatt-hour.

Under the SMART programme, an extra ‘energy storage adder’ incentive can be triggered if solar projects – described as Solar Tariff Generation Units for the purposes of the scheme – are co-located with an energy storage system that has a nominal rated power capacity of more than 25% of the solar system. Perhaps most striking of the other revisions is the requirement that Solar Tariff Generation Units >500kW that apply for the SMART incentives now have to be co-located with an energy storage system.

To read the full version of this story visit PV Tech.

Read Next

April 25, 2025
Adani Green Energy subsidiary has signed a power purchase agreement with Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited for a pumped hydro facility.
April 24, 2025
Developer-operator Strata Clean Energy has broken ground on the 150MW/600MWh Justice battery energy storage system (BESS) located in Maricopa County, Arizona, US.
April 24, 2025
3.56GW of solar PV, wind generation and BESS have been selected to connect to the South West REZ in New South Wales, Australia.
Premium
April 23, 2025
A panel of owner-operators, optimisers and developers discussed the evolving dynamics of the ERCOT, Texas market at last month’s Energy Storage Summit USA 2025 in Dallas.
April 23, 2025
Viridi Parente has acquired the former Moxion Power production facility in Richmond, California, US, and secured a US$9.3 million grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC).

Most Popular

Email Newsletter