Legislation News
PrintMassachusetts suspends state-only rule for renewable energy
The original rules for state-only renewable energy projects aimed to support the Cape Wind offshore wind project - but state officials expected a legal challenge might arise
The original rules for state-only renewable energy projects aimed to support the Cape Wind offshore wind project - but state officials expected a legal challenge might arise
Massachusetts has suspended its requirements for utilities to source renewable energy from inside state boundaries.
The state’s Department of Public Utilities has issued emergency regulations to allow long-term contract proposals for clean energy that is no longer produced within Massachusetts, its waters, or nearby federal waters.
The move is a big win for energy giant TransCanada, which filed a lawsuit in April 2010 arguing that Massachusetts regulations discriminated against out-of-state generators – contravening the US Constitution.
The original laws under the 2008 Green Communities Act had been written to help support the case for the 468MW Cape Wind offshore wind project planned for Nantucket Sound.
The Act, which requires utilities to seek contracts with renewable energy generators twice every five years, had a get-out clause in the event that state-only requirements were challenged in the law courts.
Suspend
With the deadline for filing the first round of contract proposals just over a month away (July 21), the DUP said on Wednesday it was now taking the option to suspend the jurisdictional clause in the Green Communities Act.
It is also suspending the requirement that renewable energy contracts create jobs in Massachusetts.
The Department said it realized this could mean many more renewable energy contract proposals coming forward, but that it was amending the rules so that delay to renewable energy contracts is minimized.
Renewable energy proposals – including Cape Wind – will now have to demonstrate that they comply with the emergency regulations. In the Order from the DUP, the Department emphasized the fact that this means utilities must “enter into cost-effective long-term contracts to facilitate the financing of renewable energy generation.”
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