Massachusetts has led the nation with public policy to create the “green” economy that will provide the jobs and protect our environment for the future. Right at the center of this effort is the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and its Commissioner Phil Giudice, whose twenty years experience as an energy consultant in the private sector is now being put to use in his work as a public servant to enhance the adoption of energy efficiency and alternative energy technologies here in Massachusetts. Through such programs as Commonwealth Solar, which used rebates and stimulus money, DOER has already helped subsidize over 1,200 solar projects in Massachusetts, expanding our solar generating capacity in just three years from 4 megawatts to the more than 50 megawatts currently operating or under contract.

Green energy produces green jobs. Already Massachusetts has over 200 companies, in every part of our state, who are manufacturing, installing, and providing customer service for solar energy, and add to that the employment from the solar research and development at our fine Massachusetts colleges and universities. As costs for solar energy continue to decrease, and competing sources of energy see their prices go up, this sector of our economy and the good jobs it produces will only increase in the future.

However, solar energy is currently one of the least efficient methods by price to produce electricity, and to make it competitive for tomorrow requires that we develop it and create a market for it today. In the past the successful Commonwealth Solar Program’s rebates to homeowners and businesses did this to the tune of $68 million while leveraging a multiple of this amount in private investment. This program proved so popular that the funding, coming from the Renewable Energy Trust and from the Alternative Energy Portfolio, lasted only two years rather than the three to four years anticipated. Even with this programmatic source of money exhausted, new demand has continued to grow for solar energy from residential, commercial, non-profit, and low-income sectors throughout the Commonwealth.

That is why the Division of Energy Resources is embarking on a new program, The Solar Credit Clearing House Program, which is a market-based program that will utilize new demand for solar energy as utilities will be required to have solar in their mix of renewable energy portfolio standards and to buy credits from residents and businesses with solar panels. This created market demand for solar credits will lead to a stable and long-term program of solar development in Massachusetts as funding reaches those operating and producing services here, and as new funding arrives from utilities and electricity producers. Homeowners, through their developers who package solar services, will turn to electric utilities for the supportive incentives of money and lower prices, and there will also be a new Commonwealth Solar II program of rebates for which consumers and small commercial users, with systems of 5 kilowatts or less, can apply as they did under the previous program. Under Commonwealth Solar II, which will begin taking applications in late January, $4 million per year will be available in rebates coming from the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust and funded by existing charges on utility bills. In addition, The Commonwealth Solar Stimulus Program, utilizing $8 million in federal stimulus funds, will be available for larger projects in Massachusetts. For example, a new 68,000 square foot facility at the North Shore Community College will use 2/3 less energy than a typical building built to code, just by using appliance efficiencies, sealing and insulation, and solar technologies that already exist. These will lead to a zero net energy need on an ongoing basis for this building and free it from having to be at the mercy of future volatile gyrations in energy prices. Homeowners can similarly bring down their need for traditional energy, and they can actually sell electricity back to their utilities from solar installations generating energy at times of low usage.

To provide more information Commissioner Phil Giudice recently appeared on my Cable TV show “The Beacon,” where he discussed solar energy plans for Massachusetts and the cutting-edge public policy developed by the Legislature and the Governor that has put us in the forefront of our nation on green energy solutions and jobs. I congratulate him and his state agency for their fine work to enhance our economy and protect our environment, and I encourage those interested in more information to go to the websites he suggested: for solar go to the DOER Website; for energy efficiency programs go to the MassSAVE Website; and for installers and questions to ask go to the Mass Renewable Energy Trust Website. For as long as we can now foresee, supporting the transition to energy efficiencies and renewables will be our necessary cutting-edge policy. The investments and incentives created today assure that we in Massachusetts will fully benefit in the future from the expanding world-wide green economy with its high quality green jobs.