Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 11:45:57 AM - by Nate Lew

On August 12, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, or DPU, which oversees the activities of the state’s investor-owned electric, natural gas and water industries, agreed that Western Massachusetts Electric Company, or WMECO, can build and operate solar energy arrays.

The DPU move was in response to a request by WMECO (which serves about 2100,000 customers in Granville, Southwick, Agawam, W. Springfield, Springfield, Long Meadow and Ludlow Counties) to install 6 megawatts of solar energy by 2012, or enough to electrify about 6,000 homes.

The approval is part of the Green Communities Act, an initiative signed by Gov. Patrick Deval on July 2, 2008 to promote renewable energy by offering technical and financial assistance to municipalities making a commitment to efficiency and renewable energy.

Massachusetts currently has a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) of 1 percent per year, with no cap, which means utilities are required to obtain renewable power equal to 4 percent of sales in 2009 – a level that rises to 15 percent in 2020 and 25 percent in 2030.

The law also provides homeowners and small businesses with the option to sell excess electricity from 2-megawatt (or less) solar power and other renewables back to the utility at favorable rates under a new, net-metering statute, and allows utilities to own solar energy arrays they place on their customers’ roofs, up to 50 megawatts per unit after two years.

Under a June 18 agreement reached between WMECO Attorney General Martha Coakley, the utility will abandon its original plan to have 15 megawatts by the end of 2012, and will now limit the program to 6 MW and install it over three years instead of one. This reduces the impact on ratepayers.

The first of WMECO’s solar energy arrays will be built by next year. The long-range plan is for mostly ground-mounted arrays on land that can’t be re-purposed (water treatment facilities, retired landfills, etc.). The added cost to ratepayers, according to Western Massachusetts Electric Company’s President, Peter Clarke, will be about sixty cents per month.

Western Mass. Electric was the first of three utilities filing for solar installations with the Massachusetts DPU. The DPU is also considering proposals by National Grid and Unitil.

National Grid’s proposals currently focus on a 1.5-megawat installation in Revere, on Wharf Street; a 1-megawatt installation near the company’s natural gas tank on Victory Road in Dorchester; a 1.5-megawatt installation on Rover Street in Everett; and a 1-megawatt installation on Hilldale Road in Haverhill.

Unitil filed for approval of a pilot photovoltaic program on July 23 which is expected to lead to the (eventual) installation of more than 100 kilowatts of solar energy, in two components, the latter in cooperation with Fitchburg State College, which plans to offer a solar energy installer curriculum and certification.