Massachusetts Leads State-By-State Solar Report Card

SolarPowerRocks.com (SPR) released a state-by-state analysis of solar policies and incentives.  Massachusetts ranked third in the list with a grade of 95, one point behind New Jersey and New York.  With the introduction of SRECs and community net metering, Massachusetts has instituted one of the most tolerant policies toward solar while allowing a generous system payback of about 6 years of less.

SolarPowerRocks.com was founded to champion the solar energy movement.  Their mission is to alter the perceptions of legislators, decision-makers, homeowners, and business owners and boost the number of solar installations.  They do this by educating the public with real data.  Specifically, they synthesize solar data and maintain an updated state-by-state solar incentive resource with validated cost-impact analyses.

The SPR Report Card was graded and ranked by four different weighted criteria, including incentives (50%), utility policies (30%), net metering (10%), and interconnection (10%).  The incentives and the utility policies portion were graded directly by SPR while the net metering and interconnection ranking section was scored by the Solar Alliance and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) in their 2009 report, “Freeing the Grid.”  Incentives looks at the total subsidies available from the utility, state, or municipality to customers to move to solar power while utility policies takes into account the carve-outs for renewable energy and specifically solar in addition to electricity prices.  Interconnection and Net Metering only make up a small portion of the total weighed average. Interconnection deals with the technical rules for solar customers to “plug in” to the grid.   Finally, net metering refers to the special billing arrangement where a utility measures what a customer generates from their solar power generating system compared to what they use.   Customers can sell surplus electricity back to their utility at an equal amount they are charged for usage.

Massachusetts is the leading state in New England on the SPR Solar Report Card, receiving an A for Incentives and Utility Policies and a B for Net Metering and Interconnection.  The SREC marketplace, which originated this past January in Massachusetts, has significantly accelerated system payback.  In addition to SRECs, the state enjoys a generous rebate program, moderate personal income tax credit (could be better if it wasn’t capped at $1,000), property tax exemption, income tax exemption, and access to loan programs.  Massachusetts set their Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) target to 15% of all energy coming from renewables by 2020, and a 1% increase every year thereafter.  Within the RPS, the state has carved out 400 MW of the power generated from renewables to come from solar – only 17 states in the country have any kind of solar carve-out.

Of the 50 states graded in the SPR Solar Report Card, only 42% received passing grades (over 50) and nine states received an “A” rating which is up from four states in 2009.  Four of the top five states on the list are in the Northeast including New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.  California who probably had the best overall incentives and solar policies in the last decade dropped to 18^th on the list with a score of 64.  As installed capacity in California has risen, the rebate has stepped down to its lowest payout yet making room for new solar hot spots to emerge in other areas of the country.