House lawmakers approved a plan Wednesday to increase the use of wind energy and imported hydropower.
House Speaker Robert DeLeo accepted Gov. Charlie Baker's challenge to solve the problem of how to meet Massachusetts's future energy needs with a bill he said will meet the needs of consumers while achieving the state's clean energy goals.
Baker often characterizes energy choices as a "combo platter" comprising coal, natural gas, renewables, a dwindling supply of nuclear, and other sources.
DeLeo's House Wednesday passed his preferred combo platter, one split more or less evenly between mandates for 1,200 new megawatts of Canadian hydropower and 1,200 megawatts of offshore wind energy.
The bill mandates power utilities to enter into long-term contracts with energy generators to bring specific amounts of the clean energy to Massachusetts.
Through year-long talks, DeLeo stressed that ratepayers' pocketbooks were just as important to him as meeting the ambitious greenhouse gas emission standards the state laid out eight years ago.
Many on Beacon Hill understand the urgency of providing clean energy sources and moving away from CO2-emmiting coal plants. But even more urgent in the minds of many lawmakers is the impact expensive clean power will have on constituents' monthly energy bills.
"We strike that balance of achieving our carbon reduction goals ensuring that our ratepayers are not overburdened," Rep. Tom Golden, DeLeo's energy chairman, said on the House floor while introducing the bill. "Not only will this 1200 megawatts of offshore wind provide a significant amount of clean energy and carbon-free electricity, it may also provide an economic boost."
“Through this bill, the House tackles these challenges head on, adopting a viable, real-world strategy that will stabilize costs, protect ratepayers and promote clean energy," DeLeo said in a statement.
Rep. Michelle Dubois from Brockton, said: "This bill uses the market in a remarkable way to push for and create a clean economy that will move our state in the right direction."
A late addition slapped onto the bill by House leaders would allow utility companies to charge ratepayers up to an additional 2.75 percent to compensate the companies for using the costlier clean energy.
In a release after the bill's passage, the New England Power Generators Association, a coalition of wholesale power producers, criticized the plan for locking about a third of the state's power contracts into long-term contacts instead of allowing for a freer market. The group claims the bill, as it stands, "has the potential to dramatically increase costs for consumers" by limiting market innovations that could create new power efficiencies.
"Locking consumers into decades-long contracts would also freeze out innovation at a time when tremendous growth and promise is evident from more efficient power generation, lower renewable energy costs and burgeoning distributed electricity supplies," NEPGA President Dan Dolan said in the release.
Environmentalists weren't thrilled with the bill either. The Environmental League of Massachusetts called the act a "small step forward to bring online our massive offshore wind energy resources but there’s much more work to be done."
Environmental advocates looking for more investment in renewables like wind and solar energy will look to the Senate next, a friendlier chamber for added clean energy mandates.
While Ben Hellerstein, State Director for Environment Massachusetts, welcomed the advancement of wind power in the House plan, he called the bill a "baby step towards a 100 percent renewable energy future."
