Event Description

Boston Area Solar Energy Association
Forum: Thursday, Oct. 13th, 2016, 7 pm

DOER's 'Next Generation Solar Incentive Straw Proposal'
~ the Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Attend the BASEA Forum, Thursday, October 16th, to glimpse the future of solar incentives for Massachusetts.

First Parish in Cambridge Unitarian Universalist; 3 Church Street, Harvard Square
Time: Doors open at 7:00 p.m.; Presentation begins at 7:30 p.m

Solar incentives are fundamentally changing in Massachusetts. The Next Generation Solar Incentive Straw Proposal reveals the outline of the new program being developed by the Department of Environmental Resources (DOER). Public comments on the proposed program design are due October 28th, so, sharpen your pencils!

The draft program spells the end of SREC's (Solar Renewable Energy Certificates) and proposes a tariff system to replace it. Although the DOER notes "ALL PROGRAM DESIGN DETAILS SUBJECT TO CHANGE", it is clear that we are heading toward fundamental incentive changes and uncharted territory for solar system developers.

MassSolar will be our guide to grasping the Straw Proposal, and to helping us create written comments to voice our concerns with DOER. For anyone who followed the last couple of years of legislative wrangling and solar power advocacy, MassSolar proved to be an invaluable resource for information, analysis and coordination of advocacy efforts.

Ambitiously, the DOER aims for implementing the next generation incentive program in the summer of 2017. With the existing SREC-II program expected to "max out" sometime this coming winter, there is looming concern that solar developers will be left without an interim incentive program, unless DOER extends SREC-II or furnishes other emergency measures to span the gap. The fate of solar development hangs on what happens these next few months.

Speakers:

Mark Sandeen serves as the President of Mass Solar and is the founder of RePower Partners, LLC, responsible for managing and developing their portfolio of solar energy projects. Mark has built and led high-growth, high-tech teams at Avidyne, Object Design and Intel. He is Chair of the Sustainable Lexington Committee and a member of Lexington's Better Buildings, Community Choice and Solar Energy Task Forces. Mark also writes the monthly column, "All Things Sustainable," for Colonial Times Magazine.

Claire Chang, Vice President. Claire is a well-known anti-nuclear activist and co-owner of the Solar Store of Greenfield with John Ward in western Massachusetts. With their partners Grenergy and Torrico Electric, Solar Store of Greenfield is currently in the midst of implementing the successful 'Solarize Mass' program for the combined towns of Shelburne, Colrain and Conway.

For more information: http://www.basea.org/