Massachusetts
Financial Incentives
Tax Benefits: The Clean Energy Biofuels Act exempts certain cellulosic biofuels from the state gasoline excise tax. Eligible biofuels must reduce lifecycle GHG emissions by 50 percent when compared to fossil fuels.
1
Businesses may deduct the cost of purchasing and installing any wind or solar climate control or water heating unit.
2
A 15 percent credit – up to $1,000 – is provided against the state income tax for the net expenditure of a renewable-energy system (including the purchase and installation costs) installed on an individual’s primary residence.
3
Massachusetts offers a corporate and personal excise tax deduction for (1) any income (including royalty income) received from the sale or lease of a U.S. patent deemed beneficial for energy conservation or alternative energy development by the Massachusetts Department of Energy
Resources, and (2) any income received from the sale or lease of personal or real property or materials manufactured in Massachusetts and subject to the approved patent.
4
The value added by eligible solar, wind and hydropower systems is exempt from local property tax.
5 Certain solar, wind, and heat pump systems are also exempt from the state’s sales tax.
6
Grants: The Green Communities Grant Program provides up to $10 million per year to municipalities for the implementation of energy conservation measures and projects, the procurement of energy management services, the installation of energy management systems, and the adoption of demand side reduction initiatives and energy efficiency policies.
7
Rebates: Residents are eligible for up to $2,000 in rebates for certain energy efficient home improvements. Home builders can also receive up to $8,000 in rebates for building a new home to the most stringent Energy Star standards.
8
Other Financial Incentives: Massachusetts supports a number of different clean energy incentives through the Renewable Energy Trust Fund (RETF)
9
and the Energy Efficiency
Fund.
10 For example, RETF funds the Massachusetts Sustainable Energy Economic
Development (SEED) initiative, which provides convertible loans to renewable energy companies in the early stage of development,
11
and various other wind, solar and hydropower projects.
12
Rules and Regulations
Renewable Portfolio Standard: IOUs and retail electricity suppliers must comply with
Massachusetts’ RPS.
13
Obligated entities must provide 5 percent of their retail sales from Class I renewable sources by 2010, increasing to 15 Percent by 2020. Class I resources include any of the following that have begun production or incrementally expanded production since 1998: solar PV or thermal electric, wind, ocean thermal, wave, tidal, fuel cells using renewable fuels, landfill gas, certain biomass, hydrokinetic, certain hydroelectric, and geothermal.
14
Obligated entities must also provide 3.6 percent of their retail sales from Class II sources each year. Class
II sources may be any of the types in Class I, but from facilities that came online prior to 1998.
15
Obligated entities must also provide 3.5 percent of their service from municipal solid waste each year. Retail electricity suppliers must demonstrate compliance by submitting documentation of

RECs. In the alternative, they may pay the alternative compliance payment (ACP); however, the ACP rates are designed to be higher than the market price of the RECs.
16
In addition to the
RPS, Massachusetts has established an alternative energy portfolio standard. Under this standard, obligated entities must provide a certain percentage of their retail sales from technologies which incorporate carbon capture and storage, CHP, flywheel energy storage, paper-derived fuel source substitute, energy-efficient steam technology, or other technologies, as approved.
17
Facility Siting and Permitting: The state has created model siting ordinances for wind and large-scale solar facilities.
18
Massachusetts allows for the creation of voluntary solar easements to protect solar exposure and authorizes zoning rules that prohibit unreasonable infringements on solar access. Solar access contracts are voluntary and solar access is not an automatic right.
19
In addition, the statutes allow for communities to authorize zoning boards to issue permits creating solar rights.
20
Building Codes, Appliance, and Equipment Standards: Massachusetts has adopted the 2009
IECC, with amendments, for new residential and commercial buildings.
21
The state has also developed a “stretch” code, which mandates a percentage reduction in total building energy use and is approximately 20 percent more efficient than the 2009 IECC.
22
The Green Communities
Act of 2008 (GCA) establishes a goal that fossil fuel use in buildings be cut to 10 percent below
2007 levels by 2020.
23
For state government buildings, all new construction and significant renovation projects over 20,000 square feet must meet the Massachusetts LEED* Plus green building standard. Smaller projects must meet the minimum energy performance standards established by the Massachusetts Sustainable Design Roundtable.
24
Massachusetts has set minimum energy efficiency standards for a number of appliances (however, some have been superseded by subsequent federal standards).
25
Electricity Transmission, Interconnection and Storage: Massachusetts has adopted the Model
Interconnection Tariff, which includes provisions for three levels of interconnection. Simplified interconnection applies to certified, inverter-based, single-phase systems less than 10 kW and certified three-phase systems up to 25 kW in capacity. For small renewables and larger DG systems, technical requirements are based on the IEEE 1547 and UL 1741 standards. A manual external disconnect switch may be required at the discretion of the utility.
26 The state’s IOUs must offer net metering. Municipal utilities are not obligated to offer net metering, but they may do so voluntarily. The aggregate capacity of net metering is limited to 1 percent of each utility’s peak load.
27
Government Procurement: Executive Order No. 484 (2007) requires state government to procure 15 percent of agency annual electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2012 and 30 percent by 2020.
28 The GCA requires that half of the state government vehicles be comprised of hybrid or alternative use vehicles by 2018.
29
Policies, Plans, and Governmental Affiliations
Policies and Plans: In 2008, the Governor established a task force of industry experts charged with designing a plan to reach Zero Net Energy building by 2030. The task force issued its final

report on March 11, 2009, outlining 44 policy recommendations for new and existing buildings in the commercial and residential sectors.
30
The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008 has the ultimate goal of reducing statewide GHG emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. It also requires the Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs to set an interim goal of 10 to
25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, as well as establish reduction targets for the years 2030 and 2040.
31 In December 2010, the Secretary released a Clean Energy and Climate Plan for
2020, which includes an interim target of reducing GHG emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, along with a plan to achieve that target.
32
The Executive Office of Energy and
Environmental Affairs issued the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Policy and Protocol governing projects being reviewed by the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA). It calls for quantifying a project’s GHG emissions; identifying measures to avoid, minimize, and mitigate a project’s emissions; and quantifying emission and energy savings for a project’s proposed mitigation. It also requires privately-funded buildings drawing 3,000 vehicles or more per day to report and mitigate GHG emissions.
33
Government Entities: Energy Efficiency Advisory Council,
34
Executive Office of Energy and
Environmental Affairs,
35
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center,
36
Massachusetts Department of
Agricultural Resources, 37 Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, 38 Massachusetts
Department of Housing and Community Development,
39
Massachusetts Department of Public
Utilities,
40
Massachusetts Department of Revenue,
41
Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting
Board, 42 Massachusetts Sustainable Design Roundtable, Zero Net Energy Buildings Task
Force.
43
Regional Memberships: Massachusetts is a member of RGGI and ICAP.
1 Chapter 206 of the Acts of 2008 ; http://1.usa.gov/e4zKLW .
2 MGL ch. 63, § 38H ; http://1.usa.gov/g1XHCA .
3 MGL ch. 62, § 6(d) ; 830 CMR 62.6.1
.
4 MGL ch. 62, § 2(a)(2)(G) .
5 MGL ch. 59, § 5(45) and (45A) ; Guidelines .
6 MGL ch. 64H, § 6(dd)
.
7 MGL ch. 25A, § 10 ; http://1.usa.gov/9cb4us .
8 http://www.masssave.com/ .
9 MGL ch. 40J, § 4E ; MGL ch. 25, § 20 ; Chapter 307 of the Acts of 2008 ; Chapter 158 of the Acts of 2009 .
10 MGL ch. 25, § 19
;
MGL ch. 25A, § 11G
; House No. 3965 (2007) .
11 http://www.masstech.org/seed/ .
12 http://www.masscec.com/ .
13 MGL ch. 25A, § 11F ; 225 CMR 14.00
; 225 CMR 15.00
; http://www.mass.gov/energy/rps .
14 MGL ch. 25A, § 11F(c) .
15 MGL ch. 25A, § 11F(d) .
16 MGL ch. 25A, § 11F(h) .
17 MGL ch. 25A, § 11F ½ ; 225 CMR 16.00
; http://www.mass.gov/energy/rps .
18 http://www.mass.gov/Eoeea/docs/doer/gca/gc-model-wind-bylaw-mar-10-2009.pdf
; http://www.mass.gov/Eoeea/docs/doer/green_communities/grant_program/Model-Solar-Bylaw-REV-Dec-2010.doc
.
19 MGL ch. 187, § 1A .
20 MGL ch. 40A, § 9B ; MGL ch. 41 § 81Q .
21 http://1.usa.gov/Oaqcz .
22 http://1.usa.gov/duj6Iq .
23 Chapter 169 of the Acts of 2008 .
24 Executive Order No. 484 (2007) .
25 MGL ch. 25B, § 1, et seq.; 225 CMR 9.00 et seq.

26 Model Interconnection Tariff ; http://sites.google.com/site/massdgic/ .
27 MGL ch. 164, § 1G et seq.
; Chapter 169 of the Acts of 2008 ; 220 CMR 18.00 et seq.
; 220 CMR 8.00 et seq.
; Net
Metering Model Tariff .
28 Executive Order No. 484 (2007) .
29 Chapter 169 of the Acts of 2008 .
30 http://www.mass.gov/Eoeea/docs/eea/press/publications/zneb_taskforce_report.pdf
.
31 Chapter 298 of the Acts of 2008 .
32 http://bit.ly/gyfB88 .
33 http://www.env.state.ma.us/mepa/downloads/GHG%20Policy%20FINAL.pdf
.
34 http://www.ma-eeac.org/ .
35 http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eoeeahomepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Eoeea .
36 http://www.masscec.com/ .
37 http://www.mass.gov/agr/ .
38 http://1.usa.gov/NRZvk .
39 http://1.usa.gov/6WZEsE .
40 http://1.usa.gov/e2T39n .
41 http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=dorhomepage&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Ador .
42 http://1.usa.gov/h9eUoo .
43 http://1.usa.gov/eBL3qv .