Massachusetts lawmakers have given an important boost to energy storage by approving storage as a legitimate part of solar+storage net metering programs in the state, according to PV Magazine.
The new net metering rules will allow distributed energy owners to export the energy saved in batteries and get paid for it if they can prove that the batteries were charged with solar energy. The Massachusetts legislature has also approved privately-owned energy storage installations to receive payments from the forward capacity markets.
There are currently close to two hundred solar-plus-storage projects in the pipeline in the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target incentive (SMART) program. These new policies, which have been under review for over a year, will contribute to the state’s goal of encouraging faster deployment of energy storage resources, unlocking the value of storage and its ability to lower the cost of energy on the Massachusetts grid.
