New England Clean Energy Council, Massachusetts Legislators and Top Clean Tech CEOs hold Clean Energy Day. No Fossil Fuel attended the event, heard from legislators and department heads about the successes of the Massachusetts renewable energy market and the strength of its future.

The New England Clean Energy Council issued some great talking points that we should all be aware of:

• 80% of the $22 billion Massachusetts spends on energy per year leaves the state. Clean energy investment keeps our energy dollars at home.
• Massachusetts clean energy firms added 4,000 new jobs in 2010 - a nearly 7% growth rate that is expected to double in 2011.
• The clean energy economy now employs 64,000 Massachusetts workers, with a median annual wage more than $1,000 higher than the median wage for all jobs.
• Massachusetts 2008 energy policy reforms have earned the state a #1 ranking by the American Council on an Energy Efficient Economy
• Over the next 4 years, Green Community Act investments will deliver net savings of $5.8 billion on energy bills

• Calculation of net metering credits that apply to the net metering cap are 80% of the DC nameplate capacity of each solar facility.
• The Tariff specifies language pertinent to allocation of net metering credits for Municipal or Other Governmental Entities
• Qualification criteria of “other governmental entities” shall be determined on a case-by-case basis by the D.P.U.
• Process for allocation of net metering projects to the newly created Private and Public buckets shall be determined pursuant to additional feedback.

No Fossil Fuel has joined the Environmental Business Council of New England (“EBC”) in support of our renewable energy industry. The EBC hosts a Renewable Energy Committee that advocates on behalf of our industry and NFF sees this as an opportunity to amplify the policy work in which we are currently engaged.

No Fossil Fuel attended the Environmental Business Council’s Renewable Energy Committee Meeting on February 22, 2012 to discuss Massachusetts sticking points for solar development. The issues covered included:

1. Interconnection/Net Metering Regulations (D.P.U. 10-11-A Order). Presentation by Mimi Zhang, Sustainable Energy Advantage
2. SREC Pricing and lack of long ten commitments
3. Local real estate tax treatment / sales tax treatment
4. Regulation of installers and contractors
5. Local permitting issues and attempts to adopt zoning which blocks solar
6. Article 97 (Imposes a significant process on conversion of park or recreation land): Several recent projects involving solar and telecom have appeared to be hurt by attempts to broaden the land subject to protection to include all water department property