5 years after it was first proposed, Massachusetts’ Cape Gentle Compact (CLC) celebrated the long-awaited and tough regulatory approval of a first-in-the-nation vitality storage pilot program for purchasers. with low earnings. However in a wierd twist, the Division of Public Utilities concurrently accepted the pilot supply, whereas banning any related proposals for the foreseeable future.
The Cape & Winery Electrification Providing (CVEO) units a brand new normal for utilities throughout Massachusetts by providing free batteries, photo voltaic PV, and warmth pumps to income-qualified clients. And because the solely buyer battery fairness provided in Massachusetts, CVEO demonstrates that the state vitality effectivity price range can be utilized to cost-effectively present free battery storage to low-income clients.
The pilot program might be applied subsequent 12 months, focusing on 100 households in Cape Cod, Martha’s Winery, and Duke County. Eighty of those households are under the 60% Space Median Earnings (AMI) threshold, and twenty might be between 60-80% AMI. Low-income (LI) households obtain rooftop photo voltaic and warmth pumps fully freed from cost whereas median-income (MI) households should pay 20% of the associated fee. In addition they have entry to HEAT loans that present interest-free financing.
Of those 100 households, twenty 5 may also obtain battery storage. Low-income clients will obtain two batteries free of charge, whereas MI clients will obtain a $15,000 incentive for his or her battery methods (and entry to HEAT loans to assist cowl the remaining bills). The rationale behind offering two batteries to LI households is that the additional storage capability will allow them to run their warmth pumps within the occasion of an influence outage. That is just like Inexperienced Mountain Energy’s Resilient House program, which additionally supplies two batteries to taking part residential clients to create a whole-home resilient system.
Households receiving battery storage underneath CVEO are mechanically enrolled in Massachusetts’ ConnectedSolutions program, however don’t obtain extra funds by way of ConnectedSolutions to keep away from “double-dipping.” ConnectedSolutions efficiency charges might be paid to CLC to offset program prices.
To qualify for this system, CLC clients should not solely meet earnings {qualifications}; they have to even have participated in an vitality effectivity audit throughout the final two years, and applied all beneficial effectivity upgrades, together with changing fossil gas home equipment. In reality, certified clients can have absolutely decarbonized houses.
DPU approval of this new program has been a very long time coming. The Cape Gentle Compact submitted three earlier variations of this system since 2018 earlier than lastly gaining regulatory approval for this fourth (barely scaled-down) model; and the DPU could have simply given permission due to the passage of the Massachusetts 2022 Clear Power Act (formally titled An Act Driving Clear Power and Offshore Wind). Part 87A of the act authorizes an electrical vitality effectivity Program Administrator to undergo the DPU “proposed low and average earnings entire constructing effectivity, electrification and greenhouse gasoline emissions discount choices to a restricted variety of individuals throughout the low and average earnings buyer teams.” In its order approving the CVEO, the DPU cited Part 87A a number of occasions.
Nonetheless, the DPU discovered the pilot program to be “In one of the best curiosity of ratepayers” and acknowledged that “the advantages of the proposed demonstration challenge justify the prices to taking part and non-participating clients.” Because of this offering free battery storage, photo voltaic PV and warmth pumps to LMI households is a constructive funding for Massachusetts ratepayers. Advantages embody larger vitality effectivity, elevated renewable use and decreased fossil gas use, decreased statewide electrical energy prices as a result of decreased peak demand, elevated local weather resilience, and enhancing indoor air high quality. This system may also assist the Commonwealth meet its vitality fairness and decarbonisation objectives.
CVEO’s approval creates an necessary precedent that different utilities throughout Massachusetts should comply with. Sadly, the approval got here with a DPU ban on any related packages being proposed for 5 years, or till the outcomes of the CVEO pilot will be evaluated. It seems that income-eligible clients outdoors of Cape Cod should wait some time for the same fairness supply… until, in fact, a court docket ought to overturn the DPU’s ban on copying in a program that it already considers helpful and cost-effective.
No matter whether or not the DPU ban stands, different utilities in Massachusetts should now make their very own revenue-qualified battery proposals. And naturally, the Massachusetts DPU’s surprisingly strict resolution has nothing to do with different states. As Connecticut expands and improves the ConnectedSolutions mannequin – first applied in Massachusetts – with the Power Storage Options program, different states also needs to take note of the brand new electrification provided by the Cape Gentle Compact.
