New Hampshire’s 10-Year State Energy Strategy is composed of everything from grid modernization and energy efficiency to fuel diversity and sustainable transportation. The arc of the plan covers all of the bases, but implementation is another story — specifically when it comes to solar. Here are some humble suggestions to really allow the industry to grow, and in turn, greatly benefit New Hampshire’s local economy.

The first is to increase the renewable portfolio standard (RPS) for Class II solar, which are new solar projects.

New Hampshire’s RPS requires electricity suppliers to obtain a certain percentage of electricity from renewable sources. Electricity suppliers can meet this requirement by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs) from qualified renewable energy sites, including solar. If an electricity supplier is unable to meet the RPS, it must pay advanced credit payments (ACPs). It’s also worth noting that these ACPs are what fund state solar incentives through the Renewable Energy Fund.

The RPS for the Class II solar goal is 0.7% and is set to stay at 0.7% until further notice. Right now, there is more solar deployed than there is demand for RECs, which is a bad thing. In order for REC values to increase and for more ACPs to be made, there needs to be a change where demand exceeds supply. Currently, it’s the opposite.

Increasing the RPS would provide solar customers with more of an opportunity to sell RECs while increasing the value of the credits. By shifting the supply-demand balance, electric suppliers will be forced to make ACPs, and this will help fund the Renewable Energy Fund.

This brings me to the next point: New Hampshire needs to increase funding for the solar rebate. The Renewable Energy Fund is severely underfunded right now. The money for the residential program expired in February when the funding really needs to last until June. Another benefit of increasing the RPS would be to bolster funding for this program.

Another thing that should be in the next 10-Year State Energy Strategy is a statewide battery utility program.

These programs allow customers who have solar and battery storage systems to discharge their batteries back into the grid during times of peak electricity demand. Solar customers can benefit by getting paid and see a return on investment, while utility companies can save money as they are avoiding having to pay extremely high electricity costs during times of peak grid demand.

Vermont has a large utility, Green Mountain Power, that does this successfully. It helps keep the actual energy itself in state by not having to call on out-of-state fossil fuels to fill in the gaps to meet demand. Also, by keeping the energy produced and utilized in state not only reduces transmission inefficiencies and losses, but also keeps our hardearned New Hampshire money in-state.

Finally, it makes sense to establish a battery rebate program similar to the current state solar PV rebate program. This would absolutely help incentivize the purchase of batteries since batteries are pretty expensive right now.

Expressing these industry interests to our New Hampshire decision-makers is important.

Eric Kilens is senior solar advisor at Granite State Solar in Bow.