The new law ‘will start to truly unlock the benefits of solar to communities’
On the blue-sky morning of Aug. 26, Governor Sununu signed House Bill 315, raising the cap on net metering from 1 megawatt to 5 megawatts for arrays that are owned by “political subdivisions,” mainly municipalities. It’s a significant milestone in New Hampshire’s progress toward increasing its use of renewable energy.
In New Hampshire, net metering ensures solar customers get the biggest bang for their buck. When a solar array generates more power than needed, this energy doesn’t go to waste when net metering is implemented. It feeds back into the grid, so other people in the region can power their homes on clean energy. In turn, solar customers get paid for the energy they supply to the utility company.
Many players are positioned to see positive outcomes from this net metering expansion. For instance, the town of Derry has a goal to achieve cost-effective solutions for reduced energy use and sustainable energy development on town-controlled property. The town is developing a comprehensive plan to achieve the goal of “net zero” compliance by 2025. Net metering expansion will allow them to install more solar to reach this goal. Under the previous 1-megawatt cap, municipalities sometimes had to break up their larger projects into smaller ones, even though it was more expensive.
“This new law will start to truly unlock the benefits of solar to communities,” says Sam Evans-Brown, executive director of Clean Energy New Hampshire. “The bigger a solar array, the better the economics become, and today these multi-acre solar farms are some of the cheapest forms of power you can build. And as towns learn how to build these arrays, they’ll start to realize the savings, spread the good word to their neigh boring communities, and we’ll start to see a virtuous cycle that will push the clean energy economy forward.”
One such outcome of this “virtuous cycle” is job creation. The renewable energy sector is already creating a steady influx of new jobs every year, and expanded net metering will only add to that.
The U.S. Department of Energy recently reported that, compared to the fossil fuel industry, the renewable energy sector in New Hampshire employs nearly twice as many people.
And, during the pandemic, solar saw a smaller job loss than fossil fuels.
Eric Kilens, Granite State Solar’s solar advisor, points to himself as an example of the success of renewable energy to provide quality, resilient jobs in our state.
“This was my first ‘real’ job after graduating from the University of New Hampshire, and it gave me the opportunity to become a homeowner and eventually start my own family here in the great Granite State.”
But, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, New Hampshire ranks 40th in the nation for solar energy, so the passing of HB 315 is a step in the right direction, but the state has a lot more work to do, especially when compared to Massachusetts, which ranks eighth, said Kilens.
“We need more pro-solar policies to be passed so we can untap the real potential impact the solar industry can have on the local economy and job creation here in New Hampshire,” he said.
The latest net metering expansion is seen by the industry as a promising move, but they say Granite Staters shouldn’t be so easily satisfied. There is still a limit on how much energy towns can net meter, and there’s still a 1-megawatt cap on net metering for businesses and residences.
Jane Stromberg is outreach and policy coordinator at Granite State Solar, Bow.
