Massachusetts Solar Owners Association

MASOA SOLAR POLICIES OBJECTIVES

October 31, 2013

All listed objectives are result of ongoing surveys of the membership
and may from time to time be changed. 

Federal, State & MassCEC Tax and Incentive Policies with at least 67% energy consumed (non-retail) by solar owner.

1. The Massachusetts Sales Tax exemption for solar components whether for solar thermal or solar electric has helped make solar clean energy more affordable. MASOA will work to keep this exemption in place.
2. To further efforts in the legislature to ensure property and excise tax exemptions for solar equipment and facilities are strengthened and detailed, MASOA supports the intent of Senate Bill 1329 and House Bill 2740 on this issue.
3. Continue MassCEC residential front-end incentives and extend them to 25KW (DOER defined “small solar”) from 5KW currently.
4. Remove the $1000 cap from the Massachsetts 15% solar income tax credit.
5. Initiate Solar Financing Loan guarantee (like SBA) to backup loans from banks and credit unions similar to the HEAT program loans for solar thermal systems.
6. End REC/SREC program and go to Feed-In-Tariff.

Net Metering policies to be pursued with the State Legislature & DPU:

1. Guarantee Net Metering for PV systems up to 25Kw with no cap limit.
2. Tie Net Metering Caps to Governor’s 1600 MW goal.

REC/SREC policies to be pursued with the State DOER:

1. That all solar RECs, regardless of being produced by installations before or after 2010, should have equal value. Why – early adopters though receiving more front-end incentives paid 3 x more for their investment; plus their clean solar electric is no different than that of installs on or after 2010.
2. Extend the solar RECS incentive to solar thermal installations.
3. Fixed Minimum SREC price for all direct owned residential PV systems 25KW or less based on projected floor price for each SREC program year (see below). By making the SREC credit-worthy will reduce risk for the ownership option and further balance the tax advantages of large commercial leasing and solar farm businesses.
4. Forward Minting if promulgated as a new incentive regulation should be based on Fixed Floor Price for maximum 10 yrs., and not subject to under production payback. The Forward minting option should only apply to direct ownership residential or Community shared projects and not to the third party ownership models.
5. DOER to maintain a fund to buy SRECs should Clearinghouse auction fail (again) so as to give credibility to the floor prices.
6. Any size Agricultural Farm non-resale PV System get minimum guaranteed a fixed SREC value based on the yearly projected floor price.