Governor Chris Sununu signs renewable energy laws in Derry. Paula Tracy video
BY PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
DERRY – A '603 Clean Energy Win', Governor Chris Sununu signed two bills on Thursday morning that focus on promoting renewable energy initiatives.
Both bills enjoyed bipartisan support and are among the final measures expected to come into effect this past session.
Sununu, state lawmakers, and local officials gathered at the Derry City Transfer Center, where the city installed a solar power plant in 2018.
The Net Zero Task Force in Derry is working on a plan to enable the city to achieve net zero emissions for the community by 2025 and has been selected as the site for the bill to be signed https://www.derrynh. org / net-zero task force.
One of the measures signed by Sununu is Senate Bill 91, a collective bill on renewable energy and utilities that proponents of the commission allow public utilities to ensure that no additional costs are passed on to consumers.
The act affects the installation, interconnection, and use of energy storage systems by utility customers and also affects hydropower generators that share equipment for interconnection with the power grid.
And it leads the Public Utilities Commission in developing alternative tariffs for net energy metering.
It also sets up a commission to investigate limited electrical power generators.
House Bill 315 allows municipalities and school districts to build larger renewable energy projects.
It revises the procedures that apply to municipal or independent aggregators and municipal electricity supply companies for the aggregation of energy services.
The new law also provides for an exception to the net energy metering for in-house net electricity meter systems that generate electricity to compensate for the electricity needs of a group of local authorities.
Sununu said it is a great win for clean energy and tradeoffs to enable larger solar power systems to be built without "pushing" the cost of the fee payers.
He said New Hampshire needs renewable energy projects in the state and the way this is done in this state is different from other parts of the country. He said it was about everyone coming to the table to work on a solution.
Sununu noted a few years ago that there were similar efforts that were unsuccessful, but lawmakers stuck to them.
State Senator David Watters, D-Dover, who sponsored Senate Bill 91, made a statement after the bill was signed.
“The clear need to review and expand our renewable energy options has never been so obvious. Expanded net metering will help our citizens, companies and industries to become more innovative, reduce their energy costs and ultimately lower local property taxes. My section of this bill dealing with energy storage is essential for the advancement of all renewable energy sources, including solar and offshore wind. There is still a lot of work to be done to move us closer to a sustainable future and I am confident that this legislation is the next step in New Hampshire's journey, ”said Watters.
Net Metering in New Hampshire has seen a big boost today following the signing of the HB 315 Act, said Senator Kevin Avard, R-Nashua, a longtime proponent of expanding net metering to community projects and the main sponsor of SB 109, which has been partnered with HB315.
“I am pleased that, after years of discussions and negotiations, we are finally increasing the net metering cap for cities, municipalities and school districts. This will allow local governments to save money on electricity bills, lower local property tax rates, encourage local investment and increase state energy production, thereby avoiding the need for costly new transmission infrastructure. With HB 315 legal now, it's a huge win not only for the city of Nashua but for communities across the state, ”Avard said.