Photo voltaic power in Massachusetts is dealing with an “unprecedented” assault from the Trump administration after the president accredited landmark laws this summer season that killed two key tax credit, business leaders advised Gov. Maura Healey and her prime local weather deputy Monday.
Clear power tasks throughout the nation, most notably offshore wind, have confronted headwinds beneath President Donald Trump, who has tried to stall main initiatives or block them fully. Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” took purpose on the sector by rolling again clear power tax credit.
Jessica Robertson, director of coverage and enterprise improvement for New Leaf Power, mentioned renewable power is “under an unprecedented attack from the federal government.”
“But Massachusetts has an opportunity to accelerate the deployment of solar in the next five years in spite of those attacks,” Robertson mentioned at a roundtable in Boston. “Massachusetts was an early leader in solar, but we ran into growing pains that brought the industry to a virtual standstill for several years.”
Tax incentives which have saved 1000’s of {dollars} for individuals within the U.S. trying to set up house effectivity upgrades, clear power installations like photo voltaic panels, or to buy electrical automobiles are set to run out on the finish of this yr.
The federal residential clear power tax credit score is slated to run out on the finish of this yr, and the clear power funding tax credit score is scheduled to finish after 2027.
Healey mentioned the tax credit have “helped make the electricity we need fast and affordable.”
“The (Trump) administration has slowed down permitting timelines and created other political roadblocks to energy development. They’ve imposed tariffs on materials that are needed for this industry and other industries, including gas turbines to transformers to steel, and this is going to contribute to delays and also to the raising of costs,” the first-term Democrat mentioned.
Business leaders mentioned elected officers in Massachusetts ought to reform clear power allowing to hurry up photo voltaic tasks.
Bronte Payne, senior supervisor for coverage at Sunrun, a renewable power firm, mentioned lawmakers ought to set up automated, on the spot allowing in cities and cities the place residential tasks are code-compliant and meet security necessities.
“Automated permitting helps more solar and storage get installed faster and reduces the cost,” Payne advised Healey and her deputies.
Healey signed laws in November that she argued accelerated clear power improvement by reforming siting and allowing processes.
The regulation established a 12-month deadline for municipal allowing for large-scale wind, photo voltaic, storage, and electrical infrastructure. It additionally required municipalities to problem a single allow on the finish of their course of.
Robertson mentioned there is no such thing as a different state within the nation the place business officers “can say that a project that we start permitting in 2026 can know that it will have a permit.”
“There is an increasing number of towns where solar and storage is effectively off limits. Your administration’s leadership has broken through this barrier to establish a new system with a standardized, data-driven approach to solar siting and much more predictability on timelines and outcomes,” Robertson mentioned to Healey.
Nick d’Arbeloff, a senior member of the industrial crew at ReVision Power, mentioned photo voltaic power delivered 5,000 megawatts of power, or $8.2 million in financial savings for ratepayers in Massachusetts, on June 24, the most popular day of the summer season.
Massachusetts has about 5.8 gigawatts of put in photo voltaic, d’Arbeloff mentioned.
“Supporting residential solar is essential for affordability, equity, and our broader clean energy goals,” he mentioned.
Supplies from the Related Press had been used on this report.
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