Massachusetts lawmakers are working on a plan to allow plug-in solar panels to help offset the cost of power for consumers.
Massachusetts lawmakers are working on a plan to allow plug-in solar panels to help offset the cost of power for consumers.
BOSTON — The Senate is hoping to make Massachusetts part of an emerging New England trend and the latest state to make it easier for residents to deploy their own plug-in solar panels.
Plug-in or balcony solar systems can be plugged into a power outlet like an appliance, but rather than draw power from the building, they supply power for use elsewhere in the home. They are generally not mounted on roofs and small enough that they can be installed by people with little technical expertise, according to the Clean Energy States Alliance.
Utah was the first state to enact plug-in solar legislation last year and six other states have followed suit this year, CESA said. That includes Bay State neighbors like Maine, Connecticut and Vermont, where Gov. Phil Scott signed a plug-in solar law last week. Plug-in solar bills are pending on the desks of the governors in New Hampshire and New York as well.
“What we’d like to see is each of the six states in the New England region put into effect requirements and safeguards that more or less mirror one another, so that we can create a regional market for these products, which ideally my constituents and your neighbors will be buying at a Home Depot or at any consumer appliance store,” Sen. Michael Barrett, a main architect of the energy bill the Senate plans to pass next week, said. He specifically mentioned Maine’s law as the precedent from which the Senate proposal was spurred.
The bill advancing through the Senate would allow plug-in solar systems up to 420 watts to be installed without an electrician or any utility sign-off. Systems of up to 1,200 watts would require a licensed electrician for installation and a notification to the utility. It also bars utilities from blocking compliant installations or requiring studies, approvals or fees. The House’s energy bill also authorized plug-in solar systems, but with a different approach.
The idea, the senator explained, is that people will be able to buy solar panels and plug them in the same way they would a kitchen appliance. It wouldn’t strain a house’s electrical system “because safeguards will have been taken,” he said. Consumer-grade systems, he said, are generally powerful enough to power a refrigerator or clothes dryer.
“Clothing dryers are huge energy hogs in houses, and they’re the sort of things that that plug-in systems can can help address,” Barrett said.
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