Governor Chris Sununu signs renewable energy laws in Derry. Paula Tracy video
BY PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.orgDERRY – As a “603 Clean Energy Gain”, Governor Chris Sununu signed two bills on Thursday morning focusing on promoting renewable energy initiatives that will be signed by this final session of the law. 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 help the city achieve net zero emissions for the community by 2025 and has been chosen as the site for the law 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 allows the Public Utilities Commission to ensure that no additional costs are passed on to the installation, interconnection and use of energy storage systems by customers by utility companies and also addressed hydropower generators, which share devices for the purpose of interconnection with the power grid, a commission to investigate limited electrical energy producers. House Law 315 enables municipalities and school districts to build larger projects for renewable energies. 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 was a great win for clean energy and a compromise to enable larger solar power systems to be built without “crushing” the cost of the fee payers. 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 with it 91, issued 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, lower their energy costs and ultimately lower local property taxes. My section of this Energy Storage Bill is essential to the advancement of all renewable energy sources, including solar and offshore wind, on New Hampshire’s way forward, “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.
“After years of discussion and negotiations, I am pleased that we are finally increasing the net upper limit for cities, municipalities and school districts. This will allow local governments to save money on utility bills, lower local property tax rates and encourage local investment, ”and increase state energy production, thereby avoiding the need for costly new transmission infrastructure. With HB 315 now in law, this is a huge win not only for the city of Nashua but for communities across the state, “Avard said.
This story was originally published by InDepth NH.