Interconnection Policies

A key policy area is the establishment of how and when people can interconnect to the electric grid. As described in the overview of the electric grid, there are several levels at which one can interconnect.

The rules for interconnecting at these levels vary in terms of their procedures and the approving entities involved. Most clean energy installed by individual customers must follow the utility distributed generation interconnection standards in particular.

In supply-side applications, clean energy technologies connect directly to the power grid. In behind-the-meter (consumer-side) applications, they connect to a circuit on the consumer's side of the electric meter, and power only flows to the grid when generation exceeds on-site demand. The policies controlling grid interconnection requirements can either encourage or discourage clean energy installations. Until recently, policies in Massachusetts were set by individual utilities, leading to varying standards for clean energy installations.

In 2002, the Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE) called for the formation of the Massachusetts Distributed Generation (DG) Collaborative to facilitate the development of uniform state standards for grid interconnection of renewable energy technologies and other distributed resources. This group, which is funded by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative , includes stakeholders representing utility, consumer, DG provider, environmental, and public interests.

The DG Collaborative developed and submitted draft standards to the DTE in May 2003, and final " Uniform Standards for Interconnecting Distributed Generation " were released by the DTE in February 2004 for adoption by the state's utilities. They specify simplified, expedited, and standard paths for the interconnection of clean energy systems and other distributed resources, and they describe application and review processes, timelines and fees, technical and operating requirements, metering and billing options, and other issues for each path.

The effectiveness of the new standards and additional issues and barriers are being reviewed through continuing stakeholder processes of the Massachusetts DG Collaborative and through ongoing DTE proceedings. This stakeholder group recently completed its first Annual Report to the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy. It also led to the production of an interconnection guide created by MTC and the Massachusetts Division of Energy Resources (DOER).

The new state standards add certainty to the interconnection process, and they ensure that utility-imposed requirements are not overly conservative. In addition, net metering is allowed for consumer-side installations with a capacity of 60 kW or lower and a new bill proposes raising this limit to 2 MW.