Recently, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law an omnibus energy bill H.4568 that will provide Massachusetts electricity customers with the benefit of electricity produced by offshore wind and hydropower resources and, ultimately, enable generated electricity to be effectively stored for later use.

Specifically, the new law will guarantee contracts with electric utilities for 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind energy and 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy provided from hydroelectricity and onshore wind energy resources. Solicitations for hydropower and land-based resources will begin in April 2017 while the offshore wind solicitations will begin in June 2017.

Moreover, the law allows utilities to develop and own energy storage systems.  By December 2016, the Department of Energy Resources will set appropriate targets for electric utilities to procure viable and cost-effective energy storage systems to be achieved by January 1, 2020. The new law sends a strong signal to businesses and investors that Massachusetts is well-positioned to serve as a hub for the growing renewable energy industry.