On Monday, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed a solar energy bill into law that increases the statewide limits on the amount of solar capacity that will qualify for net metering, but also lowers the value of net metering credits for large-scale projects. The bill, which was recommended last week by a joint legislative committee formed to reconcile differences between the separate House and Senate proposals, is the culmination of five months of negotiations between the chambers. The controversial bill passed the House and Senate last week by large majorities.

The legislation increases the net metering cap for private customers from 4% to 7% of the electric distribution company’s (EDC) peak load and for government customers from 5% to 8%. This is an important development for the Massachusetts solar community as existing limits on net metering were reached in some parts of the state last year, stalling new solar project development. The law is likely to allow new projects to go forward until the end of 2016, when some of the limits are expected to be reached again.