'Green'-Power Option Could Get Easier for Boston-Area Businesses, Institutions

By Peter J. Howe, The Boston Globe Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - June 9

Boston-area businesses and institutions that want to install their own "green" power-generating units and go off the NStar Electric grid may find it easier and less expensive under a new pact negotiated by the utility and environmental and industry advocates, officials said yesterday.

The agreement, which still needs approval from state utility regulators, would affect NStar customers who want to produce some or all of their own electricity from fuel cells, solar panels, wind turbines, a hydroelectric dam, or other sources but maintain an emergency standby connection to the utility. NStar came under harsh criticism from many "distributed generation" advocates this year for proposing what they called excessively high standby-connection rates that threatened to discourage such projects by making them far more expensive than conventional utility power.

Many businesses are interested in installing their own small on-site power plants because they could be much less expensive than utility power at periods of peak demand and provide more reliable service. Environmentalists also like distributed generation as a way to reduce air pollution and the need for costly new power plants.

The Conservation Law Foundation, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, Solar Energy Business Association of New England, and state Energy Resources Commission David L. O'Connor late Friday negotiated a compromise plan with NStar. "While not perfect, this is a good deal that should foster considerable new development of clean and efficient local generation of power in Eastern Massachusetts, particularly from renewable sources like wind and solar," said Seth Kaplan, senior attorney with the law foundation, a Boston environmental group.

NStar agreed to push back the effective date for the standby-connection rates to Dec. 31 from Aug. 1, so distributed generation projects that become operational before the end of the year would not be required to pay for a backup utility connection. Also, off-grid power plants that get their power from state-defined renewable energy sources would be exempt from standby charges.

NStar spokesman Michael Durand said, "We think we've come up with a good compromise here, and we're pleased with the settlement."

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