Dan Weeks

I recently met with the owner of an advanced manufacturing company here in southern New Hampshire to discuss energy independence. His operation uses over 15 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year to keep the production lines humming and his more than 500 highly-skilled workers employed. That’s as much electricity as roughly 2,000 New Hampshire homes and costs over $1 million a year – far higher than the national average.

Nearby his manufacturing plant, the business owner also happens to own enough vacant land to build a solar farm that could offset 100% of the electricity needs on an annual basis. He has capital ready to invest, federal incentives to help manage the upfront costs, and a strong motivation to cut his energy spend and make his business more competitive. He also cares about the environment he is leaving to his kids.

There’s only one problem: New Hampshire law effectively blocks him from building a solar farm anywhere close to the size he would need to meet his electricity demand. That’s because, unlike every other state in the region, New Hampshire maintains an artificial net metering cap on renewable energy projects of 1 megawatt (MW) for every business and nonprofit in the state, and almost every municipality.

As a result, this business owner would need to build at least ten separate solar farms on ten separate parcels of land (subdividing for solar is against the law) with ten separate utility interconnections just to offset his load. It doesn’t help that each individual utility interconnection would cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) – far higher than neighboring states – for utility-owned equipment that benefits the grid at large.

If that doesn’t sound like “live free or die” to you, you’re not alone. According to the latest survey from the Pew Research Center, 84 percent of Americans support more solar farms, including the vast majority of both Republicans and Democrats. Their reasons span costs and climate: two-thirds of people believe the cost of solar power is lower than other energy sources (36 percent) or about the same (30 percent); and nearly everyone believes it is better for the environment (70 percent) or about the same (23 percent).

Fortunately, the data agree: solar power was officially named the “cheapest electricity in history” in 2020 and costs have fallen so fast, according to Bloomberg, that it is now less expensive to build newsolar farms in the United States than to operate existing coal power plants. Even here in New Hampshire, where the days are short and snow still flies in winter, a comprehensive 2022 analysis from the NH Department of Energy of the value of solar found millions of dollars in net benefits to the public at large. If that sounds counterintuitive, consider that the “fuel source” (photons of sunlight) is free and solar output happens to coincide with periods of peak demand (hot summer afternoons), when energy costs would otherwise spike for everyone. Layer on the current cost of climate inaction, including $165 billion in taxpayer money to deal with natural disasters linked to climate change in 2022 alone, and clean energy becomes a steal.

The data are equally clear when it comes to environmental and public health benefits. A new 1 MW solar farm occupying five acres of land in New Hampshire will offset around 2.8 million pounds of carbon pollution every year for decades to come, according to the EPA. That’s equivalent to taking 284 gas-powered cars off the road or preventing 1.4 million pounds of coal from being burned. Stated positively, it’s equivalent to growing 21,093 tree seedlings for ten years or sequestering carbon from 1,521 acres of typical American forest. When you consider that air pollution resulting from burning fossil fuels kills over 8 million people a year worldwide, according to Harvard University, including many Granite Staters, the benefits are considerable indeed.

So what can we do to bring New Hampshire into the 21st century and align our state energy policy with the needs of residents, businesses, and communities? How can we move from dead-last in the region – with 1.2 percent of electricity coming from the sun compared to 18+ percent in neighboring states – and become a leader in homegrown renewables while cutting costs for all?

Fortunately, a pair of bipartisan bills being considered in Concord would do just that. SB 68 and SB 79, both of which passed the State Senate unanimously and are now being considered in the State House, would raise the net metering cap from 1 MW to the standard 5 MW for businesses, towns, schools, and nonprofits that use the power themselves. They would allow not just the large manufacturer, but also school districts, affordable housing providers, towns of all sizes, and nonprofits that serve neighbors in need to lower their energy costs while helping other ratepayers and the environment. In the process, New Hampshire would see hundreds of millions of dollars in new private investment, supported by federal incentives, to build the energy infrastructure of the future.

Although these bills are not a panacea and more work is needed on net metering tariffs, utility interconnection, battery storage and the like, the benefits they would bring our state are unmistakable. As we mark another, Earth Day in New Hampshire, let’s urge our elected leaders in Concord to finally adopt a “live free” energy policy — for the good of all.

Dan Weeks is a co-owner and vice president at ReVision Energy, a Benefit Corporation working on climate and clean energy. He lives in Nashua with his wife and kids.

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