The Bay State's original solar subsidy, the Commonwealth Solar Fund, ran out of money in October due to overwhelming popularity. It was administered by the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, which is funded through a surcharge on residents' electric bills. The surcharge amounts to about 50 cents per month per customer, the trust says.
Now the trust will be responsible for overseeing one of the new solar incentive programs, dubbed Commonwealth Solar II. It will provide $4 million of rebates per year - but only for projects generating 5 or fewer kilowatts of electricity.
The second rebate plan will be funded with $8 million federal stimulus monies. It will provide rebates for installations between 5 and 200 kilowatts in size, the Boston Globe reported.
A separate provision of Massachusetts' announcement is a solar credit program, which will require utilities to buy the electricity that homes' and businesses' solar panels generate.
Under Massachusetts' renewable energy portfolio standard, utilities will have to generate 15 percent of energy renewably by 2020, with 1 percent increases each year thereafter.
