This fall, I had the opportunity to participate in the public comment review for the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) new Solar REC program. Over all, the Commonwealth has done a great job trying to keep solar development growing. Programs like Commonwealth Solar provided large rebates to commercial and residential solar projects. In fact, Commonwealth Solar was so successful that funding was in short supply late last year.

So the dilemma that the Commonwealth faced was how to keep solar installations growing and demand strong without it costing real dollars to the Commonwealth and ultimately the taxpayers.

Dwayne Breger and his team at DOER invested countless hours this past fall and early winter reviewing programs previously implemented in other states, and developing a unique program that should help maintain growth over the next decade.

The details of the program are available at MA Solar Credit Clearinghouse.

Briefly the new program does the following:

1. It establishes a specific Renewable Portfolio Standard that generators must fulfill with solar energy. In 2010 the Solar RPS is 25MW.
2. It tries, through various economic mechanisms, to establish a relative constant price for S-RECs. By trying to stabilize REC prices, DOER hopes to provide banks and other lending organizations with a reasonable certain, and therefore, financeable revenue stream that project developers can use to obtain financing.
3. Municipal Light Districts are eligible for the program. This is a big change, because it allows towns like Norwood, Wellesley, Concord, and others …. that were not eligible for RET program because they were not members of the trust …. to generate and sell Solar RECs which will in turn help finance projects in those towns.

All in all, kudos to DOER, for grabbing the bull by the horns and getting what looks an exciting program quickly into the marketplace.

Eco-conscious product suppliers and their prospective customers descended en masse this week on Phoenix for the annual Greenbuild convention. It is quite an event with over 1,800 exhibitors, several full days of educational conferences, and headline ‘bring on the crowd’ brand names offering inspiration and entertainment. To wit, last night’s marquee event was held at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and included a speech from Al Gore, and a concert by Sheryl Crow!

Beyond the headliners I was really impressed with the level of entrepreneurship on display at Greenbuild. I think a good way to measure entrepreneurship in a sector is by the amount of small sized booths at an event. Entrepreneurs typically can’t pay much, so they buy the smallest space available and go pitch their tent. The bottom line … lots of small booths at Greenbuild.

Among the areas where it seems Entrepreneurs are diving into the green space are:

1. Green Roofs, which are essentially a container of live plants and a drainage system that can be snapped together on a rooftop. Once installed, the systems dramatically reduce the heat absorption of the rooftop and thus reduce energy costs. There were at least 20 companies present at the show from various regions of the country marketing differentiated products and business models in this category.
2. Energy Efficiency Analysis and Improvement Service Providers offer a relatively low-cost capital efficient way for entrepreneurs to enter the green space. Residential and commercial energy efficiency plans employ a myriad of techniques from lighting and HVAC system improvement to insulation and window improvement to reduce energy expense in a structure. Given the multiple tools available, it’s not surprising that entrepreneurs have rushed to develop services and business models to help building owner get the most energy efficiency improvement per dollar spent … and prove the savings through software and reporting tools.
3. Geothermal Heat Pumps rely on temperature differential between ground and below ground levels. Certainly more capital intense than the first two items, this category represents an area where entrepreneurs with a mechanical focus are probing.

I believe next year’s show will be in Chicago, and if it’s anything like this year’s, it won’t be one to miss.