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By John Brown, Ron Latanision, and Walter Hubbard
In December Patrick Roche of Good Energy discussed the state of renewable electricity on the New England grid and how this aligns with Massachusetts’ ambitious climate goals, with particular emphasis on how this works here in Winchester.
Good Energy manages community choice aggregation (CCA) programs in over 70 Massachusetts municipalities, including Winchester’s WinPower program. Patrick oversees Good Energy’s renewable energy strategies, focusing on leveraging the buying power of municipal aggregation programs to expand clean energy on the New England grid while also maintaining very competitive electric rates for consumers. Enabled by legislation passed in Massachusetts in 1987, over 200 Massachusetts municipalities have set up CCA programs, with many more coming soon.
Patrick explained “renewable energy credits” (RECs) and “Class I renewable power.” Electricity that is renewably generated (solar, wind, etc.) and originates in our region (encompassing New England, New York and Eastern Canada) qualifies as “Class I renewable.” He explained how Class I RECs are defined, registered, verified, tracked, and enforced through an accounting system maintained by ISO-New England.
WinPower, Winchester’s CCA program, has been the default provider of electric power to Winchester residents and small businesses since 2017. WinPower’s standard plan (WinPower Standard), which is used by the large majority of Winchester homes and small businesses, provides 87% Class I renewable electricity. That 87% is 25% higher than the state’s current minimum renewable requirement. The state minimum, 62%, is what residents who opt out of WinPower and instead go to Eversource directly for electricity get. WinPower also offers, at only slightly higher price, 100% Class I renewable electricity through its WinPower100 plan. Not only is WinPower a win for the climate, it is also a win financially for the citizens of Winchester. The price for WinPower100 is currently (and is typically) lower than the rate charged by Eversource for electricity which is only 62% renewable (is 38% non-renewable).
Patrick also discussed renewables on the New England electricity grid as a whole and the decarbonization and renewable energy targets of the other five New England states. He concluded with mention of a number of innovative tools – including smart meters (advanced metering infrastructure, AMI), time-dependent variable electric rates (off peak, peak and critical peak pricing), Massachusetts’ clean peak standard, and “virtual power plants” – that be will available to Massachusetts to achieve its ambitious emission reduction goals at reasonable cost in coming years.
All Wilson Science & Technology Forum presentations are recorded and can be streamed free on demand at the Wilson Forum’s website, https://jenksst.blogspot.com/
WinCAM broadcasts recordings of Forum presentations at 3 pm on Mondays and Fridays. For the schedule, go to https://wincam.org/schedule/education/ and search for “Wilson.”
The Wilson Forum’s meetings are via Zoom, at 10:30 am on the second and fourth Fridays of each month, with the exception of July and August. To learn of upcoming Forum speakers, you can check the Jenks Center’s website https://www.jenkscenter.org/ (events > daytime > Wilson Forum).
Better yet, you can receive advance notification of upcoming talks by emailing a request to be added to the Forum’s roster to rlatanision@alum.mit.edu.
