[Massplanners] New Clean Energy Siting Law and consolidated local permitting process - stakeholder sessions

[Heidi Ricci]

Hi MassPlanners

Last year the legislature passed reforms to the way energy projects will be sited and permitted, which the state is now calling the "Grid Equity Act."  There will be a consolidated application and permitting process for most "small" projects (<25MW solar or <100MW battery storage) and municipalities will issue a single consolidated permit.  The new law also requires the regulations to include siting standards to minimize impacts to natural and working lands, biodiversity, resilience, and EJ communities.

As the first step toward developing regulations to implement this law, the state is holding a series of stakeholder sessions during April and May where you can learn more and provide input:
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/2024-grid-equity-act-stakeholder-sessions
The sessions are all hybrid or virtual.

The CPTC Conference included a workshop on this topic.  A pdf of the presentation is available on CPTC's website:
https://masscptc.org/index.php/training/annual-conference/2025-conference-handouts/

Please spread the word about the stakeholder sessions.

Heidi

E. Heidi Ricci (she/her(s))
Director of Policy and Advocacy

Mass Audubon
208 S. Great Road, Lincoln, MA  01773
hricci at massaudubon.org<mailto:hricci at massaudubon.org> | 781-259-2172 or 781-622-8911 (cell)
massaudubon.org<http://www.massaudubon.org/>

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