Nearly 20 environmental, clean energy industry, business, consumer, and health groups announced the creation of a coalition named the Alliance for Clean Energy Solutions (ACES acesma.org). The alliance consists of a wide variety of organizations seeking to ensure that Massachusetts enacts long-term policies that will drive clean, affordable & reliable energy.

“The Alliance shows the diverse support for new clean energy policies from the environmental, clean energy and business communities,” said Acadia Center’s Massachusetts Director Peter Shattuck, one of the co-chairs of the Alliance. Northeast Clean Energy Council’s Executive Vice President Janet Gail Besser, also co-chair of the Alliance, noted, “This Alliance is a testament to the fact that Massachusetts residents and businesses see clean energy as the centerpiece of a strategy to create a stable price environment for energy customers, mitigating the volatility of electricity prices driven by fossil fuels and driving the Commonwealth’s economy for the future. ”

ACES supports policies to bring diverse clean energy resources to Massachusetts. Alliance members share the view that such policies are critical for the Commonwealth to achieve its climate commitments, and will also protect consumers and the environment. ACES supports a diversified energy policy that includes:

• Large-Scale Clean Energy Procurements – authorize procurement of Renewable Portfolio (RPS)-eligible resources (such as onshore wind) and hydroelectricity in order to facilitate cost-effective achievement of the RPS, replace retiring generation, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify our electricity supply.
• Pairing of Wind and Hydroelectricity – require bundled procurements of RPS-eligible resources (such as onshore wind) and hydropower in order to drive in-region development and maximize efficient use of transmission for clean energy.
• Meaningful Offshore Wind Development – authorize phased procurement of offshore wind of sufficient scale over 15 years in order to tap Massachusetts’ world-class offshore wind resource and develop a sustainable industry in Massachusetts.
• Energy Procurement Standards and Criteria – competitively procure cost-effective and environmentally preferable clean energy resources through a procurement process that protects against self dealing, and ensures reliability, price stability, affordability for all income levels, and ensures that environmental impacts of electricity generation and transmission are appropriately avoided, minimized, and mitigated.

“Clean energy procurements can play an important role in achieving Massachusetts‘ greenhouse gas reduction requirements,“ said Josh Craft, Program Director from Environmental League of Massachusetts. “But new hydropower resources alone are insufficient to meet our state’s energy needs. The ACES platform will allow our state to develop a truly diversified energy resource portfolio while ensuring that Massachusetts ratepayers will only pay for responsibly developed and competitively priced clean energy.“

The Alliance advocates that further action is needed to meet the State’s 2020 mandatory greenhouse gas requirements and believes that Massachusetts has an opportunity to create a diversified energy mix that will allow energy consumers to avoid being at the mercy of extremely volatile natural gas prices. Additional priorities supported by ACES include advancing energy storage and clean energy financing, establishing ambitious yet achievable targets for renewable energy and GHG reductions, and promoting distributed clean energy.

Businesses and other large energy consumers like hospitals and universities also recognize that a long term vision will help to provide a stable pricing environment that will make it easier for companies to budget and plan, turning Massachusetts’ energy markets into a positive for businesses. "It's no secret that businesses use lots of energy. That's why a stable pricing environment will be good news for the Massachusetts business community, making it easier for companies to budget and plan for their energy costs," said Jesse Mermell of the Alliance for Business Leadership. "Businesses also benefit from the fact that renewable energy prices are declining, and are on their way to becoming the most affordable energy option.

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Media Contacts:

Kate Plourd Johnson

NECEC

kjohnson@necec.org

Phone: 617-500-9933

Kiernan Dunlop

Acadia Center

kdunlop@acadiacenter.org

Phone: 617.742.0054 x107

About ACES:

The Alliance for Clean Energy Solutions (ACES) is a “coalition of coalitions” comprised of business groups, clean energy companies, environmental organizations, labor, health, and consumer advocates dedicated to advancing clean energy for Massachusetts. ACES is committed to ensuring that those charged with shaping Massachusetts’ energy policies have the most rigorous, current data on the benefits and costs of clean energy. Our goal is to ensure that the Commonwealth can attain a cost-effective, reliable and diverse energy supply to power its businesses, communities and households, which will reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, create a stable and prosperous business environment and meet the Commonwealth’s greenhouse gas emissions requirements. For more information: acesma.org

Members Include: Acadia Center, Alliance for Business Leadership, Climate Action Business Association, Clean Water Action, E4TheFuture, Energy Storage Association, Environment Massachusetts, Environmental Entrepreneurs, Environmental League of Massachusetts, Health Care Without Harm, Mass Audubon, Mass Energy Consumers Alliance, Northeast Clean Energy Council, Northeast Energy Efficiency Council, RENEW Northeast, Solar Energy Business Association of New England, Union of Concerned Scientists, US Green Building Council Massachusetts Chapter, Vote Solar.