Energy New England President and CEO John Tzimorangas was joined by other utility industry, legal and environmental members from Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s Massachusetts Commission on Energy Infrastructure Siting and Permitting for an Environmental Business Council of New England report-out and review of the Commission’s recommendations.
The Commission was tasked with providing recommendations that will help reduce permitting timelines, ensure communities have input in the siting and permitting of clean energy infrastructure, and ensure that the benefits of a clean energy transition are shared equitably.
Recommendations include, among other things:
- Define clean energy infrastructure as solar, wind and anaerobic digestion facilities; storage facilities; and transmission and distribution infrastructure.
- Consolidate permitting at both state and local levels
- Set mandatory timeframes for permit decisions
- Streamline appeals processes
- Provide support to municipalities and organizations to better engage in
- permitting processes
The recommendations that will now be contemplated by state lawmakers will provide an important resource to policy makers and state leadership in their work to implement the Commonwealth’s net zero goals, ENE said.
Tzimorangas Named to Healey-Driscoll Energy Transformation Board
Meanwhile, Tzimorangas has accepted an invitation from the Healey-Driscoll Administration Office of Energy Transformation to participate in the inaugural Energy Transformation Advisory Board for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Created earlier this year, the OET formed the advisory board to provide advice and guidance to the Office as it focuses on affordability, decarbonizing the peak, and transitioning away from the Everett liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal.
The advisory board includes a broad range of stakeholders, including utilities, generators, labor, finance, environmental justice advocates, technology providers, building owners, developers and others. A full list of those invited can be found at https://www.mass.gov/orgs/energy-transformation-advisory-board.
The OET is charged with affordably, equitably, and responsibly accelerating the gas-to-electric transition and readying the electric grid to meet the state’s climate and clean energy mandates. OET’s first three priority focus areas are transitioning away from the Everett Marine Terminal LNG facility, decarbonizing how we meet peak electric demand, and establishing alternative mechanisms to finance the clean energy transition.
Energy New England is a municipal light plan cooperative that was established in 1998.
Owned by light departments in Braintree, Concord, Hingham, Reading, Taunton, and Wellesley, Massachusetts, ENE provides energy trading, wholesale risk management, and other services to municipal utilities in the Northeast.
