Massachusetts's energy consumption
Massachusetts’s energy consumption is characterized by a diverse mix of energy sources, with a notable shift towards renewable resources in recent years. Historically reliant on fossil fuels, the state has made significant strides in transitioning to cleaner energy, particularly natural gas, which accounted for about two-thirds of its electricity generation in 2022. The state's dense population contributes to high energy demands, particularly in the residential and transportation sectors, with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority being the largest electricity consumer.
Heating in many homes and commercial buildings is largely provided through fuel oil, which creates challenges such as supply shortages during cold winters. Although Massachusetts has limited development of renewable energy thus far, initiatives such as the Renewable Energy Trust fund and a renewable portfolio standard have been established to promote renewable projects like wind and solar energy. Despite its potential for offshore wind energy, local opposition has hindered some developments.
Massachusetts is also recognized for its strong emphasis on energy efficiency, consistently ranking high in national evaluations. As of 2023, the state boasts a significant solar power capacity, further contributing to its commitment to a sustainable energy future.
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Massachusetts's energy consumption
Summary: Despite a history of reliance on fossil fuels, Massachusetts has abundant renewable resources that are beginning to be developed.
Massachusetts is one of the most densely populated states in the nation. It is also one of the least energy intensive, with the transportation and residential sectors accounting for the greatest share of energy consumption. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is the single largest electricity user in the state, accounting for about 9 percent of the state’s electricity demand. On the other hand, residential electricity use is relatively low, since most energy demand comes from heating needs that are met mostly by nonelectrical sources.
Many commercial buildings and homes in Massachusetts are heated by using fuel oil. When demand rises during the cold winter months, customers become vulnerable to fuel shortages and price volatility, a problem that plagues much of the northeast. During the winter of 2000, for example, an unexpectedly bitter winter caused shipping channels to freeze over and created high winds, which slowed the delivery of new supply and led to shortages. That summer, the federal government established the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve, which is mandated to maintain enough supply in its reserves (located in Connecticut and New Jersey) to meet consumers’ needs during the length of time it takes new shipments to move from the Gulf of Mexico to Boston Harbor.
Natural Gas
The residents of Massachusetts rely heavily on natural gas for both home heating and electric power generation. Natural gas is primarily conveyed through numerous pipelines that enter the state through New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island, coming from production sites in Canada and the Gulf Coast or storage areas in the Appalachian Basin. It is also imported to Massachusetts in a chilled, liquid form in tankers from Central America or the Middle East. After the liquefied natural gas (LNG) is delivered, it is warmed until it reaches the vapor stage and is then pumped into the gas line. Massachusetts is home to three regional natural gas import terminals: two are located offshore, and one is located onshore, in Everett.
Natural gas was the leading source of electric power generation in Massachusetts in 2022, accounting for two-thirds of the state’s total usage. Prior to 2017, Massachusetts was the only New England state whose electricity mix was significantly fueled by coal. However, following the closure of the state's last coal-burning power plant, Massachusetts no longer gets a statistically significant amount of its energy from coal.
Massachusetts has made an effort to transition to cleaner forms of energy during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Beginning in the 1990s, petroleum-fired power plants began to be phased out in favor of natural gas, which creates fewer harmful by-products when combusted. Prior to its closing in 2019, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, located in Plymouth, produced more than 5 trillion terawatt hours of electricity each year. The state is one of the national leaders in the production of electricity from landfill methane gas and municipal solid waste. In addition, it is one of the few states to require that its motor gasoline be blended with ethanol to reduce emissions.
Like the rest of New England, Massachusetts has abundant biomass resources. These resources consist primarily of new-growth forests, which have been replenished over the past century after a period of extensive logging and agricultural development during the 1800s. Fuelwood continues to be a principal heating source for many Massachusetts residents, and wood chips are a viable option for electricity generation in the future.
Limited Development
Massachusetts’s other renewable resources are extensive. Although they have been developed only to a limited extent, the state has made renewable energy generation as well as energy efficiency a priority in statewide energy strategies and policy. In 1998, the Massachusetts legislature created a renewable energy trust (RET) fund, which assessed a system benefits charge to all ratepayers of investor-owned utilities in the state. The RET, which was valued at $22 million in 2022, was used to fund new renewable energy projects through a number of grant programs, which are administered by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) through a state mandate. In 2008, the state adopted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) that set goals requiring the investor-owned utilities to procure 25 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2030.
In addition to the investor-owned utilities, there are approximately fifty municipally owned utilities in Massachusetts, which are exempt from the same renewable energy and efficiency mandates. These municipal light departments are allowed to opt into these programs by enacting the systems benefits charge on their ratepayers as a result of the 2008 Green Communities Act, but they often choose to pursue clean energy projects on their own. For example, the second-largest wind facility in Massachusetts is a 15-megawatt farm owned by the Berkshire Wind Cooperative Corporation, a nonprofit public power corporation whose membership consists of fourteen municipal light companies across the state. The Berkshire Wind Power Project launched in May 2011.
In addition to the wind resources in the Berkshire Mountains, Massachusetts’s greatest wind resources are primarily located off its coasts, particularly in the southeast, off Nantucket and Cape Cod. Efforts to develop offshore wind energy projects have often been met with strong local opposition. These opponents generally live on or own property with a direct line of sight to a proposed wind energy development, and their perspective is largely driven by the “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) phenomenon. Their arguments range from concerns that their property values will decline to anxiety over potential health issues associated with “flicker” caused by wind turbines’ rotating blades to worries regarding the well-being of wildlife, such as birds and bats. In addition to the wind resources in the Berkshire Mountains, Massachusetts’s greatest wind resources are primarily located off its coasts, particularly in the southeast, off Nantucket and Cape Cod. Efforts to develop offshore wind energy projects have often been met with strong local opposition. These opponents generally live on or own property with a direct line of sight to a proposed wind energy development, and their perspective is largely driven by the “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) phenomenon. Their arguments range from concerns that their property values will decline to anxiety over potential health issues associated with “flicker” caused by wind turbines’ rotating blades to worries regarding the well-being of wildlife, such as birds and bats. As of 2022, wind power generated just 1 percent of the state's energy.
Solar Energy
Although Massachusetts does not receive a particularly high level of solar radiation, it is well suited for solar energy development in terms of favorable policy and markets for solar power. The administration of Governor Deval Patrick created a solar carve-out in the state RPS, mandating that a certain percentage of the renewable energy procured to meet RPS requirements come from solar-powered facilities. The renewable energy certificates (RECs) generated at solar-powered facilities are known as solar renewable energy certificates (S-RECs) and have a higher market value, which is attractive to potential developers. According to the US Energy Information Administration, as of 2023, there were 3,900 megawatts of solar power capacity installed in the state.
Massachusetts consistently ranks among the top in the nation for policies and programs that encourage the development of energy efficiency. It was ranked second only to California two years running by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The Patrick administration declared that energy efficiency should be the state’s “first fuel,” and all investor-owned utilities are mandated to create three-year plans for ensuring that they secure all efficiency resources that are at or below the cost of installing new generating capacity. Massachusetts is part of the New England ISO (ISO-NE), which allows bids of efficiency and demand resources on its forward capacity market (FCM).
Bibliography
“The Berkshire Wind Power Project.” Berkshire Wind Power Co-Op, 2024, www.berkshirewindcoop.org, Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.
"Massachusetts." US Energy Information Administration, 16 Nov. 2023, www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=MA. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.
"Massachusetts Energy Data." Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 2024, www.mass.gov/massachusetts-energy-data. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.
Gellerman, Bruce. "In Somerset, Last Coal-Burning Power Plant in Mass. Shuts Down." Bostonomix, WBUR, 31 May 2017, www.wbur.org/bostonomix/2017/05/31/brayton-power-plant-somerset. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.