Businesses and housing advocates urge committee to lift 1 MW cap for industrial/commercial solar; SB106 draws broad support

At an April 14 public hearing the Science, Technology and Energy Committee heard extensive testimony in favor of Senate Bill 106, a bill that would raise the cap for renewable installations on industrial and commercial facilities from 1 megawatt to 5 megawatts and provide net‑metering stability for those facilities.

Why it matters: Supporters — including manufacturers, distributors, ski areas, regional bottlers and housing authorities — said higher caps and clearer net‑metering rules are required for large energy users to justify the capital investment. Supporters argued higher self‑generation helps keep businesses competitive, retains jobs and reduces exposure to volatile wholesale electricity prices. Opponents on the record raised reliability and cost‑shifting concerns but did not represent a majority of testimony at this hearing.

Who testified and main points

- Senator Tim Lang (prime sponsor): Framed SB106 as a competitiveness tool for manufacturing and large energy users. He said New Hampshire faces among the highest electricity-price increases in the country and that “Senate Bill 106 helps solve that problem by giving businesses greater control over their energy costs.”

- Mike Skelton, Business & Industry Association: The BIA backed SB106 as “one solution” to make the state more economically competitive; Skelton said the BIA no longer views limited net‑metering expansion as corporate welfare but as a policy to support economic growth and local job retention.

- Russ Greenlaw, Associated Grocers of New England (Pembroke): Described grocery‑distribution operations as high‑load, year‑round facilities (large refrigeration footprints) that would benefit economically from larger arrays; explained operational realities including occasional grid disconnection requests and diesel backup and urged designed policy to let “good actors do good things.”

- Hannah Campbell, The Balsams: The resort testified that a 5 MW allowance would make self‑generation financially viable for a large, year‑round destination resort in the North Country and increase its energy resilience.

- Kyle King, Coca‑Cola Beverages Northeast: Said company is exploring on‑site solar at its Londonderry production site and supported SB106 to unlock larger arrays.

- Jessica Keeler, Ski New Hampshire: Ski areas use significant energy for snowmaking; Keeler said many operations have thin margins and some operators have explored solar in the past but the 1 MW cap often made projects impractical.

- Amy Charbonneau, Continental Paving: A construction/manufacturing speaker described multiple sites across the state where rooftop or site arrays would reduce operating costs and argued that current limits hinder projects that could lower public and private construction costs.

- Chris Peterson and Charles Nickerson (Merrimack County / NH Association of Counties): Testified that municipal/county projects are expected to deliver long‑term savings to taxpayers and that current uncertainties about net‑metering timelines (the 2040 discussion) would significantly affect their payback calculations.

Department of Energy stance: Josh Elliott (DOE) testified that the Department is neutral on SB106 and highlighted drafting and statutory technical questions, including administrative and eligibility issues, but did not oppose the policy direction.

Contested points and concerns

- Reliability and market effects: Representative Harrington and others raised concerns about adding intermittent resources and backup needs; they cited regional reliability analyses and cautioned about overbuilding intermittent generation without suitable firm capacity or storage.

- Cost shifting and incentives: Opponents argued some forms of broad net‑metering expansion can shift costs to other ratepayers. Supporters pointed to the state’s Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) study and argued some distributed generation provides net system value.

Where it stands: The committee closed the public hearing and will weigh testimony along with pending amendment language in subsequent work sessions. Sponsors were asked to prepare draft committee report language and amendments for upcoming meetings.

Ending: SB106 drew broad support from businesses and public entities that said higher net‑metering caps and clearer rules are necessary for large users to finance on‑site renewable resources; committee staff and the DOE flagged drafting and administrative clarifications to be addressed as the bill advances.