2025 Massachusetts Climate Report Card - Clean Power

Despite federal attacks on clean energy, Massachusetts has made considerable progress on major clean energy projects. The loss of a federal partner is slowing our capacity to bring clean energy online and reduce power sector emissions accordingly. The Energy Affordability, Independence, and Innovation Act seeks to help reset this path, removing unnecessary costs while making it easier to generate, procure, and interconnect clean supply.

Assessment

Reducing emissions in the power sector is crucial to Massachusetts’ climate goals. It accounts for 17.8% of statewide emissions as of 2022 and unlocks emissions reductions from the electrification of transportation, buildings, and other end uses. Due to its nation-leading laws, regulations, and programs – including multiple state portfolio standards, long-term clean energy procurements, and solar incentive programs – Massachusetts meets more than half of its electric load with clean power. The addition of Vineyard Wind and additional hydropower brought into the region from Canada will provide the region with incremental clean energy equivalent to 24% of Massachusetts’ electric load. Despite these successes, Massachusetts has faced significant barriers to further emission reductions in the sector. Recent federal actions and policies¹ have greatly slowed development of new offshore wind, one of the largest sources of potential clean energy in the region. These actions put at risk any new offshore wind capacity that is not already under development coming online before 2030. As outlined in more detail below, Massachusetts is actively taking steps to deploy clean energy and unlock additional energy supply, including through regional partners, to the extent possible under the current federal administration and state statute. 

Metric	Submetric	2023 Report Value	2024 Report Value	2025 Report Value	Target
Percent of state electricity consumption met with clean power	Percent of state electricity consumption that was met with in state and out-of-state clean sources2	48.2% in 2021	50.0% in 2022	51.6% in 2023	In 2023, the state standards required that Eversource, National Grid and Unitil source more than 59.2% of their electric load from qualified clean and renewable energy resources or an alternative compliance payments (ACPs).3
In-state renewable electric capacity	Megawatts (MW) of in-state onshore wind capacity at the end of the year	113 MW in 2022	110 MW in 2023	105 MW in 2024	The 2025/2030 CECP modeling estimates 180 MW of wind capacity (all onshore) in 2025 and 3,650 MW of wind capacity (onshore and offshore combined) in 2025 as necessary to achieve the power sector emissions sublimit.4 The 2025/2030 CECP modeling estimates 4,470 MW alternating current (AC) of solar capacity will be needed by 2025 and 8,360 MW AC of solar capacity will be needed by 2030 to achieve the power sector emissions sublimit.4
	MW of in-state solar capacity at the end of the year	3,363 MW AC in 2022	3,684 MW AC in 20235	3,939 MW AC in 2024
In-state energy storage capacity, inclusive of pumped hydroelectric resources	Total deployed energy storage at the end of the year	New in 2025	New in 2025	2,188 MW/ 12,401 MWh in 20246	Massachusetts has the Energy Storage Initiative target of 1,000 MWh of energy storage deployment by the end of 2025. The 2050/2030 CECP modeling estimates about 2,600 MW of energy storage in 2025 and 2,900 MW of energy storage in 2030.
Low-income Community Shared Solar projects under SMART	Additional projects per year	New in 2025	New in 2025	5 in 2022 7 in 2023 24 in 2024 40 in 2025	No official benchmarks at this time.
	Additional capacity per year	New in 2025	New in 2025	0.85 MW AC in 2022 15.52 MW AC in 2023 27.36 MW AC in 2024 29.4 MW AC in 2025	No official benchmarks at this time.

Primary Challenges

• Trump Administration actions are delaying the deployment of new energy supply, such as rollbacks of federal tax credits and cancelling programs like Solar for All.
• Current legislative authority precludes Massachusetts from procuring many types of new sources of generation, and the involvement of the utilities in the contracting process adds complexity, time and costs.
• Existing grid planning, interconnection, and siting and permitting processes are a barrier to timely deployment of new energy supply.
• Gas supply costs for heating and electricity have been and are expected to continue increasing as the United States exports more of its domestic gas supply via liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals, bringing cheaper U.S. prices in line with more expensive global gas prices. 

How we are meeting this moment

Massachusetts is working creatively to bring new clean energy online and reduce energy costs. The Energy Affordability, Independence & Innovation Act removes unnecessary costs from bills, reduces price volatility, and brings more energy into Massachusetts, while also better aligning grid planning and grid connection processes with state policies. Working with partners across New England, the administration is seeking every opportunity to bring affordable, clean energy online, including by selecting 40.63 MW of solar power through a joint procurement with Connecticut, Vermont, and Maine and seeking up to 1,200 MW of onshore wind in partnership with Maine. The Healey-Driscoll Administration is also advancing in-state solar development by launching improved solar incentives and convening business and labor leaders to advance the industry in state. Massachusetts is exploring the potential of advanced nuclear power generation in partnership with UMass Lowell. The Administration is also promulgating regulations to streamline the siting and permitting process. Reforms will make it easier and faster to get more clean energy built while improving community engagement. Lastly, the Department of Public Utilities continues its work to improve electric grid planning and interconnection to unlock new generation, including through the Provisional System Planning Program.

1. For summaries of some, but not all actions taken by the federal government to stall offshore wind deployment, see Georgetown Climate Center’s explainer and these New Bedford Light articles: Offshore Wind Tracker and Trump’s war on offshore wind: Tracking the actions and impacts.
2. Reporting on this metric is two years behind on-the-ground conditions. For this reason, the benefits of Vineyard Wind and New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) will likely first show up in the 2028 Climate Report Card.
3. The standards for electricity sourced from clean sources apply to Eversource, National Grid and Unitil. They do not apply to the electricity served by municipal light plants (MLPs) or wholesale purchases of electricity (e.g., most of the electricity consumed by the MBTA) that account for over 14% of total electricity consumption statewide.
4. This metric measures clean energy capacity in Massachusetts, but Massachusetts is part of a regional electric grid operated by ISO-New England (ISO-NE) that is supplied by power generation facilities located throughout New England and in neighboring regions. Accordingly, the amount of clean energy generated within the state, while a useful indicator of progress towards meeting power sector emissions limits, is less important than the amount of clean energy generated in or delivered to ISO-NE that can be attributed to energy consumed in Massachusetts, regardless of where it was generated.
5. Previous year generating capacity figures have been updated with more up-to-date analysis of generating facilities in MA.
6. Total storage includes both battery electric storage (354 MW / 644 MWh in 2024) and pumped hydro storage (1,834 MW / 11.757 MWh in 2024).