Overview
The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) is working to address challenges that businesses and residents across the Commonwealth are facing when connecting new buildings, electric vehicle charging stations, and renewable energy projects to the electric grid. These interconnection barriers increase the cost of doing business in the Commonwealth and the cost of energy for ratepayers.
The Administration has launched several initiatives to address these challenges by improving the customer interconnection experience, making the interconnection processes more efficient, and ensuring that the electric grid can accommodate the levels of electrification and renewable energy development needed to achieve our ambitious greenhouse gas reduction limits.
Load Connection Initiative
The Administration has received increasing numbers of complaints about grid capacity issues and the grid connection process from new load customers like businesses and housing developments. Load connection refers to connecting, or “plugging in,” a new source of electric load, like construction of new housing or the expansion of an existing business, to the electric grid. The process for connecting new customer load to the electric grid can be a barrier to economic and housing development, specifically the timeframes for and costs of connecting new load and making necessary grid upgrades.
Additionally, as Massachusetts electrifies its buildings, the amount of energy needed from the electric grid is estimated to grow by as much as 50 percent by 2035. Thus, reforms to this process need to be made now before this problem is exacerbated by this new load, leading to longer waits for connection and higher costs.
EEA has launched an initiative to engage with stakeholders on current load connection barriers and collaborate. Over the coming months, EEA plans to engage with businesses, municipalities, and other large load customers to learn more about load connection or electrification barriers and any knowledge gaps among customers, working to identify potential solutions.
EEA’s Office of Energy Transformation has also launched a related effort to explore the concept of establishing clean energy-ready economic development zones that enable key business sectors to grow in Massachusetts.
EEA will work closely with Massachusetts’ electric utilities to incorporate the feedback provided by businesses, municipalities, and other stakeholders to implement improvements to the load connection process, including enhancing the customer experience.
Clean Energy Resources Interconnection Initiative
Interconnection refers to connecting new energy resources, like solar energy or battery storage, to the transmission or distribution grid. Currently, long queues of energy projects are waiting to be connected to the grid in several areas. Barriers to interconnection significantly inhibit Massachusetts’ ability to deploy clean energy at the scale and on the timeframe necessary to achieve our climate requirements.
EEA, the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) are engaged in multiple efforts alongside the electric utilities and renewable energy stakeholders to improve the interconnection of energy resources like solar and battery storage to the grid.
The Administration works through the Interconnection Implementation Review Group (IIRG) to work towards near-term improvements to the interconnection process for distributed energy resources. The Administration is also engaging in several processes intended to provide long-term solutions to these interconnection barriers by ensuring that the grid is prepared for the deployment of clean energy resources, additional economic development load, and electrification of transportation and buildings. Efforts focused on longer-term solutions include the Electric Sector Modernization Plans (ESMPs), the Long-Term System Planning Process (LTSPP) and St. 2024 c. 239 § 103, which are intended to ensure the utilities proactively upgrade the electric grid to accommodate increased electrification and renewable energy development. To help inform these processes, EEA is developing projections of anticipated transportation and building electrification load in the next ten years, and the impact of this new load on the electric grid.
The Federal and Regional Energy Affairs Office (FREA) is also engaged, alongside other New England states, in multiple efforts at FERC to improve interconnection on the transmission level.
Webinar
EEA held a webinar on Friday, May 16, 2025 to present more information on its interconnection work and engagement opportunities planned for this summer.
Webinar materials:
Engagement Opportunities
EEA is planning a series of roundtables around the Commonwealth to solicit input from businesses, municipalities, and other large load customers on load connection or electrification barriers and any knowledge gaps among customers, and identify additional potential solutions.
This page will be updated as roundtables are scheduled.