For many residents, business owners, and municipalities throughout Massachusetts, installing a solar electric system is a smart investment that converts clean, free sunlight to electricity, reduces air pollution, reduces or eliminates monthly electricity bills, and contributes to the local economy by creating local jobs and supporting local businesses.
Go to the MassCEC About Solar page to learn the basics of solar electricity, how to find an installer and how solar incentives work, then see if the below programs can help you add solar to your own home.
Mass Solar Loan makes it easy for Massachusetts residents to obtain low-interest loans to fund the installation of solar electricity systems for their homes
Solarize Massachusetts (Solarize Mass) is a community-based education, outreach and group buying program that allows residents to band together to save money on solar electric systems. Since Solarize Mass launched in 2011, the program has resulted in almost 20,000 individuals expressing interest in pursuing solar electricity and other clean energy technology systems. To date, over 3,700 residents and business owners in 85 communities signed contracts resulting in over 25.66 megawatts of contracted capacity. The Solarize Mass Plus program has resulted in the contracting of an additional 111 clean energy technologies. In addition, the number of small-scale solar electricity projects in almost every community doubled as a result of the program. See Solarize Mass Results for information and up-to-date results. To learn more about the current Solarize Mass program, go to the Solarize Mass main page.
The Solarize Mass Plus program pairs the Solarize Mass model with an additional technology offering. This program was piloted in 2017 and continued through 2020. Participating communities have opted for solar PV plus a range of eligible technologies including, air source heat pumps, battery storage, electric vehicles, ground source heat pumps, and solar hot water. Eligible technologies range from various Clean Heating and Cooling technologies, to Energy Efficiency or Electric Vehicles. In addition to competitively selecting a solar installation company, MassCEC will assist the community in competitively selecting a vendor for the Plus technology or technologies.
Solar Access is a program designed to help middle-income homeowners access affordable renewable energy. The non-profit Center for EcoTechnology guides homeowners through the installation of solar panels by SunBug Solar and the installation of heat pumps by Girard Heating and Air Conditioning with financing provided by UMass Five College Credit Union.