New England solar projects cut millions in costs during July heatwave, report says

Rooftop solar saved New England ratepayers more than $130 million in electricity costs during the region’s early July heat wave, according to a report from the Acadia Center. 

Jamie Dickerson, one of the report’s authors and senior director of climate and clean energy programs for the environmental nonprofit, said it’s a clear economic case for the benefits of solar power.

“If we hadn’t invested in these resources, we would have been even more exposed and overexposed to the fuel sources that are more volatile and more subject to the dramatic swings in prices during peak periods,” he said.

The Acadia Center’s Grid Action Report looked at the heat wave that hit New England in early July, and estimated that during the week of June 28 through July 4, distributed solar projects contributed more than six gigawatts in electricity, saving New England ratepayers $130-149 million. On July 2 alone, the report found that solar arrays saved $39 million to $54 million. 

Distributed solar includes projects connected to the electric grid ranging from household rooftop solar to community solar arrays up to 5 megawatts. Those solar panels offset a household’s electrical use and inject any surplus energy production into the grid, Dickerson said. 

“Like if someone has a house and is using air conditioning, their solar is feeding the air conditioning and reducing demand before any surplus is being sent back to the grid,” Dickerson said. 

“The grid soaks it up,” he said, and that means “other resources don’t have to burn during those hours of production,” saving other ratepayers money because they don’t have to buy those other fuel sources. 

The solar production also reduces the overall demand for other fuel sources, keeping prices lower. 

The analysis found that at times, solar power was feeding about 25% of the grid’s total electric demand. The afternoon of July 2, solar contributed more power to the grid than the region’s nuclear fleet. 

Dickerson said the benefits of solar are not confined to heat waves like the one seen in New England this month. In fact, the Acadia Center found that last year solar energy saved $1.26 billion to $1.37 billion. 

“These are resources that we’ve invested in that are there and will show up on the grid during these types of hotter summers and El Niño summers,” Dickerson said. “We’re going to see savings year-round, but especially in the summer with higher temperatures that we’re seeing.”

Dickerson said that other energy efficiency improvements in the region, like better insulation, weatherization and more efficient appliances, also helped ratepayers save on energy costs during the heatwave. The report estimated that those passive resources saved ratepayers $94 million to $97 million during the week. That includes an estimated savings of $29 million on July 2. 

“Dickerson said these savings can be hard to show, because it requires calculating what costs would have been without solar power. But he hopes the report can highlight the impact of solar and refute the narrative that clean energy is driving prices up. Especially as the Trump administration pulls back support for clean energy, and state and local leaders must consider the future of those investments. 

“This is hopefully helping to make the argument that these are not only good for all of our public policies around emissions reductions, but also good economic energy affordability policies too,” Dickerson said.