Without the Green Grid, achieving an 80% reduction in greenhouse emissions across all energy sectors by 2050, as mandated by the Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act, will be impossible.

The Green Grid is a re-imagined and re-engineered infrastructure for electricity generation,  delivery, and use designed to maximize the benefits of renewable energy technologies at all scales. It also will reduce fossil fuel consumption in buildings and vehicles. Immediate action is needed to accelerate both near- and long-term progress.

Green Grid Overview

1. Consumers and communities will be actively involved in meeting energy needs, managing consumption, and reducing emissions through distributed renewables, real-time pricing, demand-response programs, and electrification initiatives.

2. Renewable energy technologies will be deployed through intelligent siting, informed interconnection rules, and smart inverters, allowing high levels of penetration without compromising grid reliability or power quality.

3. Sophisticated, distributed energy management and use systems--including advanced meters, interactive building controls, next-gen heat pumps, and smart-charging electric vehicles--will provide balancing and regulation functions at the local level.

4. Conventional utility infrastructure--transmission and distribution systems and central-station power plants--will continue to ensure a secure supply of electricity even as regional needs are increasingly met using distributed resources. 

Green Grid: Next Steps

Broad participation by diverse stakeholders and widespread deployment of advanced technologies are essential in transitioning to a functional and economically sustainable Green Grid. Pilot projects represent the next step.