Mass. House introduces bill to boost clean energy infrastructure buildout

House Democrats will introduce a late-term clean energy reform bill for a vote on Wednesday, moving another major measure closer to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk.

The House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday began consideration of a 97-page Senate-approved bill that would streamline Massachusetts’ decision-making process on where to build clean energy infrastructure.

Top House Democrats are apparently poised to go further than just localization reforms and pursue a major new clean energy mandate that is not in the Senate bill, while leaving intact some Senate-backed ideas, such as updating the state’s bottle deposit law.

A spokesman for House Speaker Ron Mariano confirmed the House will take up the bill in a formal session scheduled for Wednesday. If it passes as expected, House and Senate Democrats will have two weeks of formal business to hammer out a compromise.

“To meet our long-term emissions reduction goals, the House will vote this week on legislation to expand our clean energy supply by setting new targets for renewable energy generation and storage and streamlining the permitting process at the state and local level, building on the work the Legislature has done in recent years to modernize the commonwealth’s power grid and combat the climate crisis,” Mariano said in a statement.

Utilities, energy producers and regulators largely agree that the current process for siting and permitting new clean energy infrastructure is too complex and slow, especially as Massachusetts works to rebuild its grid to accommodate the clean energy resources needed to meet net-zero emissions goals by 2050.