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BOSTON — Saying the state has “a lot of energy needs,” Gov. Maura Healey tasked state agencies on Monday with adding 10 gigawatts of power to the state’s supply to help lower residents’ increasingly costly energy bills.

Healey, who is up for reelection this year, signed an executive order directing her administration to bring in the new power resources by 2035. That’s enough to power two million homes and could save residents $10 billion, Healey claims. The executive order also calls for five new gigawatts of energy storage by 2035.

“We’re all in this together and every day I need people getting after it — every day — to figure out ways to get this done, to bring the different kinds of energy sources online,” Healey said during a news conference at the Lynch Elementary School in Winchester, which is fully powered by solar energy.

The order is part of Healey’s “all-of-the-above” approach, focused on bringing in all kinds of energy, including solar, wind, gas, nuclear, geothermal and hydro. The 10 gigawatt target includes four gigawatts of in-state solar and 3.5 gigawatts of electric demand reduction, reached through methods like virtual power plants and electric-vehicle charging, according to Healey’s office.

Healey is separately pushing legislation (H 4144) that her office says could lead to $13 billion in savings. Her bill remains before the House Ways and Means Committee, which has pushed its own bill through the House. 

Massachusetts is newly receiving hydropower from Canada, but its push to develop commercial scale offshore wind power has been slowed down by the Trump administration.

Vineyard Wind, the state’s first and only offshore wind project, officially wrapped construction on Friday — news first published by The New Bedford Light. But it could be years in a best-case scenario until another offshore wind project starts construction off of Massachusetts.  

Healey said her office was preparing the executive order long before the U.S. engaged in war with Iran at the end of February. Now, rising gas and oil prices tied to the war and Iran blocking key supply sources, like the Strait of Hormuz, make the executive order all the more important, she said.

The price of oil has exceeded $100 per barrel and the average price of home heating oil is now more than $5 per gallon, she said. The governor also cited analyses that found the war in Iran is costing Massachusetts drivers $2.4 million per day.

“I know one thing the Iranians can’t block: that’s solar and wind in Massachusetts, that’s battery storage in Massachusetts, that’s geothermal and hydro in Massachusetts,” she said. “We’re not going to back down on what we know works.”

President Donald Trump, asked Monday how long gas prices are expected to remain elevated, said that oil prices and inflation will fall “very, very rapidly” once the war is over. Also, he suggested higher energy costs are a small price to pay for ridding Iran of its nuclear weapons.

“Frankly, much more important than short-term or even long-term oil prices, you can’t let the most violent, vicious country in the last 50 years have a nuclear weapon, because the Middle East will be gone,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “Israel will go first, without question, and they’ll certainly take a shot at us before we get our act together and say, ‘We gotta take them out.’”

Healey’s office cited projections from ISO New England, which operates the region’s electric grid, that show the state’s electricity consumption could rise by almost 15% by 2035 and 50% by 2045.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper noted the executive order is a directive for the state to speed up and build upon ongoing work to bring more energy into Massachusetts.

Tepper added, “It’s a commitment: whatever is going on in the world, Massachusetts is going to be a stable place to do business.”

The order has support from businesses as rising costs are putting a dent in Massachusetts’ competitiveness. 

Brooke Thomson, CEO and president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, spoke in support of the order, noting that employers in the state pay some of the highest commercial and industrial rates in the country.

“These high costs act as a hidden tax on economic growth and prosperity,” Thomson said. “When competition is at an all-time high, Massachusetts literally cannot afford high energy costs making our industries less competitive.”

Chrissy Lynch, president of AFL-CIO, said creating more energy in the state can generate more union jobs. 

“Massachusetts needs more reliable energy, and we need more family-sustaining union jobs, both of which give working-class people the economic stability to be able to stay here, to support their families and invest in their local communities,” Lynch said.

Republican gubernatorial candidates Mike Kennealy and Brian Shortsleeve blasted Healey’s order.

Kennealy said Healey’s policies would continue driving up costs and the order shows she’s focused on ideological priorities instead of affordability. 

“Today’s press conference made it clear that Governor Healey is more focused on advancing a partisan climate agenda than on bringing down costs for working families,” Kennealy said in a statement. 

“Massachusetts needs a common sense energy strategy — one that prioritizes affordability, reliability, and innovation. That means being open to practical energy solutions that lower costs and strengthen our energy independence.”

He added the state must find a balanced energy policy that includes expanding infrastructure for natural gas and investing in newer clean energy technologies like nuclear fusion.  

Shortsleeve took aim at Healey’s criticism of President Trump’s energy policies, saying she is trying to “dodge responsibility” for the state’s high energy prices. 

“No one is more responsible than Maura Healey for Massachusetts’ outrageous energy costs,” Shortsleeve said in a statement, adding he would eliminate add-on fees on utility bills if he were elected. “As governor, I’ll eliminate those fees, and pursue a true all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes natural gas, hydro, nuclear, and renewables, and I’ll remake the state’s net zero mandate into a goal so we can lower emissions without punishing working families and employers with sky-high energy bills.”

The executive order is online here, and a summary from Healey’s energy office is online here.

The Light contributed to this report.

10 replies on “Healey calls for new energy sources for Mass.”

  1. After four years of High Utility Bills, putting illegals before Veterans, Seniors, Families, and hard working State Residents, and lets never forget that she is the first Governor to ever have Cocaine Distribution Ring as part of her Administration. 100% there is no doubt that Maura Healey can’t be trusted and needs to be voted out of office.

      1. Just another gem, this is a Governor that has stripped state aid to the bone, created the highest utilities bills in our state’s history, and has put illegals before Veterans, Seniors, Families, and Hard Working State Residents. You do not have wonder why no one takes you seriously or responds to your comments.

  2. If Governor Healy genuinely wants to keep energy prices low and consumption levels down, she should consider banning new data centers built for private AI infrastructure and taxing or phasing out grid power for cryptocurrency mining. These uses — along with the rapid adoption of electric vehicles — are the primary drivers of rising consumption in the state. Meanwhile, the average household’s overall energy use is actually declining, office occupancy is down, and while TVs keep getting bigger, more people are spending more time on the small screen already in their pocket.
    It’s also worth noting that Massachusetts’ resident population has been shrinking under the Healy Administration, and the surge in foreign immigration that briefly offset those losses has slowed dramatically since the start of the new federal administration. The demand picture, in other words, is not coming from ordinary residents.
    The push for new energy sources isn’t about you and me — it’s about accommodating massive tech infrastructure projects that have little to do with the basic needs of the people who actually live here and pay these bills.
    And it would be a disservice not to mention that Governor Healy has publicly taken credit for blocking two natural gas pipelines that, had they been built, would very likely have reduced both heating and electricity costs for residents over the past several years. Her exact words on April 27th, 2022: “Remember, I stopped two gas pipelines from coming into the state.”
    We remember, Governor.

    1. I do share your concern about the energy consumption of AI and Cryptocurrency Mining. We need both state and national regulation of these industries, not only about energy use, but also about how AI can be used to manipulate information and create disinformation. We also need to be certain that the energy and ground water use of these industries is not paid for by the local communities in which they are located. Thank you for bringing this up. I will communicate my concerns about this to governor Healey.

      I believe a large part of our current energy bill is also due to the repair of our existing gas line infrastructure, as well as to the Mass Save program.

      We should not limit ourselves to only one or two sources of energy. Because there is evidence that fossil fuels do contribute to the warming of our oceans, I believe we can use available sources as we institute new renewable sources and gradually phase out fossil fuels.

      I have seen different opinions about small nuclear plants and need to learn more about them before expressing an opinion..

      NOAA report on ocean heat content:
      https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/climate-change-ocean-heat-conten

  4. How would more gas pipelines improve affordability?
    The spike in current electric costs is not the MassSave charges on utility bills. The rising cost of piped gas installation/maintenance, combined with spiking fossil gas demand, are the drivers.
    MA public regulators approved the transmission pipe building costs that customers pay back at 10%+ annual interest over decades. The utility profits are allowed to be used for lobbying of legislators’ energy policy, and to compensate high executive salaries.
    Notice that municipally-owned power communities pay less for electricity than those served by for-profit companies.
    Deploying building energy efficiency measures favours customer affordability. MassSave spends $1 for a $2-3 consumer benefit. A major problem in MA is that building owners don’t bother to use MassSave, since their renters, not they, pay the heat bill.
    Last month the MA House of Reps cut MassSave’s budget, with the excuse that low income communities don’t benefit. Yet as the building owner fails to insulate the walls and attics of buildings, the tenant shivers and struggles to afford heat bills. This must account for a huge waste in energy usage, as well as household cost inflation, state-wide.
    Efficiency measures should require landlord-owners to update their poor quality housing stock, to truly address the “affordability” gap. This would allow all households to reap the benefits of low-cost insulation with household energy cost savings, which now only home owners receive.
    As electric and water demands increase with MA’s pro-AI data centre establishment policies, this will further drive utility prices skyward. Electric price spikes in PA and other states that host the datacenter industry are a result of spiking power demand there.
    Decreasing the amount of power demanded in-state favours affordability.
    And lest our generation be judged completely ignorant and irresponsible by our youth, we must stop burning fuel for energy. Unprecedented wildfires across Nebraska in March, heat waves affecting air and oceans, climate change refugees, accelerate due to spiking carbon concentration in the atmosphere. Not hoax, Physics. We must stop pretending otherwise, and gaslighting truth, for Big Profit.
    Building HVAC efficiency, power supplied by solar/wind (the most affordable new sources nationwide/globally), electric transit, battery storage, are measures our pockets and planet can “afford”.

    1. Sorry, a lot of people will disagree that our state can run on clean energy alone. Our energy needs are too great and it will always take a combination of Fossil Fuels, Hydro, Nuclear, Refuse, Solar, and Wind to provide energy for cities and towns.

  5. All the Hydro Power that flows through the Cape Cod Canal should and must be extracted to provide clean, renewable and never ending electricity to the State. Any mariner who has traversed it will tell you how powerful it is. Lets get going on it by having a State competition challenge to all the young, brilliant minds in our schools/ colleges put on by MASS-CEC.

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