DOER to hold training for officials on MESH clean energy portal

Municipal officials, developers, state agencies, and residents across Massachusetts now have a single free online hub where clean energy projects are filed, tracked, and commented on — and the state is walking local leaders through it in a training session on Nov. 10, mma.org reported.

The Massachusetts Energy Siting Hub, or MESH, went live with the new state and local consolidated permitting processes that took effect on Oct. 1. From that date, anyone with a stake in a clean energy project — a developer submitting a filing, a town official reviewing it, or a member of the public weighing in — can use the portal at no cost to file paperwork, follow its progress, and submit comments.

One portal replaces the old patchwork

Before Oct. 1, clean energy projects moving through Massachusetts permitting could face a fragmented set of state and local steps. The consolidated processes that took effect that day are designed to run through MESH, giving every party one place to see where a project stands. The portal is open to developers, local officials, state officials, and the public alike, and access is free for all of them.

Town and city staff can set up accounts, review and approve filings, and sign up for alerts whenever a project is proposed in their community — a shift that puts local review directly inside the digital workflow rather than beside it.

Nov. 10 training session for municipal officials

The Department of Energy Resources will hold a training session on Nov. 10 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., focused on showing municipal officials how to use MESH: creating accounts, reviewing and approving filings, and receiving alerts for projects in their communities. The session is held online via Microsoft Teams, and the state has published the meeting link, meeting ID 235 547 402 109 199 8, and passcode ph9gg66r for anyone who needs to join.

Questions about the portal or the training can be directed to Rick Collins, director of the Clean Energy Siting and Permitting Division at the Department of Energy Resources.