Executive Order No. 654, "To Secure Massachusetts' Energy Future by Establishing an Energy Supply Plan that Drives Affordability and Reliability," was signed by Governor Maura Healey on March 16, 2026 and carries Mass Register No. 1571. It sets quantitative energy-supply goals for the Commonwealth through 2035 and directs the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA), the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) and the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to pursue them across five sections.
The order is an energy instrument. It does not use the words "data center," "artificial intelligence" or "AI" anywhere in its text. Its place in the record of computing-infrastructure policy is derivative: its Section 3(4) direction to the DPU on large commercial customers is the predicate the Commonwealth's later data center instruments — the June 2026 Statement of Expectations and Executive Order 658 — build on, and both name it.
Findings
Twelve recitals set out the order's premises. They state that Massachusetts "must rapidly increase its energy resources" to reduce bills, promote energy independence, strengthen community resilience and "meet growing electricity needs," and that the Commonwealth "must take action in response to the federal government's tariffs and various policies that impede the development of clean energy resources." Two recitals turn on federal timing: immediate action is said to be needed "to maximize the federal tax credits that clean energy projects in Massachusetts are eligible to receive prior to their expiration under new accelerated deadlines set by federal law."
A final recital describes the Everett Marine Terminal liquefied natural gas facility as "a strategic energy asset for Massachusetts and the New England region, capable of meeting up to ten percent of the region's natural gas supply needs on the coldest days."
Section 1 — the energy goals
The Commonwealth "will bring ten gigawatts ('GW') of new energy resources online, under contract, or under development by the end of 2035." The order allocates that total internally: four GW of solar, two-and-a-half GW of new energy supply into the New England power grid connecting to Massachusetts customers, and three-and-a-half GW from demand management, such as virtual power plants, electric vehicle charging management, energy efficiency and demand response programs.
A separate and additional goal is "five GW of energy storage online or under development within Massachusetts by the end of 2035." The storage figure is not part of the ten.
The goals are stated as subject to revision on the order's own terms: they "shall be subject to further evaluation" by DOER "in terms of resource adequacy and resource integration needs" and in the Massachusetts 2035 Clean Energy and Climate Plan due to be published in 2028.
Section 1 also sets one dated deliverable: DOER "shall publish a review of existing demand and customer supply programs offered in the Commonwealth by September 1, 2026." Whether that review was published is not established by the order.
Section 2 — supply and storage
EEA and its departments are directed along three lines.
On solar, storage and wind, to review and expedite existing initiatives; to advance recommendations from the September 2025 Solar Summit, including reducing deployment barriers, partnering with utilities on interconnection processes and expediting DPU proceedings related to solar; to coordinate with the Department of Fire Services on statewide safety and education initiatives for energy storage technologies; to support expansion of wind generation; and to advance microgrids and other local energy sources for severe-weather resilience.
On nuclear, geothermal and other non-fossil thermal energy, to sustain the region's existing nuclear generation and advance the recommendations of the Advanced Nuclear and Fusion Energy Roadmap Report, working with other New England states and Canadian partners; and to accelerate geothermal and non-fossil thermal deployment by identifying viable resources, speeding licensing and certification, developing regulatory and permitting models, expanding training, and working with gas utilities, labor organizations and industry on workforce and supply-chain needs.
On natural gas and oil storage, to review existing capacity and utilization, to coordinate with gas utilities, fossil generation facilities and other New England states on how the Everett Marine Terminal and other fuel storage assets "may contribute to meeting regional energy supply needs and maintaining system reliability," to identify whether additional strategically located capacity would benefit ratepayers, and to propose recommendations on that basis.
Section 3 — grid, interconnection and large commercial customers
Five directions run to the DPU and three to offices within EEA.
The DPU is directed to require each electric distribution company to file a plan for managing "the expected influx of interconnection requests before the phaseout of Inflation Reduction Act ('IRA') tax credits"; to require companies with Capital Investment Projects under the Provisional System Planning Program to amend tariffs offering solar developers payment plans for interconnection costs secured by letter of credit or bond; to direct each company to file "a comprehensive flexible interconnection program" for expeditious DPU review; and to expedite review of proposals unlocking time-of-use rates, distributed energy resources, energy efficiency and virtual power plants.
The fourth direction is the provision the Commonwealth's data center instruments rest on. The DPU shall:
"Investigate strategies to ensure energy independence and affordability for Massachusetts electric customers and promote safe and reliable operation of the electric grid with the growth of large commercial customers. Such investigation should be informed by the parameters identified by EEA and the Executive Office of Economic Development below."
The contingency in the second sentence is the mechanism by which the later instruments attach: the investigation's content is set by parameters that EEA and the Executive Office of Economic Development supply, and those offices are separately directed at paragraph 8 to "develop recommendations, including identifying policy, regulatory and legislative changes, to establish Clean Energy Ready Zones that have the energy infrastructure and supply available to accelerate economic development."
The Office of Environmental Justice and Equity within EEA is directed to develop models for community energy resilience hubs, including frameworks for community microgrids developed with DOER, the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program and the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center; and to analyse the energy-system and resilience benefits accruing to residents of Burdened Areas, focused on whether eligibility gaps exist in low- and moderate-income programs and whether the benefits "sufficiently address energy burden."
EEA is separately directed to examine pathways to lower the ratepayer cost of transmission infrastructure, in alignment with other New England states.
Section 4 — winter reliability and the Everett Marine Terminal
EEA's Office of Energy Transformation, with DOER and the Everett Marine Terminal Focus Area Working Group, is directed to identify opportunities to accelerate demand reduction in locations served by the terminal — including geotargeted efficiency and demand-reduction incentives and supply-side or gas-distribution interventions — "to enable elimination of future reliance on the terminal for Massachusetts gas utilities"; and to identify options to fund the terminal's continuing operation "in a manner that does not overly burden gas utility ratepayers" while it remains relied upon.
Section 5 — enforceability
Section 5 disclaims private enforceability in terms. The order "shall not be construed to create any cause of action, right to judicial review, or a basis to challenge a regulatory or administrative matter involving the compliance or noncompliance of any state agency, its officers or employees, or any other person with this Executive Order." Nothing in it requires action inconsistent with state or federal law. It took effect immediately and continues "until amended, superseded, or revoked by subsequent Executive Order."
The order's directions therefore run to state agencies, and its effect on private parties arrives only through the DPU proceedings, tariffs and programs it directs. This matters for how the Commonwealth's data center chain is characterised: the Statement of Expectations is guidance in the hortatory voice whose binding force derives from Executive Order 658's incorporation of it, and Executive Order 658 in turn routes its large-load rate work through the DPU proceeding this order sets in motion.
Provenance
Captured September 13, 2026 from the Commonwealth's law library at mass.gov — the metadata table, all twelve recitals, the ordering clause and Sections 1 through 5 in full, with nothing summarised or trimmed. Corroborated by the law library's index of Executive Orders 600–699, which lists No. 654 between No. 653 and No. 655, and by the Mass Register citation on the order's own metadata table.
The "10X10X10 Plan" branding and the "$10 billion in savings" figure carried in press accounts of the signing appear in the Governor's office materials, not in the order. Seven divergences from prior secondary accounts are recorded in the raw file's ## Source-fidelity notes.
Relationships
- depends-on: Massachusetts Executive Order 658 — Responsible Data Center Development and Operations — Section 3 of that order directs the DPU to continue developing large-load rate schedules under this one
- related: Massachusetts Executive Order No. 658 (data center development, September 2026) — the later order's full text
- related: Healey-Driscoll Statement of Expectations for Responsible Data Center Development and Operations in Massachusetts — names this order twice, in its Overview and in its Equity in Large Loads section
- instance-of: Data Center Siting / AI Power Politics — as the grid-side predicate for the Commonwealth's large-load regime, not as a siting instrument in itself
- related: AI Environmental Impact, Compute Governance