Mass High Tech 4/13/12: State expands program to encourage solar power. The state has announced an expansion of a program introduced last year aimed at boosting the amount of solar power in the state, selecting 17 communities to participate in the 2012 Solarize Massachusetts (Solarize Mass) Program. Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard Sullivan joined representatives from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) and the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) at Hopkinton Town Hall Thursday afternoon to announce the program, in which the state allows solar installers to bid on a number of projects in a given town at a bulk rate. While homeowners pay less to get solar power, solar installers get a boost in business resulting from the combined push in those towns. MassCEC, in partnership with the DOER’s Green Communities Division has selected the cities and towns of Acton, Arlington, Boston, Hopkinton, Melrose, Mendon, Millbury, Montague, Newburyport, Palmer, Pittsfield, Lenox, Shirley, Sutton, Wayland, Sudbury and Lincoln to participate in Solarize Mass.