Governor Healy touts $3.5 billion Mass Leads Act and $1 billion for climate tech at Triton Systems visit

Governor Healy visited Triton Systems in Chelmsford to promote the Mass Leads Act and to spotlight local clean-energy innovation. "We also have put big, big, big money and investments into climate technology," Healy said, framing the administration's climate strategy as a job-creation and investment plan.

The administration presented the Mass Leads Act as a $3.5 billion economic development bill that includes $1 billion earmarked for climate technology. Economic development secretary Yvonne Howe said, "It's a $3,500,000,000 economic development bill with a $1,000,000,000 for climate tech to support companies like Triton Systems," and said the funding is intended to help demonstrations, manufacturing and early deployments, as well as workforce development and port infrastructure.

A Massachusetts Clean Energy Center official who spoke at the event said the bill has three parts for climate tech: capital expenditure programs to finance demonstrations and manufacturing; tax incentives to attract and retain companies and jobs; and operational funding for MassCEC to run workforce, scale-up and port-support programs. The official said the model mirrors earlier state investments in life sciences that aimed to move firms from start-up to scale-up.

Dave Modell of Triton Systems described the company's history of spin-offs and said Triton Anchor — the company's anchoring technology for floating offshore wind — can reduce costs and "has much lower impact on marine life" compared with current percussion-drilling approaches. Modell also named industry partners and credited state support and past state biotech initiatives for helping local commercialization.

Healy said the state is leveraging federal funds as well, noting Electric Hydrogen received a $50,000,000 Department of Energy award and that the administration brought back roughly $3,000,000,000 in federal funding in the last year for state investments. Officials repeatedly framed the Mass Leads Act as a tool to translate federal dollars and private capital into domestic jobs and manufacturing capacity.

The administration said it will work with legislators to move the bill forward; no formal vote or legislative action occurred at the event. The gathering concluded with the governor dismissing attendees for lunch.