Dive Brief:
- An agreement between Xcel Energy and Minnesota solar developers would cap co-located community projects at 5 MW, five times the size the utility had originally wanted.
- Larger proposals would need to be scaled down to be interconnected to the grid, a company representative told Midwest Energy News, but the program could still generate hundreds of megawatts of power.
- Xcel launched its community solar program last year, but in April annoucned it would cap the facilities at 1 MW due to integration and cost concerns. Solar installers had proposed to co-locate solar arrays next to each other to get around the cap, but this agreement would prohibit that.
Dive Insight:
More than 900 MW of community solar has been proposed in Minnesota, an Xcel official told Midwest Energy News. But if regulators sign off on an agreement between the utility and developers, that number will take a significant hit. An agreement to cap solar gardens at 5 MW would strike the right balance, Xcel said, though the utility had initially pushed for a 1 MW cap.
Along with Xcel, parties to the agreement include: Innovative Power Systems; MN Community Solar LLC; Novel Energy Solutions; Renewable Energy Partners; SolarStone; Sundial Solar; and TruNorth Solar LLC.
The case is on Minnesota Public Utilities Commission's docket today, but is not guaranteed to be approved. A note on the agenda describes the proceeding as “a disputed item or significant legal or procedural issue.”
In addition to the 5-MW cap, under the agreement community solar garden developers agree to take Xcel's distribution system as it is, “except to accommodate common distribution interconnection upgrades.” And beginning in September, Xcel said it will accept applications only for 1 MW gardens on an aggregated or co-located basis.
