Colorado PUC approves solar garden billing settlement for Xcel

Dive Brief:

The Colorado Public Utilities Commission has approved a settlement between Xcel Energy and three solar companies "regarding the acquisition of community solar gardens" and the rate which the utility pays for the energy generated.
The Denver Post explains that the decision corrects an unintentional quirk that required solar gardens "to pay utility companies for their renewable energy, instead of the other way around."
As part of the settlement, the parties set renewable energy credit prices at $0.03/kW.

Dive Insight:

Community solar has been touted as a means to get solar to low income customers, a sentiment Colorado utilities and solar developers appear to share.

“The bottom line is it’s going to mean more access to community solar gardens for more Coloradans,” Rebecca Cantwell, head of the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, told the Post. “It’s going to eliminate this uncertainty that was hanging over the market, and it takes off this idea of negative renewable energy credits, or solar developers having to pay the utility to put solar on the system.”

The settlement includes Xcel, as well as SunShare, Clean Energy Collective and Community Solar Energy, three solar companies which build and operate community solar gardens. Xcel declared them the winning bidders of a 2015 competitive solicitation for 29.5 MW of community solar.

Along with the settlement, regulators also approved a recommendation that Xcel work with PUC staff to analyze how community solar gardens are being deployed and subscribed.

In March, regulators rejected the group's plan to develop the projects, saying the $0.03/kWh rate for the Renewable Energy Credits produced was higher than bid prices offered in 2015. The commission found Xcel went outside the process they set up to acquire community solar capacity, and wound up with a higher price than necessary.

“Rather than utilize the commission-approved competitive process, the parties filed a settlement that is not in the public interest,” PUC Chairman Joshua Epel said in a statement issued by the PUC.

The commission's statement this week said that "based on the additional evidence, the PUC said the agreement will spread the benefits of solar gardens among as many customers as possible, including low-income and other individuals and businesses that want to promote solar energy."