Dive Brief:
- Xcel Energy warned regulators that developers of community solar gardens are skirting the intent of a Minnesota law aimed at keeping them small by stringing together a series of the "gardens" to create a larger facility.
- A 2013 law mandated Minnesota utilities get at least 1.5% of their power from solar, in addition to their renewable portfolio standard, and last year regulators developed rules for community solar gardens in the state.
- Xcel said it has received hundreds of applications from solar developers, but most are a series of linked gardens which each hit the 1-MW project threshold and are targeting larger commercial and industrial customers.
Dive Insight:
Xcel Energy is warning regulators that solar developers may be gaming the system, developing larger solar arrays than imagined by community garden rules. And the utility said it may end up costing ratepayers. As the Star Tribune reports, the power sold to Xcel will be at rates above standard retail levels meaning it could wind up costing non-participating customers more.
Though no projects have been approved yet, more than 400 projects have been proposed. Xcel estimated if all of the projects were built it could cost customers $50 million.
The solar garden rules were finalized last year, and now the state's solar industry may be poised to explode. The state had 14 MW of solar installed at the end of last year, but now has more than 400 MW in the queue, thanks to the community solar program.
The state passed its community solar gardens law in 2013, and intentionally designed the law with no capacity limit to prevent utilities from limiting distributed solar.
