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Copies of this publication may be obtained by calling 651-296-6753. This document can be made available in <br />alternative formats for people with disabilities by calling 651-296-6753 or the Minnesota State Relay Service at <br />711 or 1-800-627-3529 (TTY). Many House Research Department publications are also available on the <br />Internet at: www.house.mn/hrd/. <br />INFORMATION BRIEF <br />Research Department <br />Minnesota House of Representatives <br />600 State Office Building <br />St. Paul, MN 55155 <br />Bob Eleff, Legislative Analyst <br />651-296-8961 Updated: October 2017 <br />Xcel Energy’s Community Solar Garden Program <br />High capital costs dissuade many small energy customers from installing a solar <br />energy system. Alternatively, a developer can build a system and sell “shares” of <br />the electricity generated to neighborhood residents and businesses. The 2013 <br />Minnesota Legislature required Xcel Energy to develop a pilot project based on <br />the latter model, called a community solar garden. The statute contained some <br />program guidelines, but directed the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to <br />determine the details of the program’s operation, which occurred in a series of <br />orders issued over the past four years. This information brief describes the salient <br />features of Xcel’s community solar garden program by examining selected <br />provisions of those orders. <br />Introduction <br />In 2013 the Minnesota Legislature enacted a provision requiring the state’s largest electric utility, <br />Xcel Energy, to submit a plan to the Public Utilities Commission under which the utility would <br />provide customers the option to purchase electricity under a community solar garden program. <br />A community solar garden is a neighborhood-scale solar energy system from which nearby <br />residential and other small electricity customers can purchase a subscription that reserves to them <br />a fixed monthly share of the electricity generated by the project. This arrangement removes the <br />significant barrier of large initial capital costs that often inhibits such customers from installing a <br />solar energy system. To date, solar gardens have been most often constructed and owned by a <br />third-party developer, rather than an electric utility.