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House Research Department Updated: October 2017 <br />Xcel Energy’s Community Solar Garden Program Page 2 <br />The legislation specified various parameters of Xcel’s community solar garden program, <br />including: <br />•a garden’s capacity—the maximum amount of electricity it can generate—cannot exceed <br />1 megawatt (MW);1 <br />•a garden must have at least five subscribers, none of which may consume more than 40 <br />percent of the garden’s output; <br />•an individual customer’s subscription can be no greater than 120 percent of the <br />customer’s average annual electricity usage; and <br />•the utility to which the garden is interconnected must purchase all the electricity <br />generated by the garden and must credit each customer based on the size of the <br />customer’s subscription.2 <br />The legislation required Xcel to develop a program that met these and other requirements. The <br />commission was granted authority to modify Xcel’s plan, provided that any plan it approves <br />must be consistent with the public interest. <br />Several issues regarding operation of the solar garden program were not spelled out in the <br />statute, including the following questions: <br />•Should a limit on the overall size of the program be established? <br />•At what rate should a utility purchase electricity generated by a solar garden? <br />•How should co-located gardens—aggregations of 1 megawatt projects constructed by a <br />single developer and located adjacent to one another—be treated? <br />•What should be the purchase rate for electricity generated by a solar garden that is not <br />subscribed by a customer? <br />•How are credits on a customer’s bill resulting from monthly generation exceeding <br />monthly electricity use treated at year-end? <br />In a series of orders issued between April 2014 and October 2015—and after receiving <br />comments on Xcel’s proposed plan from governmental agencies, nonprofit organizations that <br />work on energy issues, solar providers and the state’s solar industry association, and almost 200 <br />members of the public―the commission established the details of the program. The commission <br />has continued to modify the program more recently. The table below summarizes the regulations <br />on several key issues under which solar gardens currently operate. The remainder of this <br />information brief provides background information regarding those decisions. <br />1 The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates that a solar system with a capacity of 1 megawatt can meet the energy needs of approximately 125 homes in Minnesota, taking into account available sunshine, average <br />household electricity consumption, and average temperature and wind speed. “What’s In a Megawatt?” <br />www.seia.org/policy/solar-technology/photovoltaic-solar-electric/whats-megawatt. <br />2 Minn. Stat. § 216B.1641.