SF 997

Introduction - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026)

Posted on 02/11/2025 08:56 a.m.

A bill for an act
relating to energy; requiring community solar garden subscribers to reside in the
same county as the solar garden generating facility; amending Minnesota Statutes
2024, section 216B.1641, subdivisions 1, 6.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 216B.1641, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Legacy program.

(a) The public utility subject to section 116C.779 shall
file by September 30, 2013, a plan with the commission to operate a community solar garden
program which shall begin operations within 90 days after commission approval of the plan.
Other public utilities may file an application at their election. The community solar garden
program must be designed to offset the energy use of not less than five subscribers in each
community solar garden facility of which no single subscriber has more than a 40 percent
interest. The owner of the community solar garden may be a public utility or any other entity
or organization that contracts to sell the output from the community solar garden to the
utility under section 216B.164. There shall be no limitation on the number or cumulative
generating capacity of community solar garden facilities other than the limitations imposed
under section 216B.164, subdivision 4c, or other limitations provided in law or regulations.

(b) A solar garden is a facility that generates electricity by means of a ground-mounted
or roof-mounted solar photovoltaic device whereby subscribers receive a bill credit for the
electricity generated in proportion to the size of their subscription. The solar garden must
have a nameplate capacity of no more than one megawatt. Each subscription shall be sized
to represent at least 200 watts of the community solar garden's generating capacity and to
supply, when combined with other distributed generation resources serving the premises,
no more than 120 percent of the average annual consumption of electricity by each subscriber
at the premises to which the subscription is attributed.

(c) The solar generation facility must be located in the service territory of the public
utility filing the plan. Subscribers must be retail customers of the public utility located in
the same county deleted text begin or a county contiguous to deleted text end where the facility is located.

(d) The public utility must purchase from the community solar garden all energy generated
by the solar garden. The purchase shall be at the rate calculated under section 216B.164,
subdivision 10, or, until that rate for the public utility has been approved by the commission,
the applicable retail rate. A solar garden is eligible for any incentive programs offered under
section 116C.7792. A subscriber's portion of the purchase shall be provided by a credit on
the subscriber's bill.

(e) The commission may approve, disapprove, or modify a community solar garden
program. Any plan approved by the commission must:

(1) reasonably allow for the creation, financing, and accessibility of community solar
gardens;

(2) establish uniform standards, fees, and processes for the interconnection of community
solar garden facilities that allow the utility to recover reasonable interconnection costs for
each community solar garden;

(3) not apply different requirements to utility and nonutility community solar garden
facilities;

(4) be consistent with the public interest;

(5) identify the information that must be provided to potential subscribers to ensure fair
disclosure of future costs and benefits of subscriptions;

(6) include a program implementation schedule;

(7) identify all proposed rules, fees, and charges; and

(8) identify the means by which the program will be promoted.

(f) Notwithstanding any other law, neither the manager of nor the subscribers to a
community solar garden facility shall be considered a utility solely as a result of their
participation in the community solar garden facility.

(g) Within 180 days of commission approval of a plan under this section, a utility shall
begin crediting subscriber accounts for each community solar garden facility in its service
territory, and shall file with the commissioner of commerce a description of its crediting
system.

(h) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the meanings given:

(1) "subscriber" means a retail customer of a utility who owns one or more subscriptions
of a community solar garden facility interconnected with that utility; and

(2) "subscription" means a contract between a subscriber and the owner of a solar garden.

(i) This subdivision applies to a community solar garden that was approved before
January 1, 2024.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 216B.1641, subdivision 6, is amended to read:

Subd. 6.

Eligible project; other requirements.

(a) In order to be eligible for
compensation under subdivision 8, a community solar garden must: (1) be connected to the
utility's distribution system; (2) have a capacity, as defined under section 216B.164,
subdivision 2a, paragraph (c), of no more than five megawatts; and (3) have at least 25
individual subscribers per megawatt of generation capacity, provided that a single subscriber
does not possess more than a 40 percent interest in the community solar garden's total
capacity.

(b) A community solar garden subscriber must be located within new text begin : (1) new text end the Minnesota
service territory of the utility new text begin ; and (2) the same county where the community solar garden
is located new text end .

(c) A contractor or subcontractor that constructs or installs a community solar garden
that has a capacity of at least 1 megawatt: (1) must pay no less than the prevailing wage
rate, as defined in section 177.42; and (2) is subject to the requirements and enforcement
provisions under sections 177.27, 177.30, 177.32, 177.41 to 177.435, and 177.45.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end