June 30, 2010 Jason Coughlin Minneapolis/St. Paul Solar America Cities

1. Solar Policy Comparison across States
Focus on Larger PV Installations
June 30, 2010
Jason Coughlin
Minneapolis/St. Paul
Solar America Cities
NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC

2. Introduction
• Policies and incentives drive solar deployment
• What do some states offer that others don’t and what is the
impact?
• Economies of scale associated with large installations are
significant and states with lots of installed capacity have many
large PV systems.
• A low net metering cap can be a disadvantage for larger
commercial and industrial systems unless system size is less
than base-load electricity demand.
• Other incentives often tied to net metering limit.
• What are the impacts when making policy changes?
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3. Policy Comparison across select states
New
State Minnesota Colorado California Utah
Jersey
RPS Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Solar carve-out No Yes Yes No No
Limited to 40kW 120% of annual 25 kW (res)
Net Meter Cap
systems or less 2 MW (A) load (A) 1 MW (A) 2 MW (non-
(with grade)
(C) (IOUs only) res) (A)
Interconnection
(Freeing the F B B B F
Grid)
Yes
Is PPA Legal ? Yes Yes Yes Yes
(with limits)
Annual Solar
642 MWh 591 MWh 729 MWh 700 MWh 700 MWh
Resource
(Minneapolis) (Newark) (Boulder) (Sacramento) (Salt Lake)
(500 kW)
Electricity
Prices: July 09 8.54¢ 16.04¢ 8.91¢ 16.38¢ 7.50¢
(Commercial)
Existing 128
59 1,102
Capacity by 2 (up 80% in 1.5 - 2
(up 64% in 09) (up 25% in 09)
State (MW) 09)

4. Policy Comparison across select states
New
State Minnesota Colorado California Utah
Jersey
40 kW or less SREC loan Various
Utility $200,000
($2.25/watt) program (SMUD)
Incentives Xcel Program $30,000 max
Xcel’s program (PSE&G) (LADWP)
100 kW or
PBI for 5 years
State Rebates 40 kW or less 50 kW or less 25 kW or less less
($0.09-0.26/kWh
($50k max)
$45/MWh
Solar RECS No $573/MWh No No
June 2010
April 2010
Xcel Program
Annual Solar
642 MWh 591 MWh 729 MWh 700 MWh 700 MWh
Resource
(Minneapolis) (Newark) (Boulder) (Sacramento) (Salt Lake)
(500kW)
Electricity
Prices: July 09 8.54¢ 16.04¢ 8.91¢ 16.38¢ 7.50¢
(Commercial)
Existing 128
59 1,102
Capacity by 2 (up 80% in 1. 5 - 2
(up 64% in 09) (up 25% in 09)
State (MW) 09)

5. Minnesota v. New Jersey
State Minnesota New Jersey
RPS Yes Yes
Solar carve-out No Yes
Net Meter Cap Limited to 40kW systems or less (C) 2 MW (A)
Interconnection Grade F B
Is PPA Legal ? Yes Yes
Utility Incentives 40 kW or less SREC loan program
State Rebates 40 kW or less 50 kW or less
Solar RECS No $573/MWh
$7.24/watt for 400 kW $5.42-7.13
Cost per Watt installed
(Open PV) (Open PV)
Annual Solar Resource 642 MWh 591 MWh
(500kW) (Minneapolis) (Newark)
Electricity Prices: July 09
8.54¢ 16.04¢
(Commercial)
779 installs for total of 89 MW
# of installs > 100kW 2
115 kW average size
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6. Interconnection Issues
Best Practices in Interconnection Procedures (“Freeing the Grid” Report)
• Set fair fees that are proportional to a project’s size.
• Cover all generators in order to close any state-federal jurisdictional gaps in
standards.
• Screen applications by degree of complexity and adopt plug-and-play rules for
residential-scale systems and expedited procedures for other systems.
• Ensure that policies are transparent, uniform, detailed and public.
• Prohibit requirements for extraneous devices, such as redundant disconnect
switches, and do not require additional insurance.
• Apply existing relevant technical standards, such as IEEE 1547 and UL 1741.
• Process applications quickly; a determination should occur within a few days.
• Standardize and simplify forms
Minnesota Strengths despite poor grade
• Engineering Fee Fixed
• Dispute Resolution Procedures in place
• Requirements apply to all Utilities
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7. Summary
• Quality of solar resource is not the whole story
• Policies matter
• States with significant installed capacity have a lot of
large installations.
• Low net metering caps can limit the development of a
broad solar marketplace.
• Net metering is not a silver bullet however.
• Cheap electricity is a double-edged sword. Good for
ratepayers but bad for solar economics.
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8. References
Primary data source for this presentation was DSIRE
Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE)
http://dsireusa.org/
Net Metering and Interconnection Grades
Freeing the Grid 2009
Network for New Energy Choices
http://www.newenergychoices.org/uploads/FreeingTheGrid2009.pdf
Installed capacity at the State Level
Year in Solar 2009
http://seia.org/galleries/default-file/2009%20Solar%20Industry%20Year%20in%20Review.pdf
Solar production for 500 kW systems
PVWatts Version 1
http://rredc.nrel.gov/solar/calculators/PVWATTS/version1/
EIA: Average electricity prices
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/ftproot/electricity/epm/02260910.pdf
New Jersey Rebate Information
http://www.njcleanenergy.com/renewable-energy/programs/renewable-energy-incentive-program/renewable-
energy-incentive-program-cust

9. References
New Jersey data on commercial solar installations
http://njcleanenergy.com/renewable-energy/project-activity-reports/installation-summary-by-technology/solar-
installation-projects
New Jersey SREC prices
http://www.njcleanenergy.com/renewable-energy/project-activity-reports/srec-pricing/srec-pricing
California Solar Initiative information
http://www.californiasolarstatistics.ca.gov/reports/6-23-2010/PBIApplications.html
Xcel Energy Solar Rewards information for Colorado and Minnesota
http://xcelenergy.com/Colorado/Residential/RenewableEnergy/Solar_Rewards/Pages/CurrentPricing.aspx
http://xcelenergy.com/Minnesota/Residential/RenewableEnergy/Solar_Rewards/Pages/home.aspx
NREL’s OpenPV Database
http://openpv.nrel.gov/
Evaluating the Rationale for the Utility-Accessible External Disconnect Switch: Preprint. 2008
Coddington, M. H.
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy08osti/43293.pdf
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10. Contact Information:
303-384-7434
Jason.Coughlin@nrel.gov
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