Fresh Energy's 2013 Power Breakfast | Erin Stojan Ruccolo, Solar Means Business in Minnesota
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The first event of a three-part Solar Opportunities Series, Fresh Energy’s annual Power Breakfast outlined new and exciting solar opportunities for business and property owners. Learn more at fresh-energy.org/solarseries.
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Fresh Energy's 2013 Power Breakfast | Erin Stojan Ruccolo, Solar Means Business in Minnesota
- 1. POWER BREAKFAST Solar means business in Minnesota SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 | SCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA Erin Stojan Ruccolo Director, Electricity Markets Fresh Energy
- 2. Why solar in Minnesota? • Popular • Jobs engine • Abundant • Costs are dropping dramatically • Underutilized
- 3. Minnesota’s solar resource is Massive in scale. And infinite.
- 4. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, solar is Minnesota’s single largest energy resource. • Overall technical potential: More than 150 times Minnesota’s electricity use • Minnesota rooftops: 12,000 megawatts (roughly 21 percent of state electricity use) • Ground-mounted utility scale: 6,530,000 megawatts
- 5. Four of these production-based peer states (Oregon, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Washington) are seeing faster growth in grid-tied solar PV capacity despite the fact that they also have lower average electricity rates than Minnesota. States with solar resources comparable to Minnesota (2011) Minnesota’s solar PV deployment underperforms compared to peer states Source: Interstate Renewable Energy Council, “U.S. Solar Market Trends 2011” (Aug. 2012), available at http://www.irecusa.org/wp-content/uploads/IRECSolarMarketTrends-2012-Web-8-28-12.pdf.
- 6. 2013 Solar Energy Jobs Act Requiring utilities to deploy solar • Solar Energy Standard: 1.5 percent by 2020, 10 percent of which met by projects under 20 kilowatts • Solar energy policy goal: 10 percent by 2030 statewide Removing barriers for customer solar deployment • “Net metering” reforms for investor-owned utilities – Increased system size – Combine meters – Eliminate some unfair charges for small systems ( less than 100 kilowatts) – Required solar systems be sized to 125 percent of annual energy use – Excess energy receives “avoided cost” compensation by utility at end of year
- 7. 2013 Solar Energy Jobs Act Value of Solar Tariff • Option for investor-owned utilities to pay customers what solar is worth on the electricity system. Community solar garden program • Required for Xcel, optional for other investor-owned utilities. • Allows customers to subscribe to a large project and be credited for their portion of the generation on their bill. Incentives • Made in Minnesota and Xcel production-based incentive. Five- and ten-year program. Studies
- 8. Solar Energy Standard: Minnesota leading the way • 1.5 percent of electricity sales from solar energy by 2020 for investor-owned utilities • 10 percent of the 1.5-percent requirement must be from projects under 20 kilowatts • Solar energy standard is in addition to Minnesota’s 25 percent by 2025 Renewable Energy Standard (30 percent by 2020 for Xcel Energy) • Minnesota policy goal: 10 percent of electricity sales from solar energy by 2030
- 9. Removing barriers – net metering Producing electricity Meter moves backwards Consuming more than produced Meter moves forwards
- 10. 2013 Solar Energy Jobs Act: Net metering (Investor-owned utilities) • Cap raised to one megawatt (1,000 kilowatts) • Solar systems limited to 125 percent of annual energy use • Meter aggregation: Single customer with multiple meters can combine meters between adjacent properties (e.g. a campus) • Standby charges prohibited: Projects under 100 kilowatts
- 11. Value of solar • Utility-optional alternative to net metering • Compensate solar customers for value they provide to electricity system, society • Minnesota Department of Commerce developing methodology – Submit to Minnesota Public Utilities Commission January 30, 2014 • 20-year contract at given rate • Must be at least retail rate for first three years • First statewide value of solar rate in country
- 12. Community solar • Solar facility up to one megawatt in which subscribers are credited with their portion of the project generation on their electricity bill • Only 22 percent of Minnesota residential homes can support solar due to orientation, shading, etc. • An estimated 20 percent of Minnesotans live in homeowner associations, which may have rules restricting solar panel installation • Many Minnesotans don’t own the roof of their residence
- 13. Community solar for Xcel customers The statute says: Xcel required to file a program on September 30 to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which may then approve, modify, or deny the program. Facilities • Projects may be up to one megawatt in size. • A facility must have at least five subscribers, with no subscriber having more than 40 percent of subscriptions. • A facility can be owned and operated by a third party or the utility. • Facilities can take advantage of Xcel’s production-based incentive or the Made In Minnesota incentive. • No cap on the total number of community solar projects or total system-wide capacity.
- 14. Community solar for Xcel customers The statute says: Xcel is required to file a program on September 30 to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, which may then approve, modify, or deny the program. Subscribers • Subscribers can’t own subscriptions equal to more than 125 percent of their annual energy use. • Subscribers will be compensated at retail rate unless the utility adopts a value of solar tariff. • Subscribers will be credited for their portion of the project’s generation on their monthly bill. • Individual subscriptions must be at least 200 watts or more.
- 15. Incentives Made In Minnesota • Systems under 40 kilowatts manufactured in Minnesota • $15 million per year for 10 years, 10-year contracts • Investor-owned utilities Xcel production-based incentive • $5 million per year, 5 years, 10-year contracts
- 16. Studies • Minnesota fossil-free energy system study • Onsite energy storage • Solar thermal
- 20. POWER BREAKFAST Solar means business in Minnesota SEPTEMBER 24, 2013 | SCIENCE MUSEUM OF MINNESOTA Erin Stojan Ruccolo Director, Electricity Markets Fresh Energy
Editor's Notes
- Minnesota’s solar resource is huge. So huge that NREL estimates: Current solar technology, if deployed broadly, could supply Minnesota with 150 times its current electricity needs – albeit mostly just during the day. Solar is also massively distributed. Indeed, the solar resource drives agriculture and forestry production all across the state.NREL’s solar PV “technical potential” is an estimate of the potential long-term market size for PV and assumes the existence of economic and policy conditions that support solar development. The NREL estimation methodology accounts for shading, orientation, and other relevant factors.NREL estimates the technical potential of solar power on Minnesota rooftops at 12,000 megawatts (nameplate capacity). 4 NREL further estimates that this capacity could produce on the order of 14,322 gigawatt-hours of daytime electricity annually. 5 For context, that would be equivalent to roughly 21 percent of total statewide electricity use in 2011. 6 NREL also estimates a technical potential for ground mounted “utility-scale” solar PV in Minnesota: 6,530,000 megawatts of nameplate capacity, and 10,826,184 gigawatt-hours of daytime electricity per year. 7 That potential is equivalent to 150 times the state’s current electricity demand, making solar PV Minnesota’s largest single energy resource according to NREL’s findings. As with other types of energy, having a large total resource and technical potential does not guarantee the full development of that potential. But the large size of the solar reserve demonstrates that under favorable policy and investment decisions, solar power has the potential to become a substantial component of Minnesota’s future energy portfolio.
- Minnesota’s solar resource is huge. So huge that NREL estimates: Current solar technology, if deployed broadly, could supply Minnesota with 150 times its current electricity needs – albeit mostly just during the day. Solar is also massively distributed. Indeed, the solar resource drives agriculture and forestry production all across the state.NREL’s solar PV “technical potential” is an estimate of the potential long-term market size for PV and assumes the existence of economic and policy conditions that support solar development. The NREL estimation methodology accounts for shading, orientation, and other relevant factors.NREL estimates the technical potential of solar power on Minnesota rooftops at 12,000 megawatts (nameplate capacity). 4 NREL further estimates that this capacity could produce on the order of 14,322 gigawatt-hours of daytime electricity annually. 5 For context, that would be equivalent to roughly 21 percent of total statewide electricity use in 2011. 6 NREL also estimates a technical potential for ground mounted “utility-scale” solar PV in Minnesota: 6,530,000 megawatts of nameplate capacity, and 10,826,184 gigawatt-hours of daytime electricity per year. 7 That potential is equivalent to 150 times the state’s current electricity demand, making solar PV Minnesota’s largest single energy resource according to NREL’s findings. As with other types of energy, having a large total resource and technical potential does not guarantee the full development of that potential. But the large size of the solar reserve demonstrates that under favorable policy and investment decisions, solar power has the potential to become a substantial component of Minnesota’s future energy portfolio.
- MN has a better solar resource than most of the Great Lakes states and East Coast population centers (not to mention Germany). According to market data, however, Minnesota is under-performing relative to most of these peer states.