By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent
In the wake of a Minnesota Public Utilities Commission decision to add an incentive to attract residential customers to the state’s booming community solar program, neither side – the utility or solar advocates – were particularly happy.
On the one hand, the utility argued the incentive was too generous, shifting costs (there’s that mythical cost-shift argument raising its ugly head again) to non-community solar customers.
On the other hand, solar advocates argued the incentive wasn’t generous enough, saying it won’t be enough to encourage more residential customers to subscribe to what are called in Minnesota “solar gardens.”
Traditionally, Minnesota has had one of the most successful community solar programs in the country. But according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the program is having trouble attracting residential customers because the compensation rates for credits on the customers’ bills are lower than the retail rate.
Previously, solar was net-metered at the retail rate, but under a successor Value of Solar rate, the compensation rate is lower than it had been. This has had the effect, at least according to one installer, of making community solar less attractive to residential customers.
“Without a residential [incentive] we’ll just have to sell it all to commercial,” [the installer said].
The same installer also argued the the 1.5-cent current incentive wasn’t enough (advocates had asked the PUC to institute at 2.5-cent incentive):
“My fear is that it’s not going to be enough to move the needle in driving the market toward more residential,” Ross Abbey, of solar garden developer U.S. Solar, said after the vote. “It’s disappointing.”
As usual, the utility in question was trying to divide solar from non-solar customers, using the zombie lie that solar users don’t pay their fair share of costs for grid upkeep and the like (i.e. the “cost shift,” which doesn’t happen until a state reaches 10% or higher solar penetration rate and even then only accounts for fractions of a penny per kilowatt-hour).
It’s not clear that the PUC has done the right thing, even though both sides aren’t happy with the outcome. Only time will tell.
More:
Incentive approved for residential customers who choose solar gardens for energy