Senate Study Bill 3180 - Introduced SENATE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE BILL BY CHAIRPERSON BROWN) A BILL FOR An Act relating to solar energy by establishing a community 1 solar facility program. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 5444XC (5) 90 lh/js
S.F. _____ Section 1. Section 476.1, Code 2024, is amended by adding 1 the following new subsection: 2 NEW SUBSECTION . 5. A community solar facility established 3 pursuant to section 476.50 shall not be regarded as a public 4 utility for purposes of this chapter. 5 Sec. 2. Section 476.25, Code 2024, is amended by adding the 6 following new subsection: 7 NEW SUBSECTION . 4. The furnishing of electricity pursuant 8 to a community solar facility under section 476.50 shall not 9 be considered an unnecessary duplication of electric utility 10 facilities and shall not constitute a violation of this 11 section. 12 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION . 476.50 Community solar facility 13 program established. 14 1. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise 15 requires: 16 a. Bill credit means the monetary value of the electricity 17 in kilowatt-hours generated by the community solar facility 18 allocated to a subscriber to offset that subscribers 19 electricity bill. 20 b. Community solar facility means a distributed generation 21 facility that generates electricity by means of a solar 22 photovoltaic device whereby subscribers receive a bill credit 23 for the electricity generated in proportion to the size of the 24 customers subscription and all of the following conditions 25 apply: 26 (1) The facility is located on one or more parcels of land 27 and no other community solar facility under the control of the 28 same entity, an affiliates entity, or an entity under common 29 control is located on that land. 30 (2) At the time the facility initially meets the 31 requirements set forth in the tariff to participate in the 32 program, the facility is not located within one mile, measured 33 from the point of interconnection, of a community solar 34 facility under the control of the same entity. 35 -1- LSB 5444XC (5) 90 lh/js 1/ 6
S.F. _____ (3) The facility has at least three subscribers. 1 (4) The facility generates not more than five megawatts of 2 electricity as measured in alternating current. 3 (5) No subscriber holds more than a forty percent interest 4 in the output of the facility. 5 (6) Not less than sixty percent of the capacity of the 6 facility is subscribed to by subscriptions of not more than 7 forty kilowatts. 8 c. Electric utility means a public utility that furnishes 9 electricity to the public for compensation that is required to 10 be rate-regulated under this chapter. 11 d. Subscriber means a customer of an electric utility 12 subject to this section who owns one or more subscriptions to a 13 community solar facility interconnected with that utility. 14 e. Subscriber organization means a for-profit or nonprofit 15 entity that owns or operates one or more community solar 16 facilities. 17 f. Subscription means a proportional contractual interest 18 in a community solar facility under which the estimated bill 19 credits of the subscriber do not exceed the average annual 20 bill for the customer account to which the subscription is 21 attributed. 22 2. a. A community solar facility program is established 23 to encourage and enhance the generation of solar energy and to 24 encourage and enhance the ability of electric utility customers 25 to participate in and derive benefit from alternate solar 26 energy projects. 27 b. An electric utility shall provide a bill credit to a 28 subscribers subsequent monthly electric bill. Any amount of 29 the bill credit that exceeds the subscribers monthly bill 30 shall be carried over and applied to the next months bill in 31 perpetuity. 32 c. An electric utility shall be required to purchase from 33 a community solar facility in accordance with section 476.49. 34 The amount of a subscribers subscription shall be credited 35 -2- LSB 5444XC (5) 90 lh/js 2/ 6
S.F. _____ to the subscribers account with the utility. The board 1 shall develop interconnection agreements for utilization by a 2 community solar facility interconnecting with a utility. 3 d. A community solar facility shall be subject to all of the 4 following requirements: 5 (1) Utilize facilities generating electricity by means of 6 community solar facility solar photovoltaic devices. 7 (2) Provide subscription access to the community solar 8 facility exclusively to customers of a single electric utility. 9 e. The subscriber must be located within the service 10 territory of the electric utility where the community solar 11 facility is located. Customers located outside of the state 12 shall not be allowed to subscribe to the community solar 13 facility. 14 f. A subscriber may subscribe all of their electricity 15 meters to a community solar facility. 16 g. Community solar facilities may be owned by investors. 17 h. An electric utility shall provide a bill credit to 18 a subscribers subsequent monthly electric bill for the 19 proportional output of a community solar facility attributable 20 to that subscriber for not less than twenty-five years from the 21 date the solar facility is first placed into operation. 22 i. A subscriber organization shall periodically and in 23 a standardized electronic format provide to the electric 24 utility whose service territory includes the location of the 25 subscriber organizations community solar facility a subscriber 26 list indicating the percentage of generation attributable 27 to each of the electric utilitys retail customers who are 28 subscribers to a community solar facility in accordance with 29 the subscribers portion of the output of the community solar 30 facility. The electric utility shall create a platform for the 31 subscriber organization to periodically communicate updates to 32 the subscriber list to reflect cancelling subscribers and new 33 subscribers. The investor-owned electric utility shall apply 34 bill credits to the bills of subscribers within one billing 35 -3- LSB 5444XC (5) 90 lh/js 3/ 6
S.F. _____ cycle following the cycle during which the energy earning the 1 bill credits is generated by the community solar facility. 2 j. An electric utility shall provide a subscriber 3 organization a report each month in a standardized electronic 4 format detailing the total value of bill credits generated 5 by the subscriber organizations community solar facility in 6 the prior month and the amount of bill credits applied to each 7 subscriber. 8 k. Any renewable energy credits created from the production 9 of electricity in a community solar facility are the property 10 of the subscriber organization that owns or operates the 11 community solar facility. The subscriber organization may 12 sell, accumulate, retire, or distribute to subscribers the 13 renewable energy credits of the subscriber organization. 14 3. The board shall adopt rules to implement the provisions 15 of this section that accomplish all of the following: 16 a. Reasonably allow for the creation and financing of 17 community solar facilities. 18 b. Allow all customer classes to participate as subscribers 19 to a community solar facility, and ensure participation 20 opportunities for all customer classes. 21 c. Prohibit removing a customer from the customers 22 applicable customer class due to the customer subscribing to a 23 community solar facility. 24 d. Reasonably allow for the transferability and portability 25 of subscriptions, including allowing a subscriber to retain a 26 subscription to a community solar facility if the subscriber 27 moves within the same investor-owned electric utilitys service 28 territory. 29 e. Modify existing interconnection standards, fees, 30 and processes as needed to facilitate the efficient and 31 cost-effective interconnection of community solar facilities 32 and that allow an electric utility to recover reasonable 33 interconnection costs for each community solar facility. 34 f. Provide for consumer protection in accordance with 35 -4- LSB 5444XC (5) 90 lh/js 4/ 6
S.F. _____ existing laws. 1 g. Allow an electric utility to recover costs of applying 2 bill credits under this section. 3 h. Require that electric utilities efficiently connect 4 community solar facilities to the electrical distribution grid 5 and do not discriminate against community solar facilities. 6 i. Require a subscriber organization to satisfy 7 interconnection process benchmarks, demonstrate site control, 8 and obtain all applicable nonministerial permits for a 9 community solar facility before the subscriber organization 10 owns or operates the facility. 11 EXPLANATION 12 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 13 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 14 This bill establishes a community solar facility program. 15 The bill specifies that an electric utility for 16 purposes of the bill is a public utility that provides 17 electricity to the public for compensation and is required 18 to be rate-regulated under Code chapter 476. The bill 19 defines community solar facility to mean a distributed 20 generation facility that generates electricity through solar 21 panels whereby subscribers may receive bill credits for 22 the electricity generated in proportion to the size of the 23 customers subscription. The bill defines subscriber to mean 24 a customer of an electric utility who owns at least one share 25 of a subscription to a community solar facility. A subscriber 26 organization is a for-profit or nonprofit entity that owns 27 or operates one or more community solar facilities. The bill 28 defines subscription to mean a proportional contractual 29 interest in a community solar facility. 30 The bill provides that a community solar facility program is 31 established to encourage and enhance solar energy generation 32 and the ability of electric public utility customers to 33 participate in and derive benefit from alternate solar energy 34 projects. 35 -5- LSB 5444XC (5) 90 lh/js 5/ 6
S.F. _____ The bill provides that a customer shall receive a credit in 1 proportion to the customers subscription. The bill provides 2 that a utility shall be required to purchase in accordance with 3 billing methods established pursuant to Code section 476.49. A 4 subscribers subscription shall be credited to the subscribers 5 account with the utility. The bill provides that the Iowa 6 utilities board shall develop interconnection agreements for 7 utilization by a community solar facility interconnecting with 8 the utility. 9 The bill provides that a community solar facility may 10 consist of subscribers located within the state and shall not 11 consist of out-of-state subscribers. The bill provides that 12 a subscriber may include all of the subscribers electricity 13 meters in the community solar facility. The bill provides that 14 a community solar facility may be owned by investors. 15 The bill requires the Iowa utilities board to adopt rules 16 regarding implementation of the bills provisions. 17 -6- LSB 5444XC (5) 90 lh/js 6/ 6