Solar legislation proposed for 2017 General Assembly
A working group that includes Dominion Virginia Power, Appalachian Power and an assortment of clean energy advocates has achieved consensus on pro-solar legislation to submit to the General Assembly. According to Jim Pierobon, writing for Southeast Energy News, the group worked through the summer and early fall guided by Mark Rubin, a mediator with the Virginia Center for Consensus Building.
According to a summary provided by Rubin, the four initiatives would:
- Streamline the regulatory oversight utilities are subject to on large-scale solar projects, boosting the size limit from 100 megawatts to 150 megawatts for systems seeking a one-time permit earmarked for a specific project.
- Increase the profit that investor-owned utilities (Dominion and Apco) can make on projects originated by third-party developers and power purchased under Power Purchase Agreements.
- Provide for a community solar pilot program administered by utilities.
- Allow wineries and farmers to build sizable solar systems and earn credits for power they push into the local distribution grid, in effect expanding Virginia’s “net metering” law.
Not everyone is wild about the package. “It’s very much a utility-centric proposal,” said Tony Smith, CEO of Secure Futures, an independent provider of solar solutions.
Ivy Main, the renewable energy chair for the Virginia Chapter of the Sierra Club, says the proposed legislation would not promote true community solar. In her Power to the People blog, she wrote:
For real community solar, we will have to look to legislation developed by the Virginia Distributed Solar Collaborative. This broad-based group of solar stakeholders includes consumers, local government employees and environmentalists as well as solar industry representatives (but not utilities). The Collaborative developed its own model bill this summer based on legislation from other states. The model bill gives much greater freedom to customers to cooperate in the development and ownership of renewable energy facilities for their own benefit.