SHEDDING LIGHT ON A SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD
SCC hearing will determine if developer can build shared program in Toano
Developer and local resident Jay Epstein wants Toano to be home to a solar-powered neighborhood that’s the first of its kind in Virginia, but the results of a State Corporation Commission hearing will decide whether he can move forward.
In 2020, Virginia lawmakers passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act, and part of that legislation allows customers of Dominion Energy Virginia to participate in so-called shared solar programs, which are different than typical methods of tapping the sun’s energy.
Instead of having panels affixed to one’s roof or, alternatively, utilizing electricity generated at massive solar farms, shared solar program subscribers will get much of their electricity from a small, standalone solar facility that can occupy a few acres or less and is operated by a third party.
The legislation also requires the SCC, which regulates Virginia utilities, to define two important figures before any shared solar programs are up and running. A bill credit rate determines how much shared solar customers are credited for the electricity generated by the small solar facility to which they’re connected. A minimum bill is the amount, after the bill credit, that each customer must pay per month to Dominion for providing service, not including the cost of the electricity.
A public SCC hearing Thursday will determine both figures. There is a wide gap between what advocates of community solar programs and Dominion officials would like themto be, according to filings by stakeholders ahead of the hearing.
For instance, the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA), a nationwide advocacy group, proposes a bill credit rate that is based on different financial figures than those that Dominion would like to use.
On the minimum bill, each side is proposing widely differing amounts. The CCSA wants the SCC to approve a minimum bill of $7.58 per month for residential shared solar subscribers. The CCSA’s proposed minimum bill amount is $1 more than the current residential basic customer charge of $6.58. Dominion says this figure is far too low and suggests that a $74.28
monthly minimum bill is required to fairly compensate the utility.
Dominion says its minimum bill proposal is based on three components, according to company spokeswoman Lucy Rhodes. A delivery charge covers the cost of the infrastructure needed to provide customers with electricity. A generation balancing service charge compensates the utility for providing service when the shared solar facility is not providing electricity, as at night. And an administration charge is part of the bill because Dominion will be providing additional administrative services.
The minimum monthly bill ensures “costs are not shifted onto customers who choose not to participate,” Rhodes wrote in an emailed statement. “This is the best way to treat all of our customers fairly and equitably.”
The minimum bill amount Dominion is requesting is in line with other shared solar programs, according to Rhodes. “Our proposal was generally consistent with the similar minimum bill formulas currently used in other shared solar pilot programs for municipalities and schools.”
Ivy Main, a representative of the Sierra Club, said that Dominion’s calculation for the minimum bill doesn’t reflect the true marginal cost of adding shared solar program customers. Instead, Main says Dominion is using an unreasonable calculation — making all customers pay part of Dominion’s operating costs even if the true expense of a shared solar subscriber is much less.
“That just encourages more overhead,” she said.
After the Thursday hearing, there will likely be several months of procedural back-and-forth among the hearing participants, as well as a public comment period, according to SCC spokesman Ken Schrad.
There’s no definitive timeline for a final decision, but spring 2022 is a reasonable estimate.
For Epstein, who will be testifying at the Thursday hearing, the SCC’s ruling will determine the fate of Solara Woods, a 59-unit housing development he’s planning to build on Bush Springs Road in Toano.
Epstein’s company Healthy Communities has already constructed a Richmond solar home community called The Villas at Rocketts Landing as well as Norge’s Walnut Farm, Virginia’s first zero energy ready new home community. Houses in these developments utilize individual rooftop solar panels.
Epstein’s vision for Solara Woods is to make it a shared solar community, with an independent solar farm on 3 acres, instead of individual rooftop panels, providing solar power.
Epstein said that the design allows the neighborhood to retain many more acres of trees. Whereas rooftop solar requires a great deal of clear-cutting, community solar does not.
“If we are looking to reduce our carbon footprint, we need to keep our trees,” he said. “Now with community solar, the high-performance homes can be nestled in the trees, which are protected.”
The trees also help control stormwater, according to Epstein, and have other direct benefits.
“One acre of trees provides oxygen for 18 people” annually, he said.
The shared solar design also makes the solar panels 6% to 8% more efficient because there is air circulating around them, instead of one side being affixed to a roof, Epstein said.
At Walnut Farm and The Villas at Rocketts Landing, Epstein guarantees that residents’ power bills will not exceed $1.50 a day, averaged over the year. He’d like to make a similar promise with Solara Woods, but wouldn’t be able to with a monthly minimum bill that approaches $75, he said.
Epstein said that the Bush Springs Road development will be built regardless of the outcome of the hearing because it is a by-right community. But whether it uses shared solar or rooftop panels ultimately depends on the SCC’s decision on the minimum bill. If the SCC doesn’t rule in his favor, the development called Solara Woods could possibly be built in another state where the monthly fees wouldn’t be as high.
Main, of the Sierra Club, said that a lower minimum bill will have the spillover effect of encouraging financial investment in shared solar and other sustainably powered communities. An energy transition is coming, according to Main, and public policy should facilitate investment and innovation.
“If we are going to have a renewable energy providing the backbone of power, we are going to need a heck of a lot of it at all levels,” she said.