Wisconsin Republican lawmakers push for community solar bill after utility pushback

Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin are once again trying to pass community solar legislation that would legitimize community solar in the state.

Community solar enables renters, homeowners and businesses to participate in solar without installing solar panels. The consumer subscribes to a portion of the electricity generated by a local community solar installation, receiving credits on their utility bills for the electricity produced by the facility.

Similar to states such as Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania, lawmakers have been trying to pass community solar legislation for years.

However, the lawmakers made several notable changes to the previous versions. The bill is still in the approval process and not yet in the legislature, but pv magazine USA obtained a draft of the bill from Sen. Pat Testin (R), who introduced the bill with Rep. Scott Krug (R).

As drafted and subject to change, these revisions include:

A 10-year sunset clause
A statewide 1.75 GW total capacity limit for community solar projects
Community solar projects located on rooftops or a previously developed site that isn’t agricultural or forestry land would be limited to 20 MW instead of 5 MW
Adds a 24-month limit for how long unused bill credits may be carried over
Requires community solar projects to adopt land use standards that provide for native vegetation, pollinator habitat or dual use, and to adopt standards for construction practices that mitigate agricultural impacts.
Bill credits would not be allowed to reduce subscribers’ monthly bill below $20.

The bill’s author Rep. Krug declined to comment on why he made certain changes, such as the sunset clause, to the bill.

When they announced the bills, the lawmakers focused on how the bill would give local governments control over whether the projects can be built, granting local governments the ability to give zoning approval for small-scale solar projects with a two-thirds majority.

“The small scale of these projects—combined with local control and oversight—is such an important part of this legislation,” Krug said.

Testin said just as importantly, the “legislation is designed to directly address those rising energy prices by expanding access to locally generated, affordable power.”

After reviewing the changes, including how much customers can save, Ingrid Behrsin, a senior researcher at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) told pv magazine USA, “Wisconsin’s community solar policy can better meet this pivotal opportunity by making sure subscribers are compensated at full retail value, and explicitly including low- and moderate-income families through a dedicated carveout.”

As for some of the other changes?

“It should ditch the 10-year sunset and statewide capacity limit too,” Behrsin said.

Total economic contribution to Wisconsin’s economy from community solar.
*Image: Forward Analytics*

A 2023 study by Forward Analytics, a Wisconsin-based research organization that provides state and local policymakers with nonpartisan analysis of state issues, estimated 350 community solar projects with a combined capacity of 1.75 GW would contribute an estimated $2.49 billion in economic activity in the state.

Using National Renewable Energy Laboratory figures, the study said the construction of each 5 MW community solar project would cost an estimated $9.8 million, of which $3.8 million would be spent in the state, creating economic activity.

Utility opposition

Many utilities offer “community solar,” ILSR said, but their programs cost rather than save subscribers money and the utility owns the projects — taking profits that would otherwise go to community subscribers and giving them to utility shareholders.

For example, New Jersey’s community solar legislation has a guaranteed savings requirement that guarantees participants save at least 15% on their bill.

But in Wisconsin?

“We make them pay a premium,” Zack Hill, senior manager of public affairs with utility Alliant Energy, said during last year’s Senate Committee on Utilities and Technology informational hearing.

Of Wisconsin’s utilities that sponsor community solar programs, most are fully subscribed and the number of projects available are limited. Hill said Alliant Energy recently activated its second community solar project.

Utility Madison Gas & Electric (MGE) said in the previous legislation’s testimony only utilities should be able to manage community solar programs because they are the ones that “have the knowledge and experience and understand how best to serve and to protect electric customers.”

MGE offers a community solar program that charges participants an upfront fee to join and then a fixed monthly per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) for however much they choose to subscribe to, up to 50% of their annual electricity consumption.

While proponents argue creating a competitive market would drive down costs, Hill said opening community solar projects up to other than the state’s utilities isn’t competition, but “first in line wins.”

Proponents say utilities are opposed to community solar because by allowing other companies to develop and own generation, the investor-owned utilities lose some of their monopoly share.

Vertically integrated “regulated” energy markets, which allow utilities to own generation facilities, is the biggest factor that’s preventing community solar in more states, Jeff Cramer, president and CEO of the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA), one of the groups working to push the legislation through, told pv magazine USA earlier this year.

The majority of states with restructured energy markets have succeeded in adopting community solar legislation. In contrast, the majority of states with traditional energy markets – where utilities have monopolies over generation – do not.

For example, across the border in Illinois, where utilities are not allowed to own generation, utility ComEd is not only not opposed to community solar, but “all for it,” said Sunny Elebua, a senior vice president of Comed parent company Exelon.

Calling community solar “a game-changer” in Illinois, Melissa Washington, ComEd senior vice president of customer operations and chief customer officer, said the utility views its role as an enabler for growth. This is largely because, as she pointed out, ComEd does not own generation (utilities are forbidden to by law in Illinois), like many of its utility peers in other states.

Elebua said community solar makes energy more affordable for ratepayers.

“Community solar projects, if done correctly and sized appropriately, do not have to go through the interconnection queue challenges,” he said. “If you manage it at the distribution level, you can actually expedite it.”

(For rooftop, community solar, ‘we’re all for it,’ ComEd says)

During the hearing, Hill also said Alliant was against it because solar companies only need to get a minimum of three customers to sign up to build projects. “I don’t know if too many businesses that can rely on 25 years of profits by getting just three customers,” he said.

Sarah Moon, cofounder of community solar developer Fieldworks Power, said this allegation of a lack of risk on developers confused her. “The investment is entirely at our risk,” she said. “That’s something that we do, including paying for the upgrades to the poles and wires associated with making these projects a reality.

“If we are not able to keep these projects subscribed and deliver real value to individual subscribers, we receive basically no value,” she said. “It’s just not going to be economically viable.”

Alliant also argued the state doesn’t need community solar because its utilities already offer it.

However, Moon said Alliant only has two projects built in the state, which have few customers and a limited base that can participate.

Moon suggested next session the legislature talk about capping the program or taking a measured introduction of the program.

Republican support is starting to spread in many states. Republicans in Ohio, for example, recently reintroduced a community solar bill after their first attempt was thrown out of an omnibus package. In Montana, the Republican-led Legislature passed a community solar bill almost unanimously, but it was ultimately vetoed by the state’s governor. Republicans also tried for community solar bills this year in Iowa, Missouri and Georgia.

“What compels conservatives is when you start to talk about how solar energy is the cheapest levelized-cost of energy on the market, is also the fastest [to deploy], and can help save their voters and their constituents money,” said Cramer.

(Also read: State solar policy on the frontlines & Illinois powers up a new generation of community solar 2.0)

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.