Community Solar

Background Review of Electricity System mandated by Bill 1 – Nov “Our Electricity Future, Nova Scotia’s Electricity Plan” released Nov Plan identifies “A new Community Buildings Solar PV Pilot Program will promote installation of solar panels on community buildings such as town halls, fire halls, and community centres.” Bill 141 (Dec. 2015) grants government the authority to make regulations implementing such a program Regulations to be created after stakeholder consultation

Commitments (from plan) “Projects will be reviewed and approved based on a competitive process” “Power purchase agreements … for the winning community projects” “The program will be capped and controlled to ensure that there are no significant negative impacts on rate stability”

Requirements (from law) Contracts (PPA) awarded based on competitive process overseen by a independent body (Procurement Administrator) Data must be collected and made available The total size of the program will be limited, and limits known, at the outset The program must remain compatible with the rate stability objectives of the electricity plan

Objectives Encourage conversation about, and acceptance of, Solar PV by giving it prominence in the community Gather information on how Solar Electricity fits into the electricity landscape in NS Develop the solar industry in NS

Projects Must be located on the property of an eligible community organization with existing electrical service Roof or ground-mount Ownership of any new solar infrastructure remains with the property owner PPA is signed with the property owner PPA will be standard contract; defined before launch PPA term will be 20 years, fixed price Output data will be made public (Format and method TBD) Project size will be capped (50kW in first year), but no minimum

Application Structure Applications are joint; by an eligible community group and a solar supplier Applications include location, kW, estimated kWh and PPA price, and all estimated installation costs and financing There is not a need for all costs to be recovered by PPA Applications submitted to DOE, qualifying ones forwarded to the Procurement Administrator The Department will do media releases advertising the program and host information sessions as required Solar suppliers are responsible for identifying community partners

Award Procurement Administrator will select winners to fill each annual allotment Allotment not filled can be available for next cycle Winners have 1-year from award to exercise PPA Award based on lowest cost procurement Additional criteria around geographic distribution and potentially entity diversity (e.g. not all Municipalities) Winning bidders and bids will be made public PPA awarded before construction, cost variance risk to be worked out between owner and installer

Interconnection No restrictions on substation Projects cannot share a secondary line or transformer No grid impact study required (because of cap) Subject to normal electrical inspection, building code and all requirements outlined in NSP’s interconnection guideline All interconnection costs borne by installer, not utility (e.g. re-conductoring of secondary service lines, upgrade of service entrance, metering, etc.)

Questions?