A look at Shared Solar in Virginia

Our county representatives should do their due diligence on applications and follow a line of questioning to the end, not simply accept what is offered or presented by the developers. This occurred recently with the ESA Solar application and the discussion related to the project's participation in "community solar."

In July 2023 Florida-based ESA Solar submitted an application in Orange County for a special use permit to construct a 5 MW solar energy project with up to 35 acres under panels. The full property is 70.85 acres in size and designated as Agricultural (A-2) Future Land use and Agricultural (A) zoning. On February 15 the Planning Commission denied the application, which will now go to the Board of Supervisors. (Update: The application was scheduled to go before the BOS at their April 9 meeting. The developer pulled the application before the BOS meeting.)

This project was proposed as "community solar." During the January 18 meeting of the Planning Commission, the developer talked about community solar and answered questions from the commissioners, but did not fully explain the program.

The developer's points:

-There would be savings of 10-20% for up to 1000 households each year (10-15% was the range shown on his presentation slide).

-The program would be open to anyone who is a Dominion customer (ie, those 1000 participanting households are not just Orange County residents).

-The developer would run a campaign to draw in low income customers by partnering with United Way and social services.

And that was that. No context for the program or how the nuts and bolts of the program come together. It is irritating when solar developers, who typically have been sitting on a project for years, cannot/do not fully explain important aspects of a project. In the second review meeting they did discuss a bit more how the project would support community solar but it should have been done at the outset of the review process.

We did our own digging.

ESA Solar's proposed project would be part of the Shared Solar program (not Community Solar as originally stated), established by Virginia's General Assembly in 2020. This post includes:

1. A description of the Shared Solar program;

2. How the Shared Solar program works for subscribers;

3. The cost to subscribers; and

4. How such a project might play out locally using the ESA Solar example.
   

Shared Solar Program description

From Dominion’s Shared Solar page on dominionenergy.com:

• The Shared Solar Program gives Dominion Energy customers the opportunity to subscribe to participate in shared solar projects through a subscription that earns credits on their electric bill.

• The program’s statewide maximum capacity is 150 MW.

• 30% or 45 MW must serve low income subscribers. Once that benchmark is met, the program can be expanded by 50 MW.

• Individual solar projects cannot exceed 5 MW and must be located on a single parcel of land.

• The first project acceptance into the program occurred in 2021.

• In mid-February 2024, the Dominion Shared Solar page showed 41 projects subscribed and 10 projects on the waiting list. (The legislature is currently considering an expansion of the program to 200 MW.)

How Shared Solar works for customers

From the Virginia Department of Energy’s page on shared solar on energy.virginia.gov:

• Enabled by the Code of Virginia (§ 56-594.3.), the Shared Solar Program allows customers to purchase subscriptions for electricity directly from a shared solar facility that is owned, operated and managed by a private entity.

• Subscribers of a shared solar facility do not have to be directly connected to the facility to participate in the program. This provides opportunities for utility customers that may rent, occupy buildings with shaded or poor roof conditions or cannot purchase their own solar panels to participate in a solar energy program.

• Customers pay for subscriptions that result in credits on their monthly electric bill. Those credits are based on the amount of solar energy a shared solar facility generates. Additionally, customers will pay a minimum bill to the utility to cover the costs of the infrastructure and distribution services. For an average residential customer with 1,000 kWh in monthly usage, the minimum bill would be equal to $55.10.

Low-income customers are exempt from the minimum bill charges. (underlining by VA DOE)

Shared Solar’s cost to subscribers

Dominion's Schedule SS - Shared Solar explains billing for retail customers who purchase subscriptions. A synopsis:

Shared Solar subscribers who are not low-income are paying a premium to be part of the program:

-This latter group of subscribers to Shared Solar pay a Principal Tariff, the rate used to calculate electricity distribution cost.

-They also pay a monthly minimum bill, which increased in 2023 from $55.10 to about $62 to reflect increased service costs. At the outset, this was the highest shared solar subscription fee in the country (cite: Virginia Mercury March 15, 2022). The minimum bill includes the Principal Tariff's monthly Basic Customer Charge, a monthly administrative fee and a subscription-related charge.

-Added to the monthly minimum bill is their household’s actual solar electricity cost (minus credits).

-AND, if the subscriber's subscriber orgaization requests Dominion to bill and collect subscription fees, there will be a Net Crediting Fee and Subscription Fee.

The Piedmont Environmental Council points out that the cost barrier makes shared slar unattainable to most. (cite: PEC, "Expanding access to community solar," August 18, 2023)

As previously noted, low-income participants do not pay the minimum monthly bill. It appears they would pay their actual solar electricty cost (minus credits) and the fees associated with subscription.

What would a Shared Solar project bring to Orange County?

As an example of how a Shared Solar program might be initiated in Orange County, we can look at the “Subscribe” section of the ESA Solar project website. The section explains: “ESA intends to prioritize subscribing Orange County residents to this project, however, there is a limited timeframe that can be set aside for Orange County residents before this project is opened up to all Dominion Energy customers in Virginia.”

It's not at all clear how many Orange County residents might be served.

Returning to the savings that subscribers may receive: The "Subscribe" section of thte ESA Solar project website wraps up with: “…and in the end you save up to 10% on your electric bill!” What happened to saving 10-20%?

If the legislature approves expansion of the Shared Solar program during the current session, Orange County may see more of these proposals. Considerations:

• Despite their small size, Shared Solar projects present the same siting considerations as large utility scale projects. Proposals may present stormwater issues, threats to agricultural land and rural character, loss of habitat, and negative impacts on surrounding properties. Careful review is needed.

• It's not clear from this particular proposal how many Orange County residents might benefit. Potentially only a small percentage of the 1000 households might come from Orange County. Perhaps the county needs to discuss how these projects can best serve the community before any new project proposals are submitted.
  

We are not sold on Shared Solar.

3/26/24 update: Additional research identified that ESA has 6 shared solar projects pending in Virginia at the time their proposal in Orange County was under consideration. All 6 of those projects had similar wording regarding shared solar availability: "Limited subscription availability to <county> residents and business owners."

From a March 26, 2024 article on shared solar on virginiamercury.com (links to full article):

"The program was created for Dominion Energy customers in 2022 to give property owners whose roofs are unsuitable to hold panels, or who reside on lots that don't garner enough sunlight to produce electricity, the option of using renewable energy.

But the program was limited to just 150 megawatts of electricity and required a minimum bill charge to cover the costs for distribution and transmission services; low income subscribers were exempt from paying. As a result, two years since the program was created, only low-income subscribers have signed up for the program." The article also points out that the program reached capacity in May 2023.

Seems shared solar projects have been queueing up for a wait list. A bill to expand the program is on the governor's desk and the possibility of lowering minimum bill to $55.10 is under discussion. A LOT of questions about this program still.

For a look at distributed solar's status, trends, projections and more read Assessing the benefits of distributed solar in Virgina: 2024 update and status report (VCU Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment, VCU L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs). This report defines distributed solar as "decentralized solar PV systems, including residential scale, commercial scale and shared or community solar, located in close proximity to the site of energy consumption."