1

Filename, Version

Solar Programs and Initiatives

July 25, 2017

Progress Toward Solar Goals (as of June 2017)

2

2020 Goal: 110 MW Local Solar (incl. at least 70 MW customer-sited) 2025 Goal: 750 MW Utility-scale + 200 MW Local (at least 100 MW . customer-sited), subject to affordability

16 MW

• Promote Clean Energy • Create Solar Jobs • Promote Best Practices • Educate customers about solar power generation • Help customers overcome cost barriers • Reduce soft costs • Streamline internal processes • Increase utility’s ability to enable DG options

Solar Program Objectives

3

Residential Solar Incentive Program

4

• Added over 6000 residential solar customers since 2004 • Capacity based at $0.50/Watt, and is capped at 10 kW-ac • To qualify for the rebate, systems must be installed by an Austin Energy

Participating Solar Contractor • Contractors must be a registered electrical contractor with TDLR • Employ a NABCEP professional • Employ master electrician • Meet insurance requirements • Attend monthly meetings

• Must meet solar access requirements • 100% inspected by Austin Energy • Residential VoS

For more information go to http://www.austinenergy.com/go/solarincentives

$0.00$0.10$0.20$0.30$0.40$0.50$0.60$0.70$0.80$0.90$1.00$1.10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Reba

te ($

/W)

Program Capacity (MWac)

AE Residential PV Rebate Projected Ramp Down

• Rebate started at $5/watt in 2004 • Reduced as installed costs dropped, solar installations increased • Created capacity-based ramp down schedule in 2015 to provide

greater transparency and surety to contractors & customers

Capacity-Based Residential Rebate

5 More info at www.austinenergy.com/go/currentsolar

Residential Rebate Step

# Rebate ($/W)

Capacity (MW-ac)

1 $1.00 1.0 2 $0.90 1.5 3 $0.80 4.0 4 $0.70 2.5 5 $0.60 3.0 6 $0.50 2.0

Commercial Performance Based Incentive

6

• Since 2004, over 440 commercial customers have solar panels in Austin • Commercial Incentive is performance based at $.06 to $.02/kWh depending

on capacity, and is credited monthly on the bill for the first ten years • Capped at 2.8MW per customer and 1MW per interconnection • To qualify for the incentive, systems must be installed by an Austin Energy

Participating Solar Contractor • All equipment must be new • Must meet solar access requirements • Documentation must be complete and accurate • 100% inspected by Austin Energy • Incentives ramp down as capacity is installed • Commercial is moving to VOS in January

Commercial PBI Incentive Levels

7

Large Commercial Step

# PBI

($/kWh) Capacity (MW-ac)

1 $0.04 4.0 2 $0.03 4.0 3 $0.02 4.0

Medium Commercial Step

# PBI

($/kWh) Capacity (MW-ac)

1 $0.06 1.5 2 $0.05 1.5 3 $0.04 1.5 4 $0.03 1.5

Small Commercial & Non-Profit

Step #

PBI ($/kWh)

Capacity (MW-ac)

1 $0.08 0.5 2 $0.07 1.0 3 $0.06 1.5 4 $0.05 2.0

Subject to change due to budget limitations or market changes that warrant incentive level review.

Current incentive levels are available at www.austinenergy.com/go/currentsolar

$0.00

$0.01

$0.02

$0.03

$0.04

$0.05

$0.06

$0.07

$0.08

$0.09

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0

PBI (

$/kW

h)

Program Capacity (MWac)

AE Commercial PBI Ramp Down Projections

Small Commercial Incentive

Medium Commercial Incentive

Large Commercial Incentive

Community Solar Adjustment: • Residential customers may sign up for Community Solar • 100% of their use will be met with local solar • Community Solar Adjustment (CSA) replaces standard

Power Supply Adjustment (PSA) on subscribers’ bills – PSA varies seasonally and annually – CSA is locked-in as long as they stay in program

Community Solar Subscription Model

8

Current PSA Rate per kWh

CSA Rate per kWh

Premium per kWh

Avg initial premium

Avg initial bill increase*

$0.0278 $0.0427 $0.0149 $13/month 14%

*Based on average AE residential inside customer usage of 900 kWh, averaging summer and winter rates

• Meter both consumption and production – PV meter behind the home’s net meter

• Customer billed for whole house consumption = Energy delivered (by utility) to home + total energy produced by PV - solar energy received by utility

• Customer credited for ALL solar production – Credited for all solar generation, whether used onsite or sent

back to grid • Solar credit = Total kWh produced x VoS rate

– Balance applied to electric bill until it zeroes, remaining credits roll over month-to-month

9

Value of Solar Tariff Applied

PV

Production and Consumption • Customer billed for whole house consumption

– Utility accounts for and assesses costs – Inclining consumption rate encourages energy efficiency

• Customer credited for all solar production – Customers receive equal value across all consumption profiles

Compensation and Incentives • Utility compensates at cost-neutral value

– Utility fully recovers costs – Eliminates cross subsidization

• Incentives are removed from the rate – Allows incentives to have their own justifications – Enables incentive phase out and removal once they are no

longer justified

10

VoST Decouples…

• Enable the local solar industry to flourish without incentives

• Initiate a post incentive customer education program

• Provide renewable energy options for customers • Streamline processes for connecting DG • Provide customer tools for monitoring DG • Minimize grid impacts while maintaining or

improving safety, power quality, and reliability.

Solar Program Long Term Goals

11

12

Questions?

City of Austin - Austin Energy Customer Energy Solutions Tim Harvey Solar Program Coordinator p. 512.482-5386 e. tim.harveyy@austinenergy.com

Twitter

@austinenergy

Facebook

facebook.com/austinenergy