                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

MULTI-FAMILY SHARED SOLAR PROGRAM (§ 56-585.1:12)

A. As used in this section:
			&#8220;Applicable bill credit rate&#8221; means the dollar-per-kilowatt-hour
rate as defined in subsection D used to calculate a subscriber&#8217;s bill
credit. The applicable bill credit rate shall be set such that the shared solar
program results in robust project development and shared solar program access
for all customer classes.
			&#8220;Bill credit&#8221; means the monetary value of the electricity, in
kilowatt-hours, generated by the shared solar facility allocated to a subscriber
to offset that subscriber&#8217;s electricity bill.
			&#8220;Investor-owned utility&#8221; means each investor-owned utility in the
Commonwealth including, notwithstanding subsection G of § 56-580, any
investor-owned utility whose service territory assigned to it by the Commission
is located entirely within the Counties of Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott and
Wise. &#8220;Investor-owned utility&#8221; does not include a Phase I Utility,
as that term is defined in subdivision A 1 of § 56-585.1.
			&#8220;Multi-family shared solar program&#8221; or &#8220;program&#8221;
means the program created through the adoption of rules to allow for the
development of shared solar facilities described in subsection C.
			&#8220;Shared solar facility&#8221; means a facility that:

   1. Generates electricity by means of a solar photovoltaic device with a
   nameplate capacity rating that does not exceed 3,000 kW alternating current at
   any single location or that does not exceed 5,000 kW alternating current at
   contiguous locations owned by the same entity or affiliated entities;

   2. Is operated pursuant to a program whereby at least three subscribers
   receive a bill credit for the electricity generated from the facility in
   proportion to the size of their subscription;

   3. Is located in the service territory of an investor-owned utility;

   4. Is connected to the electric distribution grid serving the Commonwealth;
   and

   5. Is located on a parcel of land on the premises of the multi-family utility
   customer or adjacent thereto.
   				&#8220;Subscriber&#8221; means a multi-family customer of an
   investor-owned electric utility that owns one or more subscriptions of a
   shared solar facility that is interconnected with the utility.
   				&#8220;Subscriber organization&#8221; means any for-profit or nonprofit
   entity that owns or operates one or more shared solar facilities. A
   &#8220;subscriber organization&#8221; shall not be considered a utility solely
   as a result of its ownership or operation of a shared solar facility.
   				&#8220;Subscription&#8221; means a contract or other agreement between a
   subscriber and the owner of a shared solar facility. A subscription shall be
   sized such that the estimated bill credits do not exceed the
   subscriber&#8217;s average annual bill for the customer account to which the
   subscription is attributed.

B. The Commission shall establish by regulation a program that affords eligible
multi-family customers of investor-owned utilities the opportunity to
participate in shared solar projects. The regulations shall be adopted by the
Commission by January 1, 2021.

C. An investor-owned utility shall provide a bill credit to a subscriber&#8217;s
subsequent monthly electric bill for the proportional output of a shared solar
facility attributable to that subscriber. The shared solar program shall be
administered as follows:

   1. The value of the bill credit for the subscriber shall be calculated by
   multiplying the subscriber&#8217;s portion of the kilowatt-hour electricity
   production from the shared solar facility by the applicable bill credit rate
   for the subscriber. Any amount of the bill credit that exceeds the
   subscriber&#8217;s monthly bill shall be carried over and applied to the next
   month&#8217;s bill in perpetuity;

   2. The utility shall provide bill credits to a shared solar facility&#8217;s
   subscribers for not less than 25 years from the date the shared solar facility
   becomes commercially operational;

   3. The subscriber organization shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized
   electronic format, provide to the investor-owned utility a subscriber list
   indicating the kilowatt-hours of generation attributable to each of the retail
   customers participating in a shared solar facility in accordance with the
   subscriber&#8217;s portion of the output of the shared solar facility;

   4. Lists may be updated monthly to reflect canceling subscribers and to add
   new subscribers. The investor-owned utility shall apply bill credits to
   subscriber bills within one billing cycle following the cycle during which the
   energy was generated by the shared solar facility;

   5. The investor-owned utility shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized
   electronic format, provide to the subscriber organization a report indicating
   the total value of bill credits generated by the shared solar facility in the
   prior month as well as the amount of the bill credit applied to each
   subscriber;

   6. A subscriber organization may accumulate bill credits in the event that all
   of the electricity generated by a shared solar facility is not allocated to
   subscribers in a given month. On an annual basis, the subscriber organization
   shall furnish to the utility allocation instructions for distributing excess
   bill credits to subscribers; and

   7. All environmental attributes associated with a shared solar facility,
   including renewable energy certificates, shall be considered property of the
   subscriber organization. At the subscriber organization&#8217;s discretion,
   those attributes may be distributed to subscribers, sold to investor-owned
   utilities or other buyers, accumulated, or retired.

D. The Commission shall annually calculate the applicable bill credit rate as
the effective retail rate of the customer&#8217;s rate class, which shall be
inclusive of all supply charges, delivery charges, demand charges, fixed
charges, and any applicable riders or other charges to the customer. This rate
shall be expressed in dollars or cents per kilowatt-hour.

E. The Commission shall establish by regulation a multi-family shared solar
program by January 1, 2021, and shall require each investor-owned utility to
file any tariffs, agreements, or forms necessary for implementation of the
program. Any rule or utility implementation filings approved by the Commission
shall:

   1. Reasonably allow for the creation and financing of shared solar facilities;

   2. Allow all customer classes to participate in the program, and ensure
   participation opportunities for all customer classes;

   3. Not remove a customer from its otherwise applicable customer class in order
   to participate in a shared solar facility;

   4. Reasonably allow for the transferability and portability of subscriptions,
   including allowing a subscriber to retain a subscription in a shared solar
   facility if the subscriber moves within the same utility territory;

   5. Establish uniform standards, fees, and processes for the interconnection of
   shared solar facilities that allow the utility to recover reasonable
   interconnection costs for each shared solar facility;

   6. Adopt standardized consumer disclosure forms;

   7. Allow the investor-owned utilities to recover reasonable costs of
   administering the program;

   8. Ensure nondiscriminatory and efficient requirements and utility procedures
   for interconnecting projects;

   9. Address the colocation of two or more shared solar facilities on a single
   parcel of land, and provide guidelines for determining when two or more
   facilities are colocated; and

   10. Include a program implementation schedule.

F. Within 180 days of finalization of the Commission&#8217;s adoption of
regulations for the shared solar program, utilities shall begin crediting
subscriber accounts of each shared solar facility interconnected in its service
territory.

HISTORY: 2020, cc. 1187, 1188, 1189, 1239, § 56-585.1:11.