Solar Works for Minnesota

An Affordable, Job-Creating, 10% Clean Local Solar Energy Standard

Presentation by John FarrellILSR’s Director of Democratic Energy

jfarrell@ilsr.orgVersion 3February 14, 2013

What 10% Solar Means

•Creating over 8,000 good jobs in the state’s solar industry, including 1,300 manufacturing jobs

•Getting over 2% of our electricity from solar by 2022 and 10% by 2030

•Putting solar on as many as 50,000 Minnesota rooftops, from residential to small businesses to big businesses

•Millions of dollars in energy savings and billions of dollars in economic activity

Results: Solar Energy for Minnesota

0

1,500

3,000

4,500

6,000

2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030

2.5%of electricity

10%megawatts

Results: Solar Jobs for Minnesota

0

1,750

3,500

5,250

7,000

2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030

2.5%

10%Installation

ManufacturingOperations

6,500

1,3001,300

installationoperationsmanufacturingmegawatts

How it Works

• Solar requirement: Like the Renewable Energy Standard (RES), utilities must buy sufficient solar to meet target.

• Broad participation: Utility must meet target by purchasing solar from projects of various sizes.

# of projects% of capacity

Residential

Small Commercial

Med. Commercial

Large Commercial

Utility Scale

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

25%

35%

25%

12.5%

2.5%

Sample Distribution of Solar Projects

Residential

Small Commercial

Med. Commercial

Large Commercial

Utility Scale

0 100 200 300 400

20

56

100

250

400

How it’s Financed

• Utility calculates a buy-all “value of solar” price they will pay for solar electricity based on its value to their grid system.

• A production-based incentive layers on top of the value of solar price to make solar projects financeable.

• The incentive is calculated based on the solar array size.

• The value of solar price and incentive are paid on a 20-year, standard contract.

0¢

5¢

10¢

15¢

20¢

2014 2017 2020 2023 2026 2029

Sample Solar Price for Commercial Solar (100-300 kW)

Utility value of solarDeclining incentive

Incentive sunsets

What’s the Benefit?

• 6,600 jobs (over 1,300 in manufacturing)

• 50,000 rooftops with local solar power

• Millions of dollars in electricity savings for Minnesota homes and businesses

• $7 billion in economic activity

What’s the Cost?

• Up to $37 million per year in solar incentives (~$1 per month per residential electricity customer)

•

Every $1 in incentives buys $10 in economic output

How Strong is Support for Solar Power?

Democrats

Independents

Republicans

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

76%

83%

99%

Support for using more solar power

Support Undecided OpposePoll conducted January 2012 by Minnesota Environmental Partnership and RE AMP

How Strong is Support for Solar Power?

Democrats

Independents

Republicans

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

89%

86%

97%

Willingness to pay at least $2 per month for more solar power

$2 per month or more Less/Don’t KnowPoll conducted January 2012 by Minnesota Environmental Partnership and RE AMP

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030

10%

NV

AZ

NM

CO

IL

NJ

DE

MD

NM other state standards

Comparison: Who’s Setting the Solar Pace?

Minnesota

Buy All Programs

Statewide

1 or more local/regional programs*distributed generation

Comparison: Who’s Using Buy-All, Sell-All?