CVE North America discusses interconnection issues in Massachusetts; community solar growth out West

CVE North America is looking to develop in more states, including New Mexico where it plans to submit projects into the open Community Solar RFP.

CVE North America, a unit of the French-owned Independent Power Producer (IPP) CVE Group, is focused primarily on solar, though also does work in hydro and biogas. According to David Froelich, director of solar business development at CVE North America, he told NPM that in the U.S. CVE’s work so far has only been community solar. Nine projects have been built in Massachusetts totaling 72 MW.

“We’re trying to develop in other states and we still have a pipeline of other projects in New York and Massachusetts,” he said, though added that Massachusetts has been stuck for a couple years. “It’s been stuck because of the interconnection group study concept. Too many people were submitting for interconnection, and they realized it would take too long to do them one at a time, so they formed group studies. But that took a long time and now they’re slowly being released.”

When asked about CVE’s growth forecast, Froelich said 2023 will be a continuation of what they have been doing. Right now, the company is building a mix of half self-developed and half acquired projects. CVE’s goal is to have about 450 MW to 500 MW in the U.S. either operating or under construction in the next four years or so.

“To get there, we need to continue to do the kind of development we’re doing now,” he said.

Currently, CVE is looking at states where it hopes new programs will be established. This includes places in the Mid-West and West.

“We’re looking at New Mexico, but not Arizona yet,” he said. “We are participating in the New Mexico CS RFP. We’re hopeful to be part of a new CS market.”

However, he said that 100 projects have already been submitted to the RFP. Assuming each is 5 MW per project, “that’s already 500 MW for a 200 MW program. It’s going to be very competitive. Everyone knows a lot of people are interested. I’m hoping we have some success there, but it’s tough.”

On the topic of Xcel Energy’s case with the New Mexico Supreme Court questioning the state’s Community Solar Rules behind the RFP, Froelich it is “unfortunate” but not unique.

“It feels like utilities and the solar world are at odds,” he said, adding that he doesn’t want to blame any of them. “I feel if you try to see from their point of view, they feel like they’re being forced at gunpoint to do something rather than letting the market evolve the way they would like it to evolve.”

Whereas the solar industry sees “so much good to be done” in more than only providing green energy but aiding low-to-moderate income (LMI) customers and regions. Froelich said with that in consideration, the 200 MW “is a drop in the bucket.”

“It’d be great if we could get on the same page, but we’re not,” he said of solar and utilities. “I have no idea where that will go. They’ve forged ahead with the RFP and it’s possible nothing happens for a while.”

When considering the fledgling California community solar program, Froelich said his takeaway from the RE+ Community Solar Conference held in mid-January was optimism that it would be developed sooner rather than later. He explained that California is a state with plenty of solar, as well as solar companies, similar to New Jersey. However, California is larger than New Jersey, providing more opportunity.

Shadé Jaiyeola, community solar and community outreach program manager at CVE, told NPM that she was encouraged that the California program may be modeled after the one in New York, which is uncapped.

“It seems to work quite well in New York,” she said. “What I’m excited to see is how it will work with consolidated billing and making sure the program reaches the communities that need it most.”

Froelich added that any time a program is uncapped and is in a large state, and if a developer can find a piece of land with a reasonable chance to interconnect, then the project can actually begin development.

“It’s harder in a capped market to make that call,” he said. “In New York, if we find a site, at least we can check certain things to make a decision on whether we can develop. In other places, it’s tougher.”

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.


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