Indiana representative details latest attempt to pass community solar legislation

For the second consecutive year, Indiana House Representative Sue Errington, D-Muncie, took a shot at getting community solar legislation passed in the state.

Last year, Errington introduced bill House Bill 1250, Community Solar Facility Program, which died in committee. Errington also recently tried to attach the legislation to another bill, but the amendment was blocked by Republicans, who hold supermajority in the house, in a 64-27 vote.

However, this time around Errington is not alone in the fight as a new coalition, Hoosiers for Community Solar, launched this week in an effort to push community solar policy and development in the state. The group was founded by more than a dozen organizations including Solar United Neighbors, Citizens Action Coalition, Coalition for Community Solar Access, and the Hoosier Environmental Council.

“I think it’s an idea that the population is ready to accept. It’s just getting the legislature—basically the Republicans—to say yes—we want to do that. But it’s also the utilities. They carry a lot of weight in Indiana in the legislature and so with their opposition to this idea—it's tough, but I’m not giving up,” said Errington in an interview.

In a wide-ranging interview, Errington provided a look at her latest efforts to get the bill passed as it contained elements similar to other states existing and proposed community solar legislations

“So, I decided this year to bypass the committee process and see if there would be another bill that was in the same part of the code to use as a second reading amendment to that bill,” Errington said in an interview with NPM. “I was able to introduce the bill as an amendment and explain it on the floor, but the chair of the Utilities Committee got up and said that he didn’t want to accept it.”

“It was my best shot at having this being deemed germane—which it was,” added Errington. “It would have created a whole new section in the bill.”

The bill Errington was amending would have added a Community Solar chapter to House Bill 1007, Electric Utility Service, which provides the continuing policy of the state that decisions concerning Indiana's electric generation resource mix, energy infrastructure, and electric service ratemaking constructs takes into account reliability, affordability, resiliency, stability, and environmental sustainability.

The program, modeled after Minnesota’s program, would have required utilities to develop a plan for the operation of community solar facilities in their service area by publishing information on their website and allowing customers and other stakeholders to submit comments online or during three mandated meetings. It would need to ensure for the reasonable creation and financing of the program to be accessible by all customers in their service area. The program would be implemented by September 30, 2023.

Once in place, utilities would issue RFPs for the ownership, construction, operation of facilities of at least five proposals with a combined nameplate capacity of 25 MW. They would also be responsible for establishing uniform standards, fees, and processes for the interconnection of community solar facilities that allow the electricity provider to recover reasonable interconnection costs for each facility.

Utilities would then have six months to green light the projects and issue interconnection agreements.

Each facility must reserve 50 percent of subscriptions for low-to-moderate income subscribers, according to the bill.

The process would be repeated every two years—adding an additional five projects totaling 25 MW per utility service area.

“I’ve gotten a lot of interest in this concept, and so I’m not giving up,” Errington said. “I think it’s an idea that Indiana needs to adopt, but in order to do that we really need to have a change in the law.”

Errington said there is a variety of options to develop projects in Indiana, but she would like to see some projects on the state’s brownfields.

“In my district, there used to be an auto-industry—big factory plants—where everything’s been torn down,” Errington said, highlighting them as ideal location for community solar to be constructed.

“It’s a mixed bag here as to what the welcome mat is for solar,” she said. Errington said she plans to revive the bill in the 2023-2024 legislative session.

“I may tweak it, but I think in general I would try again with something very similar to what I had this year,” she said.

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


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