MTSUN developer pleased with Supreme Court decision, but will continue with export development

The Montana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the 80 MW MTSUN solar project Tuesday, following five years of discourse against IOU NorthWestern Energy and the Montana Public Service Commission. 

The court upheld the ruling originally asserted by the district court last summer, which found that NorthWestern and the PSC broke the law when they shortened terms for qualified facilities from 25 years to 15 in 2017, going against the federalPURPA law. NorthWestern had claimed it was recieving too many projects, around 100, and was not able to keep up with the 25-year terms. The MTSUN project is expected to begin development in the spring, with the energy sold to NorthWestern under PPA terms set by the court. 

The ruling was the second this summer in favor of project developers and against the two entities, but MTSUN developer VK Clean Energy Partners (VK CEP) does not see the decision as boding particularly well for projects attempting to sell electricity in-state. 

"I don’t know that it changes anything, frankly for a development perspective in Montana," said Mark Klein, co-owner of the project. 

Klein said he was happy with the outcome of the decision and that the development company had more or less reached the end of litigation, and that the project was also a win for rural farmers and landowners that were able to use large land spaces for projects like this. However, he said that going forward, his company would be focused on building projects in Montana and shipping the energy to the rest of the Pacific northwest. 

"We’re the developer of the largest solar and battery projects in the state," Klein said. "That’s where we’re really looking to focus our activity and trying to support the development of solar and wind projects in Montana and then using our infrastructure to put it on transmission out of Montana so that projects that are developed in Montana have an outlet in the Pacific Northwest where renewable energy needs are in high demand." 

In state support could be building, though. Earlier this month Governor Steve Bullock released the state's climate solutions plan, which proposes encouraging solar development through tax breaks and establishing net zero emissions sometime between 2040 and 2050. Additionally, three cities, Helena, Missoula and Bozeman, have made or announced interest in 100 percent renewable goals. Missoula, as well, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NorthWestern Energy in June to help the city meet its goal. 

Still, Klein sees that the opportunities remain larger outside the state, and will hopefully come with less animosity from the PSC and IOUs. 

"In reviewing the record and considering each component of the PSC’s orders, it is clear that at nearly every step of setting the terms of MTSUN’s PPA, the PSC chose arbitrary and unlawful methodologies that resulted in deflating the economic feasibility of MTSUN’s project," Chief Justice Mike McGrath wrote in his decision. 

Klein said he has a few additional export projects in the works in Montana.

"It all comes down to supply and demand," Klein said. "If you really look for the demand for renewables energy by NorthWestern Energy, while they have some needs, I think the real opportunity is how to develop projects up there and export it out of Montana and into states that have high renewable energy and electricity needs." 

"There’s better opportunity to export out of Montana than keep it in the state," he continued.