Pennsylvania legislator discusses 2024 push for community solar bill

A fifth community solar bill has been thrown into the ring of the Pennsylvania General Assembly for the 2023-2024 legislative session.

House Bill 1842, the Community Solar Act, was introduced by House Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-134, to allow for the creation, financing, accessibility and operation of third party-owned community solar facilities that will enable "robust" customer participation.

“We’ve been working on community solar in Pennsylvania since I got to the legislature nearly 10 years ago and we keep running into the same hiccups,” said Schweyer in an interview with NPM. “Conceptually, there is very little opposition to it. The biggest concern is how to fund the subsidy for community solar projects and what upfront capital costs are needed.”

Recognizing that it’s a math problem of subsidy and not a concern of policy, Schweyer said that he, along with various stakeholders, began to float ideas on how to subsidize projects.

“I share the concern that the subsidy should not come from ratepayers,” Schweyer said. “It’s hard to ask a senior citizen or person of lower economic means to pay for somebody else’s generation, so we’ve been trying to find a way to get the subsidy that won’t impact ratepayers.”

What they landed on was the understanding and acknowledgement that the Federal government is preparing to pump money into solar programs and the state should be prepared to capitalize on it, Schweyer said.

“So, instead of using ratepayer money as a way to offset the upfront construction costs, we’re just hoping to use federal money for it but in order for us to do that, we have to pass legislation that would allow us to use those dollars in the manner for community solar,” Schweyer said.

HB 1842 proposes a nameplate capacity of community solar facilities that do not exceed 5 MW for facilities that are not considered brownfield or rooftop community solar and 20 MW for projects that are. No single subscriber may subscribe to more than 50 percent of the facility capacity or output in kilowatt hours except for master-metered multifamily residential and commercial buildings. The bill proposes there be a focus on low-income customers but does not outline a specific percentage.

Brownfield and rooftop community solar facilities are projects defined in the bill as being located on rooftops or land regulated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s Land Recycling Program, Solid Waste Program or Abandoned Mine Reclamation Program.

Within 180 days of the bill’s passage, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is to establish a bill credit for a public utility that “appropriately values the energy, capacity, and transmission values" produced by a community solar facility.

Community solar organizations will be required to compensate utilities for the costs of interconnection. Utilities will also be able to recover costs from each subscriber to administer the program in their service territory, subject to approval by the commission.

The Commonwealth will be tasked with maximizing Federal and State funds for energy assistance, clean energy deployment or other applicable funding to minimize the cost recovery impact on subscribers.

Within 90 days of the bill’s passage, the commission will need to establish an interconnection working group between utilities and stakeholders with oversight from the commission to review policies, processes, tariffs, rules, or standards associated with the interconnection of community solar facilities. The working group will need to provide a report to the commission within 270 days.

Projects will be required to meet the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act for the construction of community solar facilities, which will be enforced by the Department of Labor.

The bill is to take effect 60 days after passage.

HB 1842 is currently under review by the Committee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Utilities. Pennsylvania’s government is divided with a Democratic-controlled House, a Republican-controlled Senate, and a Democratic governor.

“There’s a lot of compromise with all of this stuff,” Schweyer said. “We think that the best compromise is that we know this money is coming in—let’s just make sure we’re able to earmark some of it for community solar purposes.”

Four other community solar proposals were presented in the Pennsylvania legislature this year.

Senate Bill 550, introduced by Senator Rosemary Brown, R-40, amends Title 66 of the Public Utilities chapter of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes by adding a community solar section.

Senate Bill 230, introduced by Senator Steven Santarsiero, D-10, aims to modernize Pennsylvania’s Renewable Energy Standards by amending the Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act (AEPS) and creating community solar program standards. The bill was bolstered by House Bill 1467, a companion bill introduced by Senator Steve Santarsiero in March.

House Bill 330, introduced by Representative Perry Stambaugh, R-86, proposes the Pennsylvania Local Solar Program Act, which gives Electric Distribution Companies the option of participating in the creation of a community solar program.

None of the proposals have advanced through their respective committees.

“I’m very optimistic that we’ll be able to get this through the house,” Schweyer said. “Where it goes in the Senate—my crystal ball is certainly cloudier on that one—but at the very least, I think we’re going to move significant solar legislation in the House.”

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


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