PRINTER'S NO. 1677
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 1555
Session of
2021
INTRODUCED BY KAUFER, MILLARD, BULLOCK, SCHWEYER, DALEY,
MARKOSEK, SCHROEDER, N. NELSON, HILL-EVANS, CIRESI, SANCHEZ,
SCHLOSSBERG, R. BROWN, GAYDOS, LONGIETTI, SAPPEY, NEILSON,
JAMES, ISAACSON, MENTZER, DeLUCA, WEBSTER, LEE, O'MARA,
POLINCHOCK, FARRY, STRUZZI, THOMAS, LAWRENCE, FLYNN, DEASY,
HERRIN, T. DAVIS, SIMS, SOLOMON, HOHENSTEIN, OTTEN, RADER,
MALAGARI, VITALI AND COOK, JUNE 3, 2021
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, JUNE 3, 2021
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing for community solar
3 facilities.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 66 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a chapter to read:
8 CHAPTER 30A
9 COMMUNITY SOLAR FACILITIES
10 Sec.
11 30A01. Findings and declarations.
12 30A02. Definitions.
13 30A03. Community solar facilities, electric distribution
14 companies and subscriber administrators.
15 30A04. Interconnection standards for community solar
16 facilities.
 1 30A05. Unsubscribed energy.
2 30A06. Customer participation in community solar programs.
3 30A07. Location of multiple community solar facilities.
4 30A08. Land management and stewardship.
5 30A09. Grid services payment.
6 30A10. Prevailing wage for construction of community solar
7 facilities.
8 § 30A01. Findings and declarations.
9 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
10 (1) Community solar generation can foster economic
11 growth as well as opportunities for competition and
12 innovative business models.
13 (2) Growth in solar generation will provide family-
14 sustaining jobs and investments in Pennsylvania.
15 (3) Programs for community solar generation provide
16 customers with additional energy choices and access to
17 affordable energy options.
18 (4) Community solar programs provide customers,
19 including homeowners, renters and businesses, access to the
20 benefits of Pennsylvania community solar energy generation
21 that is unconstrained by the physical attributes of their
22 home or business, including roof space, shading or ownership
23 status.
24 (5) In addition to its provision of standard electricity
25 market commodities and services, community solar energy
26 generation can contribute to a more resilient grid and defer
27 the need for costly new transmission and distribution system
28 investment.
29 (6) The intent of this chapter is to:
30 (i) Allow electric distribution customers of this
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 1 Commonwealth to subscribe to a portion of a community
2 solar facility and have the result of the subscription be
3 guaranteed savings.
4 (ii) Reasonably allow for the creation, financing,
5 accessibility and operation of third-party owned
6 community solar generating facilities in a way that
7 ensures robust customer participation.
8 (iii) Encourage the development of community solar
9 programs that will facilitate participation by and for
10 the benefit of low-income and moderate-income customers
11 and the communities in which they live and reduce
12 barriers to participation by renters and small
13 businesses, promote affordability and improve access to
14 basic utility services.
15 (iv) Enable a community solar market through
16 innovative technologies without the need for full retail
17 rate net metering.
18 (v) Compensate the electric distribution companies
19 for efficient and reliable integration of these resources
20 into the distribution systems through cost recovery and
21 treatment of payments for grid services as regulatory
22 assets.
23 (vi) Enable a community solar marketplace in the
24 Commonwealth without requiring State or municipal tax
25 resources.
26 § 30A02. Definitions.
27 The following words and phrases when used in this chapter
28 shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
29 context clearly indicates otherwise:
30 "Bill credit." The commission-approved monetary value of
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 1 each kilowatt hour of electricity generated by a community solar
2 facility and allocated to a subscriber's monthly bill to offset
3 any part of the subscriber's retail electric bill other than
4 volumetric or demand base distribution charges.
5 "Commission." The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.
6 "Community solar facility." A facility that:
7 (1) Generates electricity by means of a solar
8 photovoltaic device whereby subscribers receive a bill credit
9 for the electricity generated proportional to the size of the
10 subscriptions.
11 (2) Is located within this Commonwealth.
12 (3) Is connected to and delivers electricity to a
13 distribution system operated by an electric distribution
14 company operating in this Commonwealth and in compliance with
15 requirements under this chapter.
16 (4) Generates electricity by means of a solar
17 photovoltaic device with a nameplate capacity rating that
18 does not exceed 5,000 kilowatts of alternating current.
19 (5) Has at least two subscribers.
20 (6) Has no single subscriber who subscribes to more than
21 50% of the facility capacity in kilowatts or output in
22 kilowatt hours, except for master-metered multifamily
23 residential and commercial buildings. No less than 50% of the
24 facility capacity shall be subscribed by subscriptions of 25
25 kilowatts or less.
26 (7) Credits some or all of the community solar facility
27 generated electricity to the bills of subscribers.
28 (8) May be located remotely from a subscriber's premises
29 and may not be required to provide energy to on-site load.
30 (9) Must be connected to an existing or new retail
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 1 electric service at the service location.
2 (10) Must be owned or operated by a community solar
3 organization.
4 "Community solar organization." An entity that owns or
5 operates one or more community solar facilities that may not be
6 required to be an existing retail electric customer, purchase
7 electricity directly from the electric distribution company,
8 serve electric load independent of the community solar facility
9 or operate under an account held by the same individual or legal
10 entity of the subscribers to the community solar facility. A
11 community solar organization may not be deemed a utility solely
12 as a result of its ownership or operation of a community solar
13 facility.
14 "Electric distribution company." As defined in section 2803
15 (relating to definitions).
16 "Electric distribution customer." A customer that takes
17 electric distribution service from an electric distribution
18 company, regardless of whether the company is the customer's
19 supplier of electric generation or not.
20 "Grid services." Services provided by smart inverter
21 technology to support the grid and enhance reliability, and
22 other commission-approved functions.
23 "Guaranteed savings." Realized savings as the difference
24 between the cost of a subscription to a community solar facility
25 and the credit received for the generation attributed to the
26 subscription.
27 "Low-income customer." A retail residential end user of an
28 electric distribution company whose household income does not
29 exceed 200% of the Federal poverty level, adjusted for family
30 size, as published periodically in the Federal Register by the
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 1 United States Department of Health and Human Services under the
2 Community Services Block Grant Act (Public Law 97-1135, 42
3 U.S.C. § 9902(2)).
4 "New job." A full-time equivalent job created during the
5 initial construction of community solar facilities and paying
6 the prevailing minimum wage and benefit rates for each craft of
7 classification as determined by the Labor and Industry
8 Prevailing Wage Act.
9 "PJM." PJM Interconnection LLC is a regional wholesale
10 electric market and transmission organization, approved by the
11 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, that operates an electric
12 transmission system in the Mid-Atlantic region that includes
13 Pennsylvania.
14 "PJM day ahead energy price." The price for a Pricing Date
15 that will be that day's Specified Price per MWh of electricity
16 for delivery on the Delivery Date, stated in US Dollars,
17 published by PJM under the headings "Daily Day-Ahead LMP" or any
18 successor headings that reports prices effective on that pricing
19 date.
20 "PJM effective load carrying capacity." A determination of
21 the capacity interconnection rights value and the current
22 capacity credit calculation by computing the average output of a
23 resource during the most recent summer periods.
24 "Prevailing Wage Act." The act of August 15, 1961 (P.L.987,
25 No.442), known as the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act.
26 "Price to Compare." The price per kilowatt hour an electric
27 distribution company charges, developed based on what the
28 company pays for electricity during auctions held over a two-
29 year period on the PJM wholesale energy market, and includes:
30 (1) Charges for generation and transmission.
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 1 (2) The State's gross receipts tax.
2 (3) The utility's charges for implementation of the
3 alternative energy portfolio standards.
4 "Smart inverter." A device that converts direct current into
5 alternating current and can autonomously contribute to grid
6 support by providing each of the following:
7 (1) Dynamic reactive and real power support.
8 (2) Voltage and frequency ride-through.
9 (3) Ramp rate controls.
10 (4) Communication systems.
11 (5) Other functions approved by the commission and
12 published under 15 Pa.C.S. Ch. 74 (relating to the
13 electricity generation choice for customers of electric
14 cooperatives).
15 "Subscriber." An electric distribution customer of an
16 electric distribution company who contracts for one or more
17 subscriptions of a community solar facility interconnected with
18 the customer's electric distribution company. The term includes
19 an electric distribution customer who owns a portion of a
20 community solar facility.
21 "Subscriber administrator." An entity that recruits and
22 enrolls subscribers, administers subscriber participation in one
23 or more community solar facilities and manages the subscription
24 relationship between subscribers and an electric distribution
25 company. A subscriber administrator may also be a community
26 solar organization and may not be considered a utility solely as
27 a result of a subscriber administrator's operation or ownership
28 of a community solar facility.
29 "Subscription." A contract between a subscriber and a
30 subscriber administrator of a community solar facility that
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 1 entitles the subscriber to a bill credit against the
2 subscriber's retail electric bill.
3 "Threshold date." The date by which the commission has
4 approved a tariff filed by a utility under section 30A03(a)(3)
5 (v) (relating to community solar facilities, electric
6 distribution companies and subscriber administrators) and no
7 earlier than five years from the effective date.
8 "Unsubscribed energy." The output of a community solar
9 facility, measured in kilowatt hours, that is not allocated to
10 subscribers.
11 § 30A03. Community solar facilities, electric distribution
12 companies and subscriber administrators.
13 (a) Authorization.--The following shall apply:
14 (1) A community solar facility may be developed, built,
15 owned or operated by a third-party entity under contract with
16 a community solar organization or a subscriber administrator.
17 (2) A community solar organization may serve as a
18 subscriber administrator or may contract with a third party
19 to serve as a subscriber administrator on behalf of the
20 community solar organization.
21 (3) Subscribers to community solar facilities shall
22 receive a monetary bill credit for every kilowatt hour
23 produced by their subscription that may be used to offset any
24 part of the subscriber's electric bill. The following shall
25 apply:
26 (i) A community solar facility that demonstrates
27 before the threshold date an executed interconnection
28 agreement, proof of site control, all required
29 nonministerial permits and proof that the project is in
30 compliance with section 30A10 (relating to prevailing
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 1 wage for construction of community solar facilities)
2 shall, for 25 years from utility permission to operate,
3 have the initial and any replacement subscribers of that
4 facility receive a bill credit equivalent to the electric
5 distribution company's price to compare. Within 90 days
6 of the effective date of this chapter, the utilities
7 shall file a tariff making the bill credit described
8 herein available. The commission shall approve the tariff
9 within 180 days of the initial filing.
10 (ii) A community solar facility that demonstrates
11 after the threshold date an executed interconnection
12 agreement, proof of site control, all required non-
13 ministerial permits and proof that the project is in
14 compliance with section 30A10 shall, for 25 years from
15 utility permission to operate, have the initial and any
16 replacement subscribers of that facility receive a bill
17 credit as determined by the commission that considers the
18 electric distribution company's value stack as described
19 in subparagraph (iv), and ensures that community solar
20 facilities are created as intended under section 30A01
21 (6)(ii) (relating to findings and declarations).
22 (iii) Subscribers to a single community solar
23 facility may not be permitted to receive compensation
24 from a bill credit described in subparagraph (ii) if the
25 community solar facility receives a grid services payment
26 authorized by section 30A09 (relating to grid services
27 payment).
28 (iv) The value stack shall consist of at least the
29 following:
30 (A) The PJM day ahead energy price.
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 1 (B) A capacity value based on the PJM effective
2 load carrying capacity method for solar, wind and
3 storage, as applicable.
4 (C) The environmental value as set and made
5 available by subsection (b) of the AEPS or its
6 successor.
7 (D) An avoided distribution and transmission
8 value determined by the commission. The avoided
9 distribution and transmission value shall:
10 (I) Use a load forecast that aligns with
11 State and regional trends and goals.
12 (II) Require utility data and calculation
13 transparency.
14 (III) Not be overly narrow in the scope of
15 what is avoidable whether the community solar
16 facility is paired with or not.
17 (v) The commission shall solicit feedback on the
18 criteria for determining the value stack through an
19 informal workshop process and shall solicit formal
20 written comments from stakeholders. After the formal
21 written comments, the commission shall propose the
22 specific methodology for determining the value stack
23 based on the criteria through a docketed proceeding.
24 Within 60 days of the approval of the methodology, the
25 commission shall use the approved methodology to
26 calculate the value stack for each utility. Within 180
27 days of the commission determination of the value stack
28 for each utility, the commission shall approve a tariff
29 based on the value stack making the bill credit value
30 determined by the commission under subparagraph (ii)
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 1