Item 4: Commercial Solar Incentives Program, Shared Solar, and Solar Meter and Permit Fees — original pdf

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ITEM 4 Resource Management Commission August 2021 Tim Harvey Austin Energy Customer Renewable Solutions Manager April 2021 © 2019 Austin Energy Commercial Solar Incentive Program •Program History/Opportunity Statement •Stake Holder Feedback External/Internal •Resources Requirements •Improvements/Suggestions 2 Commercial Program History • Program began in 2004 • Started as a CBI @ $5/W • In 2009 we had a run on the Residential program • Shifted to 10 yr. PBI to decrease annual budget impacts • In 2016 migrated program into EECP, increased caps, created several tiers, introduced ramp down schedule. 3 Current Program Outline AE Commercial PBI Ramp Down Projections We are here ) H W K / $ ( I B P $0.09 $0.08 $0.07 $0.06 $0.05 $0.04 $0.03 $0.02 $0.01 $0.00 0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 Small Commercial/Non-Profit (<75 kW-AC) Medium Commercial (75-400 kW-AC) Large Commercial (400-999 kW-AC) PROGRAM CAPACITY (MWAC) • We are very close to having only $0.03/kwh and $0.02/kwh available • Program installed 160 project for 15.5 MW • Adjustments needed to hit annual targets for achieving 2030 goals 4 Opportunity Statement Current Program Our current Commercial PBI offering, designed to meet the customer sited goal of 100MW by 2025 in tandem with Residential, has been successful and that goal will be achieved ahead of schedule. As designed the PBI is scaling back. Community Benefit Having customer friendly commercial solar incentives helps to make Austin an attractive place to do business. Future Planning Supports 2030 Generation Goals: 375 MW Local Solar & 200 MW Customer-Sited 5 Stakeholder Engagement •Commercial Customer Stakeholder Meeting •Commercial Contractor Stakeholders Meeting •Commercial Customer Survey •Solar Austin Customer Survey •Internal Program Lead Feedback Session 6 Proposed Program - CBI • Small Businesses are historically hard to reach through our current PBI • Feedback indicates that capital is the biggest hurdle for Small Business and program non-profits Small Business <75 kW-AC Non Profits <400 kW-AC Duration PBI vs. CBI Current (PBI) 10 years $0.05/kwh Proposed NA $0.60/W Current(PBI) 10 years $0.05/kwh Proposed NA $1.00/W • No customer caps for non-profits • Ramp down: Total Program Engagement (every 3 MW) • Small Business: Step down $0.05/W • Non-profit: Step down $0.10/W 7 Proposed Program – CBI Ramp Down CBI Ramp Down Small Business Non-Profit • Ramp Down every 3 MW (Total Program Capacity) • $0.05/W for Small Business • $0.10/W for Non-Profit • Estimated Program Impact: • Installed Capacity: 9 MW • # of Projects: 60 - 80 • AE Expenditure: $5,771,250 l e v e L e v i t n e c n I $1.20 $1.00 $0.80 $0.60 $0.40 $0.20 $0.00 0 1000 2000 5000 6000 7000 3000 4000 Capacity (kW-DC) 8 Proposed Program - PBI • Use PBI to satisfy projects > 75kW-AC, everything under • Transition from 10 year PBI  5 year PBI Medium 75-399 kW-AC Large 400-999 kW-AC Current 10 years $0.04/kwh Proposed 5 years $0.09/kwh Current 10 years $0.03/kwh Proposed 5 years $0.07/kwh Xlarge >1MW-AC Current No offering available Proposed 5 years $0.05/kwh Duration PBI • Ramp down based on total program engagement (every 15 MW) • No Customer Caps 9 Proposed Program – PBI Ramp Down • All tiers ramp down by $0.01/kwh for every 15 MW (Total Program Capacity) • Estimated 9 years to hit capacity goals • Est. Program Impact: • Installed Capacity = 45MW • # Projects = 80 - 120 10 Resources Requirements •Planned Marketing Push • Case studies for website • Update website content • Paid and internally sourced advertising •Program will utilize two modules in EECP • Existing PBI with minimal reconfiguration • Existing CBI with minimal reconfiguration •No New Staff Requirements •No CC&B Enhancements or Configuration •No Process Changes 11 Improvements/Suggestions? 12 Shared Solar Overview and History •Problem: Homestead Oaks - 2015 • 144 individual solar installations tied into individual tenant meters • Conduit and metering challenge • ~30% increase in costs • LMI customers 13 Shared Solar Overview and History •What is Shared Solar? • Solar generation from a single solar installation on a multifamily building is virtually allocated across individually metered tenants’ bills •Automated Proportional Solar Credits • Cross-functional MDMS and CC&B solution 14 Shared Solar Overview and History •Shared Solar Benefits • Enables multifamily tenants to access solar and reduce electric bills • Reduces installed cost and complexity • Enables a variety of ownership and financing models •City Council Resolution No. 20171005-033 15 Shared Solar Overview and History •Shared Solar Pilot - 2018 • Incentive: $1/Watt with $0.8/Watt adder for net-zero energy capable • Participants procured through RFP • 100% of units reserved for households earning less than 80% of HUD MFI • Min. 5 units • Individually metered • >1.5kW/unit •AE has been manually applying solar credits to each tenant since the pilot’s inception •User acceptance testing has concluded, and Shared Solar Projects are being migrated to the billing system 16 Shared Solar Overview and History • Housing Authority of the City of Austin (HACA) • Guadalupe Neighborhood Development • Chalmers South • 1638 E 2nd St • 86 units • Goodrich • 2126 Goodrich Ave • 120 units • Chalmers East • 300 Chicon St • 156 units Corporation (GNDC) • La Vista • 813 East 8th St • 22 units • Jeremiah • 1200 Paul Teresa Saldana St • 35 units • Foundation Communities • Cardinal Point (Four Points) • 11015 Four Points Dr • 11017 Four Points Dr • 120 units GNDC La Vista 17 Shared Solar Program Launch •Program development • Program planned launch in Jan 2022 with limited program eligibility for first 6 Months/6 projects • Income Qualified Multifamily – following commercial efficiency • Program Guidelines are in draft form • Application Review Checklist, Forms, and Templates • Need to be finalized •Communications • Tenant communication to go with Bill Explainer • Marketing and Outreach 18 Proposed Solar Inspection Fees for FY22 • Current: Splitting DSD’s Electric Permit fee 80% to AE and 20% to DSD • Proposed: Cost based individually by department Current Fee 0 - 1000 sq ft Residential Proposed Fee 0 - 1000 sq ft Current Fee 0 - 1000 sq ft Commercial Proposed Fee 0 - 1000 sq ft $300.77 $181.40 $256.10 $181.40 1000 - 2000 sq ft 1000 - 2000 sq ft $300.77 $181.40 2000 - 3000 sq ft 2000 - 3000 sq ft $327.78 $197.69 1000 - 5000 sq ft 1000 - 5000 sq ft $256.10 $181.40 5000 - 10000 sq ft 5000 - 10000 sq ft $334.70 $237.07 3000 - 4000 sq ft 3000 - 4000 sq ft 10000 - 25000 sq ft 10000 - 25000 sq ft $404.63 $244.04 $491.91 $348.43 4000 - 5000 sq ft 4000 - 5000 sq ft $435.79 $262.83 25000 - 50000 sq ft 25000 - 50000 sq ft $727.71 $515.45 5000+ sq ft 5000+ sq ft 50000+ sq ft 50000+ sq ft $525.11 $316.70 $884.92 $626.80 19 Proposed Solar Meter Fees •To be Recovered Through Permit fee (line item). • ~$227 for residential solar PV meter • ~$237 for commercial • ~$517 for CT meters •Fee will be covered by Solar Incentive Program • No out-of-pocket costs for customers • Will be done through a general fund transfer 20 ©2019 Austin Energy. 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