Has Xcel Energy's community solar garden program gotten too big — even before the first project has been built?
State utility regulators who are considering that question heard from a divided solar power industry Tuesday about what needs to be done, or if it's really a problem at all.
"The company believes the program is seriously off track," said Andy Brown, an attorney for Xcel Energy, which began accepting applications for the shared-solar concept last December.
Xcel said energy developers have proposed more than 900 solar gardens whose output would be shared among Xcel customers who voluntarily sign up to be subscribers. The solar power would offset their home and business power use at substantial savings on their monthly bills.
The program, authorized by a 2013 state law and offered only to Xcel's 1.2 million Minnesota customers, was designed to allow people and businesses to choose solar even if they can't put solar panels on their properties. The law didn't limit how many solar gardens could be built, but set a maximum size at 1 million watts, or 1 megawatt.
Several leading solar companies, including SunEdison and SolarCity, have proposed under existing state rules to build 10 or more gardens side by side and connect them to Xcel's power grid in one link. In April, Xcel objected to that practice and sought to scale back the program.
The matter now is before the state Public Utilities Commission, which set up the rules. On Thursday, the five-member regulatory body is scheduled to decide whether to revise them retroactively, a decision that could affect hundreds of millions of dollars in solar investment.
"We are trying to take advantage of economies of scale," said Andrew Moratzka, an attorney for several large solar energy developers who have proposed to cluster multiple solar gardens at single locations.