Maine legislature considers solar reforms

This session the Maine legislature is considering a number of bills designed to expand solar power in Maine. To that end, various pieces proposed of legislation offer different mechanisms, including changes to Maine's net energy billing policy, opportunities for solar projects to sell their output pursuant to long-term contracts, and tax incentives. Here's a look at several of these bills.

One category of bills would modify Maine's net metering policy. This category includes LD 91, An Act to Eliminate Gross Metering, which has received favorable votes from both the Senate and House, and would reverse regulatory changes imposed in 2017 that reduced the value of net energy billing to participating customers. LD 91 has been passed to be enacted by both chambers of the Maine legislature, and now goes to the desk of Governor Janet Mills for her signature.

Net metering bills also include LD 790, An Act To Eliminate the Cap on the Number of Accounts or Meters Designated for Net Energy Billing, which would prohibit the Public Utilities Commission from adopting or amending net energy billing rules to impose any limit on the number of accounts or meters that customers may designate for net energy billing or any limit on the number of customers that may share an interest in a net energy billing facility. This category of legislative proposals also includes LD 1139, An Act To Eliminate Restrictions on Capacity and the Number of Accounts for Net Energy Billing, which would provide that the Commission may not limit the installed capacity of an eligible facility or the number of accounts or meters a customer or shared ownership customer may designate for net energy billing. These latter two bills target current Commission rules which limit net metered facilities' capacity to 660 kilowatts and the number of meters or shared ownership accounts to 10.

Another category of bill seeks to create opportunities for solar projects to sell their output pursuant to long-term contracts. For example, LD 1127, An Act to Expand Community-Based Solar Energy in Maine, would require the Maine Public Utilities Commission to direct investor-owned transmission and distribution utilities to enter into long-term contracts with up to 100 megawatts of community-based solar photovoltaic energy generating facilities. LD 1127 would have the Commission define "community-based" by rule, and prescribes a list of eligibility requirements including at least 75% ownership by qualified owners and the project being placed in-service between June 30, 2020 and December 31, 2021. LD 1127 would require the contracts to bear a term of at least 20 years, and requires a rate that is fixed for at least 20 years and is less than 9 cents/kWh.

A third category extends favorable tax treatment to solar energy property. For example, LD 564,  An Act To Encourage the Installation of Solar Panels on Residential Property, would provide a property tax exemption for solar panels and associated equipment installed on residential property that qualifies for a homestead exemption. Another bill, LD 1191, An Act To Exempt Solar Energy Equipment from Property Tax, would provide a property tax exemption for solar energy equipment installed on residential property on or after September 1, 2019 to generate electricity or provide hot water to be used in a structure.

Each of these categories of bill uses different measures that could enhance the value of customer-owned solar photovoltaic projects. In theory, a combination of these measures could offer an even greater enhancement than any single measure alone.