An Act To Modernize Maine's Solar Power Policy and Encourage IO Economic Development
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 1649
Committee Amendment CA_A-SA_A_S522 (Senate)

MAINE STATE LEGISLATURE 
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~ 
Date: 'i-{ 3-{ b 
L.D. 1649 
(Filing No. s-52.L) 
Reproduced and distributed under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate. 
SENATE 
127THLEGISLATURE 
SENATE AMENDMENT "4 .. to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 
1120, L.D. 1649, Bill, "An Act To Modernize Maine's Solar Power Policy and Encourage 
IO 
Economic Development" 
Amend the amendment by inserting after the title the following: 
'Amend the bill in section 4 in §3471-A by inserting after the first indented paragraph 
the following: 
1. 
Agricultural business. 
"Agricultural business" means a person or business 
located in this State and engaged in the commercial growing or harvesting of plants; 
raising of animals; growing or obtaining plant or animal by-products; aquaculture, as 
defined in Title 12, section 6001, subsection 1; or further processing, storing, packaging 
or marketing a raw product derived from plants, animals, plant or animal by-products or 
aquaculture, as defined in Title 12, section 6001, subsection l, with the intent that the 
product be sold or otherwise disposed of to generate income. "Agricultural business" 
includes a business or activity that attracts visitors to a farm for the purpose of 
supplementing income from the primary crop or livestock operation.' 
Amend the amendment by inserting after subsection 6 the following: 
'Amend the bill in section 4 in §3471-A by renumbering any nonconsecutive 
subsection number to read consecutively. 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3475 in subsection 1 in the last line (page 4, line 22 in 
L.D.) by striking out the following: "60 megawatts by January 1, 2022" and inserting the 
following: '50 megawatts by January I, 2021' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3475 in subsection 2 in the last 2 lines (page 4, lines 
and 25 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "45 megawatts by January I, 2022" and 
inserting the following: '3 6 megawatts by January I, 2021' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3475 by striking out all of subsection 3 (page 4, lines 
to 28 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'3. 
Commercial, industrial and municipal. 
The procurement target for the 
commercial. industrial and municipal solar distributed generation resources under section 
3479 is 40 megawatts by January 1, 2021.' 
Page I - 127LR2731(05)-l 
SENA TE AMENDMENT 
R. of S. 
SENA TE AMENDMENT" A" to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 1120, L.D. 1649 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3475 in subsection 4 in paragraph C in the first line 
(page 4, line 33 in L.D.) by inserting after the following: "2020;" the following: 'and' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3475 in subsection 4 in paragraph D in the first line 
(page 4, line 34 in L.D.) by striking out the following: "2021; and" and inserting the 
following: '2021.' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3475 in subsection 4 by striking out all of paragraph E 
(page 4, line 35 in L.D.) 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3475 by inserting after subsection 4 the following: 
'5. 
Agricultural solar. 
A total of 8 megawatts of solar distributed generation 
resources in subsections 2, 3 and 4 must be reserved for customers that are agricultural 
businesses.' ' 
Amend the amendment by inserting after the 5th paragraph after the title the 
following: 
'Amend the bill in section 6 in §3477 in subsection 1 in the 4th line (page 6, line 10 in 
L.D.) by striking out the following: "20%" and inserting the following: '25%' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3477 by striking out all of subsection 4 (page 6, lines 
to 33 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'4. Bid selection. Following review of bids, if the commission determines that the 
solicitation under subsection 1 is competitive, the commission shall select one or more 
winning bidders and direct the standard buyer to negotiate and enter into a contract with 
the winning bidder or bidders for a term of 1 :5 or 20 years at a specified contract rate. 
The commission shall select bids that maximize benefits or minimize costs to all 
ratepayers. The commission may not select a bid with a per kilowatt-hour price that is 
more than 7 5% of the price in effect for the residential and small business market 
segment pursuant to section 3480, subsections 2 and 3 at the time the bid is received.' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3478 in subsection 1 in the 5th line (page 7, line 1 in 
L.D.) by striking out the following: "20%" and inserting the following: '25%' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3478 by striking out all of subsection 4 (page 7, lines 
to 25 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'4. Bid selection. Following review of bids, if the commission determines that the 
solicitation under subsection 1 is competitive, the commission shall select one or more 
winning bidders and direct the standard buyer to negotiate and enter into a contract with 
the winning bidder or bidders for a term of 1 :5 or 20 years at a specified contract rate. 
The commission shall select bids that maximize benefits or minimize costs to all 
ratepayers. The commission may not select a bid with a per kilowatt-hour price that is 
more than 90% of the price in effect for the residential and small business market 
segment pursuant to section 3480, subsections 2 and 3 at the time the bid is received.' ' 
Amend the amendment by inserting after the 7th paragraph after the title the 
following: 
SENATE AMENDMENT 
R. cl S. 
SENATE AMENDMENT"A "to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A"to H.P. 1120, L.D. 1649 
'Amend the bill in section 6 in §3479 in the first line (page 9, line 27 in L.D.) by 
striking out the following: "and industrial" and inserting the following: ', industrial and 
municipal' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3479 by striking out all of subsection 1 and inserting 
the following: 
'l. 
Procurement. 
The commission shall conduct a competitive solicitation as 
frequently as the commission determines reasonable but no less than once per year for 
long-term contracts for the output of solar distributed generation resources of up to 2 
megawatts associated with a single commercial, industrial or municipal customer 
account. In each calendar year, the commission shall seek to procure approximately 25% 
of the capacity needed to meet the procurement target in section 3475, subsection 3; 
except that the commission may modify this annual allocation if it concludes that doing 
so would be in the best interests of all ratepayers. Prior to a solicitation, the commission 
shall develop, in consultation with the standard buyer, a standard contract that commits 
all parties to commercially reasonable behavior and includes provisions to ensure that 
projects proceed to commercial operation on a reasonable timeline.' 
Amend the bill in section 6 in §3479 by striking out all of subsections 4 and 5 (page 
10, lines 11 to 24 in L.D.) and inserting the following: 
'4. Bid selection. Following review of bids, if the commission determines that the 
solicitation under subsection 1 is competitive, the commission shall select one or more 
winning bidders and direct the standard buyer to negotiate and enter into a contract with 
the winning bidder or bidders for a term of 15 or 20 years at a specified contract rate. 
The commission shall select bids that maximize benefits or minimize costs to all 
ratepayers. The commission may not select a bid with a per kilowatt-hour price that is 
more than 90% of the price in effect for the residential and small business market 
segment pursuant to section 3480, subsections 2 and 3 at the time the bid is received. 
5. Determination of bill credit. The bill credit to be allocated to a commercial, 
industrial or municipal customer must be based on the total kilowatt-hours of energy 
production of the solar distributed generation resource for the previous month. Each 
billing month, the value of the credits must be calculated by multiplying the number of 
kilowatt-hours by the contract rate. Payments to a customer must be credited against the 
customer's monthly electricity bill in accordance with section 3481. 
The monthly 
production must be determined by a revenue-grade meter installed and paid for by the 
participating commercial, industrial or municipal customer.'' 
Amend the amendment on page 2 in the first line (page 2, line 1 in amendment) by 
striking out the following: 
"$10,500,000 per year through 2022" and inserting the 
following: '$6,600,000 per year through 2021' 
Amend the amendment on page 2 in the 5th and 6th lines (page 2, lines 5 and 6 in 
amendment) by striking out the following: 
"Rates set under this subsection may be 
constant or increase over the term of the contract." and inserting the following: 'Rates set 
under this subsection must increase over the term of the contract, unless the commission 
determines that it is in the best interest of the ratepayers to use contracts with constant 
rates.' 
SENA TE AMENDMENT 
R. ot S. 
SENA TE AMENDMENT" A" to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 1120, L.D. 1649 
Amend the amendment on page 2 in subsection 3 in the last line (page 2, line 15 in 
amendment) by inserting after the following: "intervals." the following: 'Operation of 
the adjustment mechanism may not increase net costs to customers to more than if the 
procurement targets in section 3475, subsection 4 were installed under the commission's 
net energy billing rules. The commission shall specify by rule the net cost of net energy 
billing to be used to cap operation of the adjustment mechanism.' 
Amend the amendment on page 2 in subsection 11 in paragraph A in the last line 
(page 2, line 32 in amendment) by striking out the following: "2022" and inserting the 
following: '2021' 
Amend the amendment on page 2 in subs,ection 11 in paragraph B in the first line 
(page 2, line 33 in amendment) by striking out the following: "The total cost to all 
customers is" and inserting the following: 'The: net cost to all customers of meeting the 
procurement targets in section 3475, subsection 4 is' 
Amend the amendment on page 3 by inserting after section 8 the following: 
'Sec. 9. Length of contract terms. For the purposes of rulemaking pursuant to 
the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, sections 3477, 3478, 3479 and 3480, the Public 
Utilities Commission shall evaluate whether contracts with a term of 15 years or contracts 
with a term of 20 years are likely to provide the greater overall benefits for ratepayers. 
Based on this analysis, the commission shall use a single term length for all contracts 
under this chapter. 
Sec. 10. 
Public Utilities Commission reports. 
The Public Utilities 
Commission shall submit a report summarizing whether the contracts pursuant to the 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 35-A, sections 3477, 3478, 3479 and 3480 are expected to 
provide net benefits to ratepayers to the joint standing committee of the Legislature 
having jurisdiction over energy and utilities matters by February 1, 2020. The report 
must include consideration of direct costs and revenues associated with contracts as well 
as other tangible costs or benefits to ratepayc:rs from reduction of peak load or other 
factors. The report also must summarize the status of the procurements to meet the solar 
procurement targets established pursuant to Title 35-A, section 3475 and provide 
guidance on methods to allow an owner of a distributed generation resource to receive 
fair compensation for energy and other attribut,es generated by that resource in a manner 
that benefits all ratepayers once those targets have been met. 
The joint standing 
committee may report out a bill relating to compensation of distributed generation 
resources to the Second Regular Session of the 129th Legislature.' 
Amend the amendment by relettering or renumbering any nonconsecutive Part letter 
or section number to read consecutively. 
SUMMARY 
8 
This amendment: 
1. Shortens the time allowed for attaining the procurement targets from 5 years to 4 
years, through 2021, with a corresponding reduction in size of each market segment, with 
the exception of the commercial, industrial and municipal market segment; 
SENA TE AMENDMENT 
H. of S. 
SENATE AMENDMENT "A" to COMMITTEE AMENDMENT "A" to H.P. 1120, L.D. 1649 
2. 
Specifies that the commercial and industrial market segment also includes 
municipalities and increases that market segment to 40 megawatts from 25 megawatts; 
3. 
Reserves 8 megawatts for agricultural businesses and adds a definition of 
"agricultural business"; 
4. 
Caps the prices to be paid for each market segment by requiring the Public 
Utilities Commission to reject bids that exceed specified percentages of the residential 
price as follows: 
A. Grid scale, 75% of the residential price; 
B. Community, 90% of the residential price; and 
C. Commercial, industrial and municipal, 90% of the residential price; 
5. Reduces from $10,500,000 to $6,600,000 the total price for residential contracts to 
reflect the smaller procurement target size; 
6. Requires that the commission impose a cap on the rate adjustment mechanism to 
ensure that costs do not exceed the cost impact to ratepayers of net metering and to 
specify this cap by rule; 
7. Specifies that the commission may require 15-year contracts if it concludes that 
shorter contracts would benefit ratepayers; and 
8. Establishes an additional reporting requirement in 2020 regarding the impact of 
the cost to all ratepayers of the procurement targets. 
SPONSOREDBY: lJ4hsL h)~ 
(Senator WOODSOME) 
COUNTY: York 
SENA TE AMENDMENT