Virginia Administrative Code › Title 20 - PUBLIC UTILITIES AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS › Agency 5 - STATE CORPORATION COMMISSION › Chapter 340 - RULES GOVERNING SHARED SOLAR PROGRAM › Section 20VAC5-340-40 - Registration with the utility

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A. Subscriber organizations, licensed or
				otherwise, shall register each proposed shared solar facility with the utility
				by entering into an agreement containing information as prescribed in this
				section.
B. A subscriber
				organization shall provide proof of licensure by the commission, as applicable.
C. A subscriber organization shall
				submit to the utility the full name of the subscriber organization, address,
				and type of entity (e.g. partnership, corporation, etc.).
D. Subscriber organizations shall provide the
				identity of the shared solar facility participating in the shared solar
				program, including an address of record and a copy of the executed
				interconnection agreement for the shared solar facility. Subscriber
				organizations also shall state the amount of capacity for the facility, meeting
				or exceeding the minimum of 30%, that will be subscribed by low-income
				subscribers and provide proof that non-ministerial permits have been obtained
				for the shared solar facility.
E.
				For a low-income shared solar facility, the subscriber organization shall
				provide a copy of its low-income subscription plan, as applicable.
F. Subscriber organizations and the utility
				shall exchange the names, telephone numbers, and email addresses of appropriate
				internal points of contact to address operational, business coordination, and
				customer account issues, and the names and addresses of their registered agents
				in Virginia.
G. In the event a
				license granted under 20VAC5-340-30 is transferred to another entity with
				approval from the commission, the subscriber organization must notify the
				utility within five business days of approval by the commission.
H. The utility may require reasonable
				financial security from the subscriber organization to safeguard the utility
				and its customers from the reasonably expected net financial impact due to the
				nonperformance of the subscriber organization. The amount of such financial
				security shall be commensurate with the level of risk assumed by the utility.
				Such financial security may include a letter of credit, a deposit in an escrow
				account, a prepayment arrangement, a surety bond, or other arrangements that
				may be mutually agreed upon by the utility and the subscriber
				organization.
I. The utility shall
				notify the subscriber organization within 30 days of the commission's issuance
				of a subscriber organization's licensure after the subscriber organization
				submits a shared solar facility registration to the utility whether the shared
				solar facility has been awarded capacity in the program queue or placed on a
				waiting list. When awarded capacity in the program queue, the subscriber
				organization shall pay to the utility a security deposit in the amount of $50
				per kilowatt (kW) of alternating-current rated capacity of the shared solar
				facility within 10 days. This deposit shall be held by the utility in an
				interest-bearing account. Deposits shall be returned in full, including
				interest, upon commercial operation of the shared solar facility and
				demonstration that low-income subscription requirements have been met. As
				program capacity is awarded, the utility shall ensure that the cumulative
				capacity of such projects meets or exceeds 30% of project capacity (or savings
				equivalent) for low-income customers as demonstrated by approved low-income
				subscription plans. Subscriber organizations deemed bona fide nonprofits shall
				be exempt from the $50 per kW alternating current (AC) utility
				deposit.
J. If a project fails to
				reach mechanical completion within 24 months of the date it was awarded
				capacity, the utility shall remove the project from the program queue unless
				the subscriber organization of the project provides to the utility an
				additional deposit of $25 per kW to maintain its position within the program
				queue. If, after paying the additional deposit, the project still fails to
				reach mechanical completion within an additional 12 months, the utility shall
				remove the project from the program queue.
K. The utility shall maintain, on a publicly
				available website, a list of projects accepted into the program queue and those
				projects that are on the wait list. This project list shall rank projects
				primarily by the date of the awarded capacity and secondarily by the date of a
				fully executed interconnection agreement. The utility shall update the list
				within two business days of any change to the projects in the program queue.
				The list shall include project applicant name, project location, the
				alternating current capacity rating of the project, the date the application
				was accepted into the program queue, and whether the project is a low-income
				shared solar facility.
L. Any
				project on the wait list that is moved off the wait list and receives a
				capacity award in the program queue shall have 10 business days to make the
				required deposit of $50 per kW of alternating-current rated capacity to retain
				the project's award.
M. As part of
				its public program queue, the utility shall monitor and report the amount of
				capacity that has been allocated to low-income customers, which also shall be
				published on the utility's website. Upon qualification of 45 megawatts (MW) of
				alternating current (AC) of capacity committed to low-income subscribers as
				demonstrated by the approved low-income subscription plans of projects that
				have secured capacity in the program, the utility shall submit a request to the
				commission to release an additional 50 MW of capacity for the program which
				shall be released without undue delay and allocated first to projects on the
				wait list and, if capacity remains, to new applicants on a first-come,
				first-served basis following the registration requirements and process set
				forth in this section.
Statutory Authority: §
											12.1-13
					 and
					 56-594.3 of
					 the Code of Virginia.