Community Solar Gardens

Xcel Energy's CSG program, mandated by Minnesota's lawmakers under Minnesota Statute, required Xcel to submit a plan for it to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission by September 30, 2013. While other utilities had the choice to submit their own plans, none have done so yet. This means that community solar garden programs offered by other types of utilities might be quite different from Xcel's.

Xcel runs the CSG program, calling it “Solar*Rewards Community.” They have a website with information about how the program works, how to contact a solar garden developer, and how customers can get bill credits. Xcel also has a workgroup for people interested in the program. Third-party solar providers are important in Xcel's program. They can develop and run projects and sell subscriptions to Xcel's customers. The Commission doesn't regulate or have authority over these third-party garden developers apart from the contracts they sign with Xcel.

There are different kinds of solar garden facilities and developers in the program. Because they have different business models, the contracts subscribers sign can vary. If there are billing problems, subscribers should talk to the solar garden operator.

Minnesota law says there can be as many gardens as people want, with no limit on how much energy they can produce, except for some restrictions in the law.

The Commission has made many decisions about CSGs, including ones that change earlier decisions. Orders from April 7, 2014, and September 17, 2014, approved Xcel's program plan. There's also an order from August 6, 2015, about CSG co-location.

Customers in the CSG program get bill credits for the energy their share of the garden produces. Xcel has to buy all the energy from its CSGs, whether they own them or not. In 2013, the Legislature changed the law to let utilities like Xcel pay customers with distributed solar energy resources differently. The Department set up a way to calculate this payment, which the Commission approved on September 6, 2016, for Xcel's CSGs starting in 2017. They calculate a new payment each year and use it for new CSGs that year after the Commission says it's okay.