Farm and Community Net Metering
An agricultural and community net metering bill would allow a family farm with multiple meters to aggregate those meters and provide power back to the grid.
Statement of Issue
“Net metering” is shorthand for a legislatively imposed policy requiring utilities to offer an electricity purchase program to customers who have their own (usually renewable) generating facility. In simple terms, when a generating facility produces more power than the customer is using, their meter will run backwards because they are putting power into the electric grid rather than removing it.
An agricultural and community net metering bill would allow a family farm with multiple meters to aggregate those meters and provide power back to the grid.
Background
Under both federal and Virginia law, a distribution utility must permit a customer generator to interconnect with the local utility and the utility must purchase excess power generated by the customer. HB 441 was introduced in last year’s legislative session by Delegate David Toscano. The bill sought to extend net metering from individual customers to eligible community customers and agricultural net metering facilities, neither exceeding two megawatts.
To qualify as agricultural net metering facilities under last year’s legislation, the renewable generating facility must have been operated as a part of an agricultural business and have been on land owned or controlled by the agricultural business. The bill would have permitted multiple meters and multiple sites to aggregate their usage as part of the net metering agricultural facility. For example, this could allow a farm with an ideal location for a solar array to be connected to neighboring farms that lack access to adequate solar exposure and the group would be tied together for net metering purposes. The bill also made eligible a community customer acting on behalf of a group of customers to act collectively to operate a renewable generating facility that would combine their meters to take advantage of a renewable facility. Simply put, HB441 allowed neighbors to join together and share both the cost and benefits of a small renewable energy facility. Current law wouldnot permit a facility to be connected across property lines.
The State Corporation Commission is holding proceedings to determine the reasonableness of the methodology for determining stand by charges for customer generators with systems larger than 10 kilowatts, including renewables. These proceedings must conclude by December 1, 2011.
Recommendations
Some energy providers operating in the Commonwealth have resisted expansion of the net metering provision, claiming no benefit to the grid and citing the cost of interconnection and use of their transmission/distribution network. In response to concern from the utilities, there are plans to reintroduce some form of a net metering bill that would allow for a more gradual transition to community scale net metering while accomplishing the agricultural portion upfront. The new bill would allow for a single farm with multiple meters to aggregate those meters and provide power back to the grid. Community based projects (those with multiple owners) would be placed into a pilot program that would provide study findings at the end of the pilot. It is anticipated that anywhere from three to five pilot projects would be sought.