Community Solar Garden Program Update

During the 2023 Legislative session, the Minnesota Legislature made changes to the Community Solar Garden statute: Chapter 60 - MN Laws.?

These legislative updates include sunsetting the ?Legacy? solar garden program, operated by Xcel Energy, which will close to new applications on December 31, 2023. The recently passed legislation establishes a new program to be administered by the Minnesota Department of Commerce (Department). The new program will be called the Low and Moderate-income Accessible Community Solar Garden Program (LMI-Accessible CSG Program). Details of the new program?s application requirements will be issued by the Department in January 2024.

More details on the program can be found here: https://mn.gov/commerce/energy/consumer/energy-programs/community-solar-gardens.jsp

The Department is issuing two separate processes to better understand potential interest in and perspectives on the LMI-Accessible CSG Program:

• A Notice of Intent for potential applicants
• A Request for Information on programmatic design

Notice of Intent (NOI):

The Department is seeking to understand the volume of potential applicants to the new program during the 2024 program year and is issuing this NOI to assist with program planning for the upcoming year. Potential applicants include solar developers, community solar garden developers and/or subscriber organizations who have already entered the Interconnection Application process and received a ?deemed complete? status for that application, are requested to respond.

The deadline to respond to the NOI is December 29, 2023, at 5 pm CT.

Community Solar Garden Request for Information (RFI):

The Department is also seeking feedback from stakeholders, particularly potential community solar garden developers, about the application process and select evaluation criteria. Interested parties may complete the RFI here: [LINK]. The RFI will be open until December 15, 2023, at 5 pm CT. ?

The Department has also scheduled complementary information sessions to collect feedback for the LMI-Accessible CSG Program. Interested participants should register in advance for?webinars.?

• Monday, November 27 at noon: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/ee74cb5f-6a3f-4d60-b328-dbfdb175f7a3@eb14b046-24c4-4519-8f26-b89c2159828c ? ?
• Monday, December 11?at noon: https://events.gcc.teams.microsoft.com/event/2435123b-f9f0-41b9-801c-b6aefd732854@eb14b046-24c4-4519-8f26-b89c2159828c

Interested parties may respond in writing to the RFI, participate in the feedback sessions, or both.