Today, Dominion Power starts accepting applications for its pilot “Solar Purchase Program.” Under the program, homeowners and businesses with solar panels on their properties can sell both the power they generate and the associated renewable energy certificates (RECs) for a premium.
CCAN, along with other environmental organizations, was represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center in the case about the program before the Virginia State Corporation Comission. Environmental advocates saw some big flaws with Dominion’s design of the program. It has moved forward nonetheless, so here’s our guide to the program.
How does it work?
Participants in the program will have two power meters. With one meter, they will sell all of the power generated by their solar panels, plus all of the associated RECs, to Dominion. With the other meter, they will buy all of the power they use from Dominion. This is different from “net metering,” in which a customer with solar panels has one power meter that rolls forward when the panels aren’t generating enough power for all of the building’s needs and backwards when they’re generating more than necessary and putting it on the grid.
So a customer participating in the program is actually using 100% energy generated by Dominion — a generation mix dominated by climate-heating fossil fuels — even though he or she owns solar panels.
How much does Dominion pay for the power? And who do they pass that cost onto?
Under the program, Dominion will give a participant 15 cents per kilowatthour for the solar power generated by his or her panels. Of that 15 cents, Dominion charges its Green Power program customers about 11 cents for the renewable energy certificate and charges its full customer base about 4 cents for the power or the price of purchasing power from the market (most of which is fossil-fuel fired generation).
In the regulatory case on the program, the Southern Environmental Law Center argued that this tariff design fails to account for the benefits of distributed solar that all customers receive. Assigning the full customer base with the same value for distributed solar generation as for fossil fuel power that Dominion purchases from the grid doesn’t make sense for a number of reasons. Here are just a couple of the benefits of distributed solar that all customers, not just Green Power Program customers, should pay for: 1. Generating energy at the place where it’s needed means that you don’t lose any of it as it gets distributed through power lines over long distances. 2. Solar panels generate power in the middle of the day when the most energy is needed, reducing the need to purchase “peak” power, which greatly reduces costs.
Should you participate?
Keep in mind that if you sign up, you’ll have to buy 100% of the power you use from Dominion, including lots of power generated from coal and natural gas.
For a residential customer who pays about 11 cents per kilowatthour to buy energy from Dominion, participating in the solar purchase program (instead of participating in net metering) essentially means that he or she is getting 4 cents per kilowatthour for renewable energy certificates. Therefore, if you are interested in selling your RECs, you should check around to see how much you could get on the market.
Applications will be accepted for the next 6 months. Read more on Dominion’s site.
