Gov. Dunleavy signs community energy bill

Alan Bailey

for Petroleum News

On Aug. 14 Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed into law Senate Bill 152, a bill that enables the establishment of community energy projects in Alaska. In a community energy project a group of individual electricity consumers can jointly subscribe to a renewable energy facility that is connected to an electric utility's power system. The subscribers would be entitled to obtain power generated from the project, while also being credited by the utility for any surplus energy generated by the facility but not used by the facility subscribers.

In effect, a community energy system would operate in a similar manner to the net metering arrangement that is available to individual property owners who have their own solar panels. However, rather than being owned and operated by a single property owner, a community energy system could be operated by or on behalf of multiple subscribers. A community energy arrangement could, for example, be beneficial for people living in an apartment complex, where there are multiple electric meters within a single building.

An expectation is that the ability to implement community energy projects will encourage the increased use of renewable energy sources. Electricity utility Chugach Electric Association is planning to build a community solar energy project in Anchorage.

The new legislation requires electricity utilities to allow eligible community facilities to connect to the utility's electricity system, subject to interconnection standards approved by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska. And a utility will be required to have an approved tariff for the connection of community energy facilities.

The new legislation also allows a utility to itself own a community energy facility, from which consumers can obtain electricity through subscriptions.

The legislation also specifies the RCA's authorities and duties with regard to community energy facilities. For example, the commission may, as necessary, adopt regulations pertaining to the safety, power quality and interconnection standards for the facilities. And the commission has several duties to perform, to ensure the smooth operation of the community energy arrangements.

--ALAN BAILEY