At its weekly conference 02/10/2010 the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) approved orders in Cause No. 43623. The commission issued two orders for Phase I and Phase II of this docket. Below describes the Phase I order.

Phase l includes several programs of special interest to renewable energy and distributed generation advocates including:

• creation of a new Feed-in Tariff (FiT) called Rate REP (Renewable Energy Production)
• changes to IPL's net metering tariff; and
• creation of funds for customer buy downs for renewable energy systems up to $4000 for a total of $100,000 for each of the next three years.

The order is now available for the next week for download on the IURC website at: http://www.in.gov/iurc/files/43623Iorder_021010.pdf

Below are excerpts from the ordering paragraphs of the order issued today:

2. IPL's proposed new Rate REP (Renewable Energy Production) is approved as set forth herein.

3. IPL shall file with the Electricity Division of the Commission, prior to placing into effect, the revised and new tariff sheets of IPL's Tariff for Electric Service reflecting the approval of changes to Rider No.9 and Rider No. 13, and new Rider No. 22 and Rate REP (Renewable Energy Production).

4. IPL is hereby authorized to recover the costs incurred under Rate REP pursuant to Ind. Code § 8-1-2-42(a) and Ind. Code § 8-1-8.8 to be administered within its FAC proceedings (or successor mechanism). This recovery shall not be subject to any FAC benchmark review or the Ind. Code § 8-1-2-42( d) (1 ) test.

6. Any long-term contracts between IPL and its customers wishing to sell renewable energy under Rate REP shall be submitted to the Commission for approval utilizing the 30-day filing process.

7. Changes to the standard rates contained in Rate REP shall be submitted to the Commission for approval utilizing the 30-day filing process.

Here is a fact sheet prepared BEFORE the order was issued describing IPL's proposed renewable energy programs. I guess the trick now is to figure out from reading the order if these programs actually go into effect as proposed.

Summary of IPL Renewable Energy Proposals Included in New DSM – IURC Cause No. 43623

Net Metering (Current Standard Contract Rider No. 9):

1. Expanded to be available to all customers. 
2. Capacity limits increased from 10 kW to 50 kW

 

Renewable Energy Feed-In Rate REP

1. Available to all customers not on Net Metering Rider 9.
2. Applicable to generating capacity of 50 kW (20 kW for solar PV) to 10 MW
3. All production will be metered and purchased by IPL (not just net of use)
4. IPL retains all environmental attributes (e.g. RECs) to be used for compliance with an RPS or sold to the market for the credit of all customers.
5. Allows for multi-year contracting of production and pricing (allows for project financing)
6. Standard pricing to be adjusted periodically using a 30-filing process and will take into account DSM incentives, tax credits and other influences so as to not create a windfall for developers.

Incentive for Small Scale Renewable Energy Projects:

1. A $2 per watt incentive available to customers who install a small scale renewable energy project – capped at $4,000 per customer.
2. For example – a 2 kW solar PV system costs around $20,000 – Federal Tax Credits are currently at 30%.  Federal Tax Credits, bundled with IPL’s incentives, reduce the customer cost by about one-half – not precisely correct due to interaction of incentives and taxes but representative for illustrative purposes.
3. Available to all but the largest IPL customers – the largest customers not included in the “core” DSM proposal (largest customers are included in the AMI proposal)
4. Net-Metered and Feed-In Tariff Customers are NOT excluded from receiving an incentive.
5. Total incentives for all customers are capped at $100,000 per year – or approximately enough to do about 20 systems per year.

Keep checking this blog for more details and analysis of this order.