The Senate late last week passed a proposal that would establish a legal framework for community solar power projects.

Senate Bill 188’s sponsor is Sen. Chris Pope, a Democrat from Bozeman who unsuccessfully introduced similar legislation in 2023. During a Jan. 30 hearing before the Senate Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee, Pope said the bill would expand access to locally generated, emissions-free power, which would decrease participants’ utility bills, support a growing but underdeveloped industry and improve the grid’s resilience to extreme weather events.

Pope said 44 states have similar programs and Montana is going to need additional electricity generation to meet increasing power demand, an energy dynamic that’s accelerated by the rise of artificial intelligence and other electricity-intensive enterprises.

More than 20 peopletestified in favor of SB 188, arguing that it’s a “consumer choice” initiative for which there is plenty of demand — and plenty of economic development opportunity. Representatives from NorthWestern Energy and Montana-Dakota Utilities, Montana’s two investor-owned utilities, were the measure’s sole opponents when the bill was heard in committee. They argued that there are cost-shift concerns associated with SB 188 and that the paperwork required to implement the program would be a burden.

If it passes the Legislature, SB 188 would allow a solar developer to build a solar array between 50 kilowatts and five megawatts and sell shares of the array’s generation to subscribers, who would use the power produced to offset their monthly power bills. 

Pope said he anticipates a subscription-based solar program would appeal to individuals interested in lowering their power bills, environmentally conscious businesses and nonprofits lacking the right logistical or financial conditions to install their own solar panels, and property owners looking to more fully utilize sun-soaked rooftops, fields and parking areas.

SB 188 would require the Montana Public Service Commission, the elected utility board charged with balancing the financial health of investor-owned utilities with the interest of those utilities’ customers, to come up with a framework for pricing the electricity generated. An investor-owned utility’s transmission, distributionand administration expenses associated with launching and maintaining such a program would be taken into account when developing a pricing framework, and utility customers with an existing net-metering set-up would be prohibited from participating in a community solar project.

Pope told his colleagues on the Senate energy committee that SB 188 would “unlock significant private investment for made-in-Montana energy that will be generated within our state’s borders.”

“It’s enabling legislation,” he continued. “It does not require state funding, doesn’t require anyone or anything to buy anything, or spend anything or do anything unless they find it in their interest.”

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Nine rural electricity cooperatives have established similar programs “and see high demand for subscriptions,” according to Scott Sweeney, a Lewistown-area rancher who formerly served as the general manager for the Fergus County Electric Co-op. 

During the SB 188 hearing, Sweeney added that MDU and NorthWestern Energy both raised their electricity rates recently — MDU by 9% and NorthWestern Energy by 28% — and are working on another round of proposed rate increases. Nearly half of the state’s residents are facing additional rate increases that community solar can help offset, he said.

Justin Pearce with A-Team Roofing and Solar of Billings made an economic development pitch to committee members. Twenty-seven people are on A-Team’s payroll and the company hopes to bring that number up to 50 by the end of the year to capitalize on the 285 “sun days” southeastern Montana has each year. 

“What we need from you all at the Montana Legislature is to allow us to enter into the [community solar] market. Right now, most of Montana is locked out of this type of energy generation. If government can get out of the way … Montana businesses like ourselves can diversify and expand into subscription-based solar.”

Nick Fitzmaurice, Montana Environmental Information Center’s energy transition engineer, echoed Pearce’s request, arguing that lawmakers need to act to allow residents to tap into Montana’s “tremendous solar resource” and give Montanans reprieve from some of the highest electricity bills in the region.

Other proponents include the Montana Renewable Energy Association,  Montana Farmers Union, Northern Plains Resource Council, Renewable Northwest, NW Energy Coalition, the Blackfeet Nation, the Fort Belknap Indian Community and the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy.

Alan Olson, NorthWestern Energy’s director of government affairs, argued that the company is “not the least little bit” opposed to renewable energy, but doesn’t believe SB 188 is the right way to go about it. NorthWestern Energy would rather see such interest and demand go through the qualifying facility process, he said, referencing a federally created and Montana Public Service Commission-regulated process that allows smaller power generators to tie into transmission infrastructure owned by a monopoly utility.

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Administering the program creates a paperwork burden that would generate costs that would be passed down to other ratepayers, Olson argued.

During his closing remarks on the measure, Pope responded to NorthWestern’s concerns, arguing that he’s worked hard to ensure there are no cost shifts associated with SB 188. Montana’s lackluster track record bringing new qualifying facilities into the fold suggests to him that expanding solar power in Montana by going through that process “is not a path forward.” Qualifying facility projects frequently face significant legal and financial headwinds posed by the investor-owned utilities that own and operate much of the state’s grid.

After passing the Senate energy committee with a lone Republican, Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, in opposition, the measure passed out of the Senate on Feb. 28 with broad bipartisan support. 

Thirty-eight senators supported the measure on its third reading vote. Ten Republicans and one Democrat, Sen. Laura Smith of Helena, opposed SB 188. It will now receive a hearing in the House energy committee on an as-yet undecided date.

In other solar energy news, the House energy committee on Monday afternoon held a hearing on a proposal by Rep. Jamie Isaly, D-Livingston, to increase the net-metering cap from 50 kilowatt hours to 100 kilowatt hours. Shortly thereafter, the committee voted to table House Bill 811, which sought to allow entities with sizable energy bills — schools, libraries, larger businesses, etc. — to use solar panels to offset a greater portion of their monthly electricity costs.