A bill in the state Legislature would allow for community solar projects outside the control of utility companies and cooperatives, which are currently the only entities in Wisconsin allowed to offer community solar programs.

The bill would create a program that allows farmers and developers to build small-scale solar projects known as “solar gardens” that nearby residents can subscribe to. Under the bill, entities called “subscriber organizations” could own or operate community solar facilities and customers subscribing to those facilities would be able to receive credits toward their electric bills.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin would need to write rules that set up and regulate the program and utilities would be required to apply bill credits to participating customers’ bills, according to analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

The bill’s sponsors — State Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, and State Rep. Scott Krug, R-Rome — as well as supporters and opponents testified about the bill at a public hearing last week.

The legislation has backing from the Wisconsin Farmers Union, clean energy group RENEW Wisconsin and the conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. Its opponents include electric utilities and cooperatives, as well as several trades unions.

At the hearing, Testin said 24 states already have legislation allowing for private community solar projects. He said the Wisconsin bill would allow people who are not property owners or whose roofs are unsuitable for solar panels to access solar energy.

“This change will open a new market sector and high energy industry, attract economic investments in Wisconsin, create local jobs, drive innovation and competition, and ultimately save consumers and small businesses money on their energy bills,” he said. 

Krug said there have been unsuccessful attempts to pass community solar legislation in the past. But he said he felt this bill is an improvement on past proposals.

He said it would not change the state’s approval process for large, utility-scale solar projects but would create a “small-scale, locally approved alternative” allowing communities to decide what best fits their landscape. 

“It also allows farmers to lease small, unused parts of their land, maybe a 10- to 20-acre parcel that’s less suitable for crops,” he said. “Residents can subscribe to locally-generated clean power and can see credits directly on their utility bills, expanding choice without the cost of installing panels on their own roofs.”

Tyrel Zich, regional vice president of regulatory policy at Xcel Energy, testified against the bill. He said credits awarded to community solar subscribers could raise electricity bills for other customers because non-subscribing customers would be essentially subsidizing the costs of connecting community solar projects to the grid.

“I know a number of you are business owners, when your revenues fall because you have to give your customers credits, you have to make up that revenue somewhere,” he said. “That’s where rates for other customers increase.”

Other utilities that testified against the bill include Alliant Energy, Madison Gas and Electric and WEC Energy Group, the parent of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service.

Will Flanders, the research director at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, testified in support of the bill and challenged the idea that it would shift costs to customers. He said the bill doesn’t let community solar subscribers “zero out” their electric bills through the credits.

“More importantly, utilities consistently undervalue the benefits of distributed generation, such as avoided transmission line cost, reduced congestion, peak time production and the use of private capital instead of ratepayer dollars,” he said. “When those factors are considered, we argue that community solar can deliver net savings to the entire system.”