LRB-1902/2
KP&EVM:amn
2021 - 2022 LEGISLATURE
August 5, 2021 - Introduced by Senators Stroebel and Cowles, cosponsored by
Representatives Ramthun, Cabral-Guevara, Gundrum, Moses, Thiesfeldt
and Tusler. Referred to Committee on Utilities, Technology and
Telecommunications.
SB490,1,3 1An Act to amend 66.0401 (1m) (intro.); and to create 60.61 (5s), 62.23 (7) (j),
266.0401 (1s), 196.01 (5) (b) 8. and 196.376 of the statutes; relating to:
3authorizing community solar programs and granting rule-making authority.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill authorizes the establishment of community solar programs through
which retail electric customers may subscribe to a community solar facility and
receive credits to their electric bills for electricity produced by the facility. Under the
bill, entities called subscriber organizations may own or operate community solar
facilities, which use solar energy to produce electricity and are connected to the
electric distribution grid. Retail electric customers may enter into a contract
(subscription) with a subscriber organization through which the customers receive
credits towards their electric bill based on their subscriptions. A subscriber and the
community solar facility to which the subscriber subscribes must be located within
the service territory of the same electric utility. In addition, a subscriber may not
receive an annual value of bill credits that exceeds the subscriber's average annual
electric bill. Also, under the bill, subscribers may not receive any state subsidy for
which generating electricity from a renewable energy resource is a criteria for
eligibility nor may subscribers receive any payment or other benefit from a tax
incremental district.
The bill requires an electric utility whose service territory includes subscribers
to a community solar facility to credit the electric bills of the subscribers based on
their subscriptions. Also, under the bill, at the time that an electric utility files tariffs

with the Public Service Commission, the electric utility must include options in the
tariffs that allow subscribers to receive bill credits for subscriptions to community
solar facilities. The PSC must promulgate rules allowing for establishment of
community solar facilities and for subscribers to receive electric bill credits for their
subscriptions. The PSC must also establish a rate used to calculate the amount of
bill credits that subscribers receive, and the rate must be set at a level that results
in robust community solar facility development and all customer classes having
access to subscriptions to community solar facilities. Under the bill, the PSC's
community solar program rules must also satisfy various other requirements,
including that the rules must modify existing interconnection standards, fees, and
processes to facilitate interconnection of community solar facilities with the electric
distribution grid and allow electric utilities to recover costs of applying credits to
subscribers' bills. The bill also provides that new community solar facilities may not
be established after June 30, 2031.
The bill also specifies that community solar facilities are subject to the zoning
ordinances applicable to the parcels on which they are located. Also under the bill,
a municipality may not grant an exception to its zoning ordinance if the exception
would authorize the installation of a community solar facility unless the exception
is approved by a two-thirds vote of the governing body of the municipality.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SB490,1 1Section 1. 60.61 (5s) of the statutes is created to read:
SB490,2,52 60.61 (5s) Community solar facilities. Notwithstanding sub. (4e), no permit
3for a conditional use, as defined in sub. (4e) (a) 1., or use variance, as defined in s.
462.23 (7) (e) 7. a., authorizing the installation of a community solar facility under s.
5196.376 may be granted unless approved by a two-thirds vote of the town board.
SB490,2 6Section 2. 62.23 (7) (j) of the statutes is created to read:
SB490,2,107 62.23 (7) (j) Community solar facilities. Notwithstanding pars. (de) and (e), no
8permit for a conditional use, as defined in par. (de) 1. a., or use variance, as defined
9in par. (e) 7. a., authorizing the installation of a community solar facility under s.
10196.376 may be granted unless approved by a two-thirds vote of the common council.
SB490,3 11Section 3. 66.0401 (1m) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB490,3,7
166.0401 (1m) Authority to restrict systems limited. (intro.) No political
2subdivision may place any restriction, either directly or in effect, on the installation
3or use of a wind energy system that is more restrictive than the rules promulgated
4by the commission under s. 196.378 (4g) (b). No Except as provided in sub. (1s), no
5political subdivision may place any restriction, either directly or in effect, on the
6installation or use of a solar energy system, as defined in s. 13.48 (2) (h) 1. g., or a wind
7energy system, unless the restriction satisfies one of the following conditions:
SB490,4 8Section 4. 66.0401 (1s) of the statutes is created to read:
SB490,3,139 66.0401 (1s) Regulation of community solar facilities. Community solar
10facilities under s. 196.376 are subject to any zoning ordinance applicable to the parcel
11on which the community solar facility is located. The conditions under s. 66.0401
12(1m) do not apply to restrictions on community solar facilities imposed by a zoning
13ordinance of a political subdivision.
SB490,5 14Section 5. 196.01 (5) (b) 8. of the statutes is created to read:
SB490,3,1715 196.01 (5) (b) 8. A subscriber organization, as defined in s. 196.376 (1) (i), if,
16besides owning or operating a community solar facility, the subscriber organization
17does not otherwise directly or indirectly provide electricity to the public.
SB490,6 18Section 6. 196.376 of the statutes is created to read:
SB490,3,19 19196.376 Community solar programs. (1) Definitions. In this section:
SB490,3,2120 (a) “Applicable bill credit rate” means the dollar-per-kilowatt-hour rate
21determined by the commission that is used to calculate a subscriber's bill credit.
SB490,3,2422 (b) “Bill credit” means the monetary value of the electricity in kilowatt-hours
23generated by the community solar facility allocated to a subscriber to offset that
24subscriber's electricity bill.
SB490,4,4
1(c) “Community solar facility” means a facility that generates electricity by
2means of a solar photovoltaic device that produces for its subscribers a bill credit for
3the electricity generated in proportion to the size of their subscription, and to which
4all of the following apply:
SB490,4,55 1. The facility is connected to the electric distribution grid serving the state.
SB490,4,96 2. At the time the facility is initially approved by the commission, the facility
7is located on one or more parcels of land and is not located within one mile, measured
8from the point of interconnection, of a solar facility under the control of the same
9entity.
SB490,4,1010 3. The facility has at least 3 subscribers.
SB490,4,1111 4. The facility generates not more than 5 megawatts of electricity.
SB490,4,1312 5. No subscriber holds more than a 40 percent interest in the output of the
13facility.
SB490,4,1514 6. Not less than 60 percent of the capacity of the facility is subscribed to by
15subscriptions of not more than 40 kilowatts.
SB490,4,1716 (d) “Control” means the possession, direct or indirect, of the power to direct the
17management and policies of an entity through any method.
SB490,4,1818 (e) “Electric utility” means a public utility that sells electricity at retail.
SB490,4,2019 (f) “Non-ministerial permit” means a permit or approval necessary to construct
20a community solar facility that is not granted based on discretion.
SB490,4,2221 (g) “Renewable energy credit” means a tradable credit that represents one
22megawatt hour of electricity produced from a renewable resource.
SB490,4,2423 (h) “Subscriber” means a retail electric customer of an electric utility who
24satisfies all of the following:
SB490,5,2
11. The subscriber owns one or more subscriptions to a community solar facility
2interconnected with the electric utility.
SB490,5,43 2. The subscriber is located within the service territory of the electric utility
4where the community solar facility is located.
SB490,5,65 (i) “Subscriber organization” means a for-profit or nonprofit entity that owns
6or operates one or more community solar facilities.
SB490,5,107 (j) “Subscription” means a contract between a subscriber and the owner of a
8community solar facility under which the estimated bill credits of the subscriber do
9not exceed the average annual bill for the customer account to which the subscription
10is attributed.
SB490,5,18 11(2) Administration. (a) An electric utility shall provide a bill credit to a
12subscriber's subsequent monthly electric bill for the proportional output of a
13community solar facility attributable to that subscriber. The value of the bill credit
14for the subscriber shall be calculated by multiplying the subscriber's portion of the
15kilowatt-hour electricity production from the community solar facility by the
16applicable bill credit rate for the subscriber. Any amount of the bill credit that
17exceeds the subscriber's monthly bill shall be carried over and applied to the next
18month's bill in perpetuity.
SB490,5,2219 (b) No subscriber may receive a subsidy from this state for which generating
20electricity from a renewable energy resource is a criteria for eligibility and no
21subscriber may receive a payment or other benefit from a tax incremental district
22under s. 66.1105.
SB490,5,2523 (c) An electric utility shall provide bill credits to a community solar facility's
24subscribers for electricity generated by the community solar facility for not less than
2525 years from the date the community solar facility is first placed into operation.
SB490,6,11
1(d) A subscriber organization shall, periodically and in a standardized
2electronic format, provide to the electric utility whose service territory includes the
3location of the subscriber organization's community solar facility a subscriber list
4indicating the percentage of generation attributable to each of the electric utility's
5retail customers who are subscribers to a community solar facility in accordance with
6the subscriber's portion of the output of the community solar facility. The electric
7utility shall create a platform for the subscriber organization to periodically
8communicate updates to its subscriber list to reflect canceling subscribers and new
9subscribers. The electric utility shall apply bill credits to the bills of subscribers
10within one billing cycle following the cycle during which the energy earning the bill
11credits is generated by the community solar facility.
SB490,6,1612 (e) An electric utility shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic
13format, provide to a subscriber organization having a community solar facility
14within the electric utility's service territory a report indicating the total value of bill
15credits generated by the subscriber organization's community solar facility in the
16prior month as well as the amount of the bill credit applied to each subscriber.
SB490,6,2317 (f) A subscriber organization may accumulate bill credits if all of the electricity
18generated by a community solar facility is not allocated to subscribers in a given
19month. On an annual basis, the subscriber organization shall furnish to the electric
20utility whose service territory includes the location of the subscriber organization's
21community solar facility instructions for distributing accumulated bill credits to
22subscribers. The electric utility shall pay accumulated bill credits to a subscriber
23based on the subscriber's retail electricity rate.
SB490,7,324 (g) Any renewable energy credits created from a community solar facility's
25production of electricity are the property of the subscriber organization that owns or

1operates the community solar facility. The subscriber organization may sell,
2accumulate, retire, or distribute to subscribers the subscriber organization's
3renewable energy credits.
SB490,7,6 4(3) Commission; duties; rules. (a) The commission shall promulgate rules
5allowing for establishment of community solar facilities and for subscribers to
6receive bill credits.
SB490,7,97 (b) At the time that an electric utility files tariffs with the commission, the
8electric utility shall include options in the tariffs that allow subscribers to receive bill
9credits for the subscriber's electricity bill.
SB490,7,1310 (c) The commission shall establish an applicable bill credit rate to be used to
11calculate bill credits for subscribers. The commission shall establish the applicable
12bill credit rate at a level that results in robust community solar facility development
13and all customer classes having access to subscriptions to community solar facilities.
SB490,7,1414 (d) The rules promulgated under par. (a) shall do all of the following:
SB490,7,1615 1. Reasonably allow for the creation and financing of community solar
16facilities.
SB490,7,1817 2. Allow all customer classes to participate as subscribers to a community solar
18facility, and ensure participation opportunities for all customer classes.
SB490,7,2019 3. Prohibit removing a customer from the customer's applicable customer class
20because the customer subscribes to a community solar facility.
SB490,7,2321 4. Reasonably allow for the transferability and portability of subscriptions,
22including allowing a subscriber to retain a subscription to a community solar facility
23if the subscriber moves within the same electric utility's service territory.
SB490,8,224 5. Modify existing interconnection standards, fees, and processes as needed to
25facilitate the efficient and cost effective interconnection of community solar facilities

1and that allow an electric utility to recover reasonable interconnection costs for each
2community solar facility.
SB490,8,33 6. Provide for consumer protection in accordance with existing laws.
SB490,8,54 7. Allow an electric utility to recover costs of applying bill credits under this
5section.
SB490,8,86 8. Require that electric utilities efficiently connect community solar facilities
7to the electrical distribution grid and do not discriminate against community solar
8facilities.
SB490,8,129 9. Require a subscriber organization to satisfy interconnection process
10benchmarks, demonstrate site control, and obtain all applicable non-ministerial
11permits for a community solar facility before the subscriber organization owns or
12operates the facility.
SB490,8,14 13(4) Sunset; new facilities. A new community solar facility may not be
14established after June 30, 2031.
SB490,8,1515 (End)
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