SALT LAKE CITY, UT SNAPSHOT

City Population (2006)
Metro area Population (2005) / 178,858
1,333,914
Serving Utility / Rocky Mountain Power
Utility Ownership Type / Investor Owned Utility
Prior Solar Installations
Photovoltaics (PV)
Solar Hot Water (SHW)
City Installation Goal(s) / 10 MW by 2015
Other City Green Goals(s) / 3% reduction per year for the next 10 years, and 70% reduction by 2040
Total Program Funds
Amount Awarded
Cost Share / $394,572
$197,286
$197,286

APPROACH

The overall objective of the “Solar Salt Lake” (SSL) team is to develop a fully-scoped city and county-level implementation plan that will facilitate at least an additional ten megawatts of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations in the government, commercial, industrial, and residential sectors by 2015. To achieve this aggressive goal, the program strategy includes a combination of barrier identification, research, and policy analysis that utilizes the input of various stakeholders. Coupled with these activities will be the development and implementation of pilot installations in the government and residential sectors, and broad outreach to builders and potential practitioners of solar energy products in the process. In this way, while creating mechanisms to enable a demand for solar, SSL will also facilitate capacity building for suppliers, thereby helping to ensure long-term sustainability for the regional market.


Partners

• Salt Lake City Corporation

• Kennecott Land

• Utah Clean Energy

• Salt Lake County

• The State of Utah

• Rocky Mountain Power

Salt Lake City, UT “SOLAR ENVIRONMENT” BENCHMARKING & TRACKING MATRIX

The Benchmarking & Tracking Matrix provides a quarterly overview of the City’s status with regard to policies and activities that affect solar deployment. The first quarter, or Q1, is the quarter during which the City’s project began: For cities awarded in 2007, Q1 is Jul 1 – Sept 30, 2007; for cities awarded in 2008, Q1 is Apr 1 – Jun 30, 2008. For each policy or activity marked as “YES,” the listed status is hyperlinked to a more detailed description in the below “Benchmarking & Tracking Description.” For some policies or activities there are multiple providers listed. If no status is listed for a certain policy or action, it means DOE staff have not yet confirmed the status.

Solar Environment / Benchmark
Jul 1 –
Sept 30 / 2007
Oct 1 –
Dec 31 / 2008
Jan 1 –
Mar 31 / 2008
Apr 1 –
Jun 30 / 2008
Jul 1 –
Sept 30 / 2008
Oct 1 –
Dec 31 / 2009
Jan 1 –
Mar 31 / 2009
Apr 1 –
Jun 30
Rules, Regulations, and Policies
Interconnection Standards
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES U / YES / YES / YES
Net Metering
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES U / YES / YES / YES
Utility
Solar Set-Asides in RPS
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / YES U / YES / YES / YES
Public Benefits Funds
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Solar Access Laws
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Solar Mandates in Building Standards
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Expedited Solar System Permitting / Zoning
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Solar In Emergency Preparedness Plan
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Financial Incentives
Direct Incentives
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Low-Interest Loans/Innovative Financing Packages
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Income/Investment Tax Credits
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Property Tax Incentives
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Sales Tax Incentives
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Permit Fee Discounts/ Waivers
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Property Tax Assessment Financing
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Industry Development Incentives
City / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
State / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO / NO
Utility Programs
Rocky Mt Power Solar Rebate / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES / YES
Other Notable City Programs

Benchmarking Matrix Details and Description

RULES, REGULATIONS, AND POLICIES

Interconnection Standards

Benchmark September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) Interconnection Standard - Utah requires all investor-owned utilities and most electric cooperatives* to offer net metering to customers that generate electricity using solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, hydrogen, biomass, landfill gas or geothermal energy. Net metering is available for residential systems up to 25 kilowatts (kW) in capacity and non-residential systems up to two megawatts (MW) in capacity. Net metering is limited to 0.1% of each utility's peak demand during 2007. The PSC and electric cooperatives are authorized to raise the aggregate limit.


Net-metered customers must comply with local fire safety standards and national standards established by the National Electrical Code (NEC), National Electrical Safety Code (NESC), Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), and Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Utilities may enforce additional requirements -- if approved by the Utah Public Service Commission (PSC) or an electric cooperative's board of directors -- as necessary safety and reliability measures.

Inverters must be designed, tested and certified to the UL 1741 standard and installed in accordance with the IEEE 1547 standard. An external disconnect switch is generally required only for systems that do not use an inverter. Customers are not required to purchase additional liability insurance or to perform or pay for tests beyond those required by national and local standards or the PSC. However, a utility may test or inspect an interconnected facility at any time and may not be held accountable for any injury or loss incurred due to an unsafe interconnection.


March 31, 2008 U

Beginning in March 2008, electric cooperatives serving fewer than 1,000 customers in Utah may discontinue making net metering available to customers that are not already net metering. In addition, electric cooperatives not headquartered in Utah that serve fewer than 5,000 customers in Utah are authorized to offer net metering to their Utah customers in accordance with a tariff, schedule or other requirement of the appropriate authority in the state in which the co-op's headquarters are located. For most up to date Information, go to:

http://dsireusa.org/library/includes/incentive2.cfm?Incentive_Code=UT05R&state=UT&CurrentPageID=1&RE=1&EE=0

Net Metering

Benchmarking September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) Net Metering - Utah requires all investor-owned utilities and most electric cooperatives* to offer net metering to customers that generate electricity using solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, hydrogen, biomass, landfill gas or geothermal energy. Net metering is available for residential systems up to 25 kilowatts (kW) in capacity and non-residential systems up to two megawatts (MW) in capacity. Net metering is limited to 0.1% of each utility's peak demand during 2007. The PSC and electric cooperatives are authorized to raise the aggregate limit.


If a customer generates more electricity than the customer uses during a billing period, then the utility must credit the customer for the net excess generation (NEG) at a rate equal to the utility's avoided cost or higher. Customer NEG is carried over to the next customer's next monthly bill during a 12-month period. Any customer NEG remaining at the end of an annualized period is granted to the utility.
Investor-owned utilities may not levy additional charges or fees on net-metered customers, unless authorized to do so by the PSC. Electric cooperatives may not levy additional charges unless authorized by its board of directors. Members of a cooperative who disagree with the charges approved by the board of directors may file a complaint with the PSC after filing a complaint with the cooperative’s board or directors.

March 31, 2008 U

State: (YES) Beginning in March 2008, electric cooperatives serving fewer than 1,000 customers in Utah may discontinue making net metering available to customers that are not already net metering. For more information, visit:

http://dsireusa.org/library/includes/incentive2.cfm?Incentive_Code=UT04R&state=UT&CurrentPageID=1&RE=1&EE=0

Solar Set-Aside in RPS

Benchmarking September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

March 31, 2008 U

State: (YES) Renewables Portfolio Goal - Utah enacted The Energy Resource and Carbon Emission Reduction Initiative (S.B. 202) in March 2008. While this law contains some provisions similar to those found in renewable portfolio standards (RPSs) adopted by other states, certain other provisions in S.B. 202 indicate that this law is more accurately described as a renewable portfolio goal (RPG). Specifically, the law requires that utilities only need to pursue renewable energy to the extent that it is "cost-effective" to do so. The guidelines for determining the cost-effectiveness of acquiring an energy source include an assessment of whether acquisition of the resource will result in the delivery of electricity at the lowest reasonable cost, as well as an assessment of long-term and short-term impacts, risks, reliability, financial impacts on the affected utility, and other factors determined by the Utah Public Service Commission (PSC).


Under S.B. 202 -- to the extent that it is cost-effective to do so -- investor-owned utilities, municipal utilities and cooperative utilities must use eligible renewables to account for 20% of their 2025 adjusted retail electric sales. Adjusted retail sales include the total kilowatt-hours (kWh) of retail electric sales reduced by the kWh attributable to nuclear power plants, demand-side management measures, and fossil fuel power plants that sequester their carbon emissions. For example, if a utility has electric sales of 100 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2025, and 10 million MWh was produced at a nuclear plant, the utility would need to produce 20% of 90 million MWh from renewable energy sources to be in compliance.
While RPSs adopted by most states include interim targets that increase over time, Utah's goal has no interim targets. The first compliance year is 2025 (although utilities must file progress reports on January 1 of 2010, 2015, 2020 and 2024). Progress reports must indicate the actual and projected amount of qualifying electricity the utility has acquired, the source of the electricity, an estimate of the cost for the utility to achieve their target, and any recommendations for a legislative or program change.


Utilities may meet their targets by producing electricity with an eligible renewables or by purchasing renewable energy certificates (RECs). For the purposes of the law, eligible renewables include electric generation facilities that became operational after January 1, 1995, and produce electricity from solar; wind; biomass (under certain conditions); hydroelectric (under certain conditions); wave, tidal or ocean-thermal energy; geothermal; or waste gas and waste heat. Solar-thermal installations can also count towards the goal with no limit, and their contribution is determined by assessing the amount of fossil fuel consumption they displace. Electricity may be produced within the state, or within the geographic boundary of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. Notably, each kWh of electricity produced using solar energy counts as 2.4 kWh for the purposes of meeting the goal. For more details, see:

http://dsireusa.org/library/includes/incentive2.cfm?Incentive_Code=UT13R&state=UTCurrentPageID=1&RE=1&EE=0.

Public Benefits Fund

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

Solar Access Laws

Benchmark: September 30, 2007

City: (NO)

State: (YES) - Solar Access Laws - Utah's solar easement provisions are similar to easement provisions in many other states. Parties may voluntarily enter into written solar easement contracts that are enforceable by law. A solar easement, once created, runs with the land and does not terminate unless specified by conditions of the easement. State law stipulates that local zoning authorities may adopt regulations that mandate solar access and specifically grants legislative bodies the right to refuse or renew any plat or subdivision plan if deed restrictions, covenants or other agreements running with the land prohibit or have the effect of prohibiting reasonably sited and designed solar collectors or other renewable resource devices. For more information, please visit: http://dsireusa.org/library/includes/incentive2.cfm?Incentive_Code=UT01R&state=UT&CurrentPageID=1&RE=1&EE=0

Solar Mandates in Building Standards

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

Expedited Solar System Permitting / Zoning

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

Solar In Emergency Preparedness Plan

City: (NO)

State: (NO)

FINANCIAL INCENTIVES