Presentation on 9/18/13 to the
Regulatory Flexibility Committee
by Laura Ann Arnold, President
Indiana Distributed Energy Alliance
(Presentation available at IndianaDG.net)
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To be the voice of the renewable energy (RE)
and distributed generation (DG) business,
educational and public sectors in Indiana to
advocate public policies and to foster
economic growth which fosters this business
sector, creates jobs, promotes national
security, provides stabilized energy resources
and improves the quality of the environment.
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Renewable energy and distributed
generation (RE&DG) developers both located
in Indiana doing projects here and elsewhere
across the country, as well as developers
located outside the state either doing
business or wanting to do business in Indiana
Manufacturers of RE systems
Supporting non-profits and individuals
wanting to develop a project
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The key element of a feed-in tariff is to set a
price that reflects the cost of generating the
energy, including a reasonable rate of return
that is fair and equitable to both investors
and ratepayers.
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A Properly Designed Feed-in Tariff Can Lower
the Cost of Capital and Keep Electric Rates
Down
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Properly designed FIT pricing is generally
designed the same way that regulators set
electricity rates, by looking at a utility’s costs
– including investments in new generation –
and setting rates at a level to recover those
costs plus a reasonable rate of return to their
investors.
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The rate of return is critical, because there is
evidence that the necessary rate of return
under a feed-in tariff program can be lower
than the typical rate of return that utilities
require. This means that renewable energy is
cheaper with a feed-in tariff than without a
feed-in tariff.
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Golden Rule: Do onto others as you would
have them do unto you.
VFIT Golden Rule: Treat VFITs like electric
utilities treat themselves, i.e. VFIT contracts
should reflect the cost of generation
including a reasonable rate of return that is
fair and equitable to both investors and
ratepayers.
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Collaborative process to establish terms and
conditions as well as rates
Broad range of renewable energy and
distributed generation technologies
Contract length of 25-30 years for solar PV
Allows third party financing
Does not limit project to customer usage
Transparent selection process
Reasonable milestones
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Tariffs based on cost of generation
Differentiation by technology, project size,
application and density
For example, solar PV tariff could depend on:
 Solar PV integrated into building design;
 Solar PV panels installed on the roof; or
 Solar PV ground mounted.
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FIT programs of US municipalities include:
 Gainsville Regional Utilities (FL)
 Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
 Long Island Power Authority (LIPA)
 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
(LADWP)
 Palo Alto (CA) Municipal Utility
Utility
2013 Rates
2013 Capacity
2012 Rates
2012 Capacity
IPL peak
$0.0299
$7.42
$0.0282
$7.30
IPL off-peak
$0.0257
Duke
$0.02851
$7.05
$0.033687
$9.85
I&M TOD peak
$0.0234
$8.56
$0.0274
$8.70
I&M off-peak
$0.0223
NIPSCO peak
.03221-.0399
NIPSCO offpeak
.02377-.02847
Vectren peak
$0.03882
Vectren offpeak
$0.03428
$0.0246
$0.0241
$5.45
.03533-.03990
$5.49
.02196-.02631
$4.81
$0.04077
$0.03603
$5.03
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170 IAC 4-4.1-4 Filing of rate data—annually
170 IAC 4-4.1-5 Obligation to purchase and
sell
170 IAC 4-4.1-8 Rates for energy purchase
170 IAC 4-4.1-9 Rates for capacity purchase
Indianapolis Power and Light (IPL) Rate REP & Northern Indiana Public
Service Company (NIPSCO) Experimental Rate 665 Renewable FIT
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Cause No. 43623
 Petition filed 12/29/08
 Order issued 2/10/10
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Cause No. 43960
 Petition filed 10/13/10
 Motion to temporarily suspend Rate REP 2/7/11
 Order issued 11/22/11
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Cause No. 44018
 Petition filed 4/11/11
 Order issued 03/07/2012
 Tariff expired 3/30/2013
 All projects with IURC approved contracts must be
commissioned by ???
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Cause No. 43922 filed 7/16/10
Technical conference held 10/04/10
Settlement Agreement filed 4/18/11
IURC order issued: 7/11/2011
Two stakeholder annual meetings held in
 Goshen on 7/18/ 12; and
 Munster on 8/1/13
NIPSCO VFIT 1.0 expires 12/31/13
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NIPSCO filed petition with IURC 9/11/13 in
Cause No. 44393 to explore another VFIT
 Prehearing conference TBA
 Technical conference TBA
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IndianaDG filed petition to intervene 9/15/13
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Duke Energy Indiana (DEI) enters into
Settlement Agreement on Edwardsport air
permit on 8/28/13 requiring DEI to either:
 Implement a feed-in tariff for Solar PV modeled
on the current NIPSCO FIT; or
 Construct/install, and/or execute a long term
contract with one or more independent producers
for energy and capacity from wind and/or solar
with a combined nameplate capacity of no less
than 15 MWs (minimum shall be 5 MW solar).
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Duke Energy Indiana (DEI) VFIT:
 Implemented in DEI service territory;
 Total program cap no fewer than 30 MW;
 No fewer than 5 MW to be reserved for small
systems (no larger than 10 kW in size); and
 Be requested in a filing not later than 6/1/14.
Settlement not to preclude DEI and Petitioners from
collaborating on other or additional VFITs.
IPL RATE REP
NIPSCO RATE 665
 Wind 50-100 KW: $0.14/kWh
 Wind ≤ 100kW: $0.17/kWh
 Wind 100 kW-1 MW: $0.105
 Wind 101kW-2MW:
 Wind > I MW:$0.075/kWh
 Solar 20-100 kW: $0.24/kWh
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 Solar >100 kW: $0.20/kWh
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 Biomass 50 kW- 1 MW: $.085
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$0.10/kWh
Solar ≤ 10kW: $0.30/kWh
Solar 11kW-2MW: $0.26/kWh
Biomass ≤ 5MW: $0.106/kWh
New Hydro ≤ 1MW:
$0.12/kWh
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What steps or actions can be taken to
encourage more electric utilities to offer
VFITs in Indiana?
What happens at the end of current 15 year
VFIT contracts?
To give VFIT customers option to net meter,
net metering rule needs to be revised to:
 Allow net metering > 1 MW; and
 Allow third party net metering.
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Provided upon request
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Laura Ann Arnold, President
Indiana Distributed Energy Alliance
545 E. Eleventh Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
(317) 635-1701
(317) 502-5123 cell
Laura.Arnold@IndianaDG.net or
Laura.Arnold@thearnoldgroup.biz
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