The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission also adopted a new rate system for solar gardens after two days of deliberations on the promising but controversial program.

After the state’s solar garden program was launched in late 2014, Xcel Energy — the program’s de facto administrator — was inundated with applications from developers, as there was no output limit per garden. Minneapolis-based Xcel, the state’s largest utility, complained the program had ballooned beyond what state law intended.


 

"Value of Solar" rate structure projects December 2016.