A question just came up about how to address potential problems caused by too much solar energy installed on the grid, and the variability in production causing problems for grid operators here in Washington. I think this is a problem we are very unlikely to encounter anytime soon. Here in Washington, in RCW 80.60, our utilities are only required to accept net metering capacity of 0.5% of the 1996 peak load. This seems like a very low cap to me and well under the level that would cause any problems. At what point does that variability cause a problem that would have to be addressed by allowing utilities to “throttle” production through the use of “smart inverters”, or better yet, some short term (day to night) storage of electricity? I don’t know.
I did take a look at yet another state by state comparison of net metering laws (Wikipedia, “Net Metering” article) and have included that table below. I found that many states do not have capacity limits, many states have small caps like ours, and several states have much higher capacity limits, eg VT at 4%, CA, DE, and MO at 5%, and MA at 6%.
I think our state’s low cap will need to be addressed legislatively eventually. That is of course if we all share the goal of increasing the amount of locally owned clean electricity.
| State | Subscriber limit (% of peak) |
Power limit Res/Com(kW) |
Monthly rollover |
Annual compensation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | no limit | 100 | yes, can be indefinitely | varies |
| Alaska | 1.5 | 25 | yes, indefinitely | retail rate |
| Arizona | no limit | 125% of load | yes, avoided-cost at end of billing year | avoided cost |
| Arkansas | no limit | 25/300 | yes, until end of billing year | retail rate |
| California | 5 | 1,000 | yes, can be indefinitely | varies |
| Colorado | no limit | 120% of load or 10/25* | yes, indefinitely | varies* |
| Connecticut | no limit | 2,000 | yes, avoided-cost at end of billing year | retail rate |
| Delaware | 5 | 25/500 or 2,000* | yes, indefinitely | retail rate |
| District of Columbia | no limit | 1,000 | yes, indefinitely | retail rate |
| Florida | no limit | 2,000 | yes, avoided-cost at end of billing year | retail rate |
| Georgia | 0.2 | 10/100 | no | determined rate |
| Hawaii | none [32] | 50 or 100* | yes, until end of billing year | none[33] |
| Idaho | 0.1 | 25 or 25/100* | no | retail rate or avoided-cost* |
| Illinois | 1 | 40 | yes, until end of billing year | retail rate |
| Indiana | 1 | 1000 | yes, indefinitely | retail rate |
| Iowa | no limit | 500 | yes, indefinitely | retail rate |
| Kansas | 1 | 25/200 | yes, until end of billing year | retail rate |
| Kentucky | 1 | 30 | yes, indefinitely | retail rate |
| Louisiana | no limit | 25/300 | yes, indefinitely | avoided cost |
| Maine | no limit | 100 or 660* | yes, until end of billing year | retail rate |
| Maryland | 1500 MW | 2,000 | yes, until end of billing year | retail rate |
| Massachusetts** | 6 peak demand 3 private 3 public |
60, 1,000 or 2,000 | varies | varies |
| Michigan | 0.75 | 150 | yes, indefinitely | partial retail rate |
| Minnesota | no limit | 40 | no | retail rate |
| Mississippi | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Missouri | 5 | 100 | yes, until end of billing year | avoided-cost |
| Montana | no limit | 50 | yes, until end of billing year | retail rate |
| Nebraska | 1 | 25 | yes, until end of billing year | avoided-cost |
| Nevada | 1 | 1,000 | yes, indefinitely | retail rate |
| New Hampshire | 1 | 100 | yes, indefinitely | retail rate |
| New Jersey | no limit | previous years consumption | yes, avoided-cost at end of billing year | retail rate |
| New Mexico | no limit | 80,000 | if under $50 | avoided-cost |
| New York | 1 or 0.3 (wind) | 10 to 2,000 or peak load | varies | avoided-cost or retail rate |
| North Carolina | no limit | 1000 | yes, until summer billing season | retail rate |
| North Dakota | no limit | 100 | no | avoided-cost |
| Ohio | no limit | no explicit limit | yes, until end of billing year | generation rate |
| Oklahoma | no limit | 100 or 25,000/year | no | avoided-cost, but utility not required to purchase |
| Oregon | 0.5 or no limit* | 10/25 or 25/2,000* | yes, until end of billing year* | varies |
| Pennsylvania | no limit | 50/3,000 or 5,000 | yes, “price-to-compare” at end of billing year | retail rate |
| Rhode Island | 2 | 1,650 for most, 2250 or 3500* | optional | slightly less than retail rate |
| South Carolina | 0.2 | 20/100 | yes, until summer billing season | time-of-rate use or less |
| South Dakota | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Tennessee | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Texas*** | no limit | 20 or 25 | no | varies |
| Utah | varies* | 25/2,000 or 10* | varies* | avoided-cost or retail rate* |
| Vermont | 4 | 250 | yes, accumulated up to 12 months, rolling | retail rate |
| Virginia | 1 | 10/500 | yes, avoided-cost option at end of billing year | retail rate |
| Washington | 0.25 | 100 | yes, until end of billing year | retail rate |
| West Virginia | 0.1 | 25 | yes, up to twelve months | retail rate |
| Wisconsin | no limit | 20 | no | retail rate for renewables, avoided-cost for non-renewables |
| Wyoming | no limit | 25 | yes, avoided-cost at end of billing year | retail rate |