10.b Discuss Residential Solar Capacity in ScandiaOctober 14, 2022
To: Scandia City Council
From: Council member Ray
A Scandia resident on Orwell Ave. N. was recently informed that Xcel Energy’s substation feeder SCA021
has no capacity for Scandia homeowners to connect their residential solar projects to Xcel’s power grid.
Xcel Energy also informed them that there are 16 projects ahead of them, and each could take 240 days
to review. This means a possible wait of over ten years. Xcel also informed this Scandia homeowner
that there is a possible charge of over one million dollars at their expense if they move forward due to
the full capacity of the substation. Please see the email included in the packet.
I’m proposing that Scandia’s City Council vote to send the included letter to Xcel Energy management to
draw their attention to this problem in Scandia. I also propose that Xcel provide us with the information
as to how many substations are in Scandia, each capacity, and how much capacity currently remains in
each.
The proposed letter asks Xcel Energy to provide Scandia’s City Council with a plan to add capacity to
Scandia Substation SCA021 and a time frame to implement that plan. We also need to know how many
homes in Scandia are affected by SCA21’s full capacity and a map of the affected area.
I am concerned that Scandia residents will miss out on government grants and tax credits since they
cannot connect with the grid due to Xcel’s full capacity. Many people in Scandia are discussing moving
forward with a residential solar project. Before they spend money on removing trees and other
expenses, I think we need to get more information from Xcel Energy.
0/13/22,8:58 PM Mail - p.ray - Oullook
FW: DER Application On -Hold Status - Case 04974201
Wed 10/12/202212:46 PM
To: p.ray <p.ray@ci.scandia.mn.us>
First email from Xcel on June 14. We signed the solar contract in mid-March.
From: Solar Program MN <solarprogrammn@xcelenergy.com>
Sent; Tuesday, June 14, 2022 4:29 PM
To: mark
Cc: ; Solar Program MN
Subject: DER Application On -Hold Status— Case 04974201
Hi Mark,
I wanted to let you know that your interconnection application has been put on hold temporarily while Xcel
Energy sequentially reviews other applications ahead in the engineering queue at the same feeder/substation
SCA021). Since the Technical Planning Standard has been met or exceeded, these applications must be reviewed
one at a time based on their queue position in order to identify any issues and maintain the safety and reliability
of our grid for all our energy customers, pursuant to notice provided under MN DIP 5.2.2. There are currently 16
other projects ahead of yours in queue. This may add a significant delay [adjust as needed, depending on
position] to your application timeline, and we apologize for the inconvenience. We estimate each project ahead in
queue may take a maximum of 240 days to complete the review cycle for interconnection. However, these dates
are subject to change as prior -in -queue projects shift and change over time. To review your project in the queue,
visit our Interconnection webpage and click on "Public Distributed Energy Resources (DER) Queue Report under
General Resources.
The applicable application timeframes will restart once your project re-enters active study, and Xcel Energy will
notify you at that time. Your queue position will be maintained throughout this process.
If you have any questions or you would like a status update, please don't hesitate to ask.
Best,
Xcel Energy DER Interconnection Program Team
XcelEnergy.com
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Email SolarProgramMN xcelenergy.com
Other helpful resources:
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