10-115 – COMMUNITY SHARED SOLAR ELECTRIC GENERATION SYSTEM OR COMMUNITY SHARED BATTERY STORAGE SYSTEM COMPLIANCE OPTION FOR ON-SITE SOLAR ELECTRIC GENERATION OR BATTERY STORAGE REQUIREMENTS

(a) Community Shared Solar Electric Generation System or Battery Storage System Offset. If approved by the commission, a community shared solar system, other community shared renewable system, community shared battery storage system, or combination of the aforementioned systems (hereinafter referred to as a community shared solar or battery storage system) may be used as a compliance option to partially or totally meet the on-site solar electric generation system and/or battery storage system that is otherwise required by Section 140.0(c), 150.1(a)3, or 170.0(a)3 of Title 24, California Code of Regulations, Part 6. To be approved, the community shared solar electric generation or community shared battery storage system must demonstrate, to the Commission’s satisfaction, that all the following requirements will be met:

1. Enforcement Agency. The community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system shall be installed and available for enforcement agency site inspection, no later than the point in time the enforcement agency must physically verify compliance of the building, which would otherwise be required to have an on-site solar electric generation and/or battery storage system, and shall not cause delay in the process of enforcement agency review and approval of that building. The enforcement agency shall have jurisdiction and facilitated access to make site inspections. All documentation for the community solar electric generation system and/or community solar battery storage system that is required to demonstrate compliance for the building shall be completed prior to building permit application.

2. Energy Performance. The community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system shall be demonstrated to provide the same or better energy performance equal to the partial or total compliance with the energy performance of the on-site solar electric generation and/or battery storage system that would otherwise have been required for the building, computed by compliance software certified for use by the Commission.

3. Participating Building Energy Savings Benefits. The community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system shall provide energy saving benefits directly to the building. The energy savings benefits allocated to the building shall be in the form of:

A. actual reductions in the energy consumption of the participating building;

B. energy reduction credits that will result in virtual reductions in the building’s energy consumption that is subject to energy bill payments; or

C. payments to the building that will have an equivalent effect as energy bill reductions.

4. Durability, Participation, and Building Opt-out.

A. Durability. The community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system shall be designed and installed to provide the energy savings benefits to the participating building(s) specified in Section 10-115(a)3 for a period of no less than 20 years.

B. Participation. The Administrator(s) approved by the Energy Commission pursuant to Section 10-115(b)1 shall ensure that all participating buildings, which use the community shared solar and/or community shared battery storage system to comply with Section 140.0(c), 150.1(a)3, or 170.0(a)3, remain participating buildings for no less than a 20-year period (“Participation Period”), regardless of who owns or occupies the participating building, unless the building owner discontinues participation after causing the on-site solar electric generation system to be installed and interconnected pursuant to the Opt-Out Requirements. For purposes of this Section, "Opt-Out Requirements" shall mean installation and interconnection of an on-site solar electric generation system that meets or exceeds requirements of Section 140.0(c), 150.1(a)3, or 170.0(a)3 in effect at the time the builder applied for the original building permit for the participating building. To demonstrate compliance, the Administrator shall require either:

i. Equitable Servitude. As a condition for a building to participate, participating builders shall impose an equitable servitude through a properly recorded declaration of covenants, conditions and restrictions (“CC&Rs”) or other properly recorded covenant, deed restriction or other legally binding method referenced in each deed transferring title for each participating building. This equitable servitude shall run with the land and obligate the original owner(s)/tenant(s) and all subsequent owner(s)/tenant(s) of the participating building to maintain the building’s participation in the community shared solar and/or community shared battery storage system for the Participation Period, or ensure installation and interconnection of an on-site solar electric generation system that satisfies the Opt-Out Requirements. The equitable servitude shall specify that in order to discontinue participation in the community shared solar and/or battery system, the building owner must satisfy the Opt-Out Requirements. The builder shall ensure that the equitable servitude provides the Administrator approved by the Commission the right to enforce the above provisions. The equitable servitude shall remain in force for a period of 20 years from the date of first participation of the building in the community shared solar and/or battery system. The equitable servitude shall not be revocable. The equitable servitude shall be delivered to all responsible parties through transfer disclosure statements.

ii. Other system. The Commission may approve another program, structure, or system by which an Administrator (or other entity approved by the Commission) ensures the requirements of this Section 10-115(a)4B will be satisfied for a Participation Period of no less than 20 years.

C. Compliance Documentation. The Administrator shall maintain record(s) of the compliance documentation that determined the requirements for the on-site solar electric generation system and/or battery storage system to comply with the standards in effect at the time the builder applied for the original building permit, and which establishes participants’ obligations to meet the Opt-Out Requirements. The Administrator shall provide a copy of this compliance documentation upon a participating building owner’s request, to every new owner of a participating building when the Administrator is notified that title has transferred, and to any participating building owner who requests to Opt-Out.

D. Building Opt-Out. At any time during the Participation Period, a participating building owner shall have the option to discontinue the participation of the building in the community shared solar and/or battery storage system (“Opt-Out”) if the building satisfies the Opt-Out Requirement.

i. Prior to Opt-Out, the building owner shall demonstrate that they have installed such an on-site solar electric generation system and met the Opt-Out Requirements by providing documentation from the installer of the on-site solar system or an attestation of the building owner with supporting documentation. The building owner shall be responsible for all costs associated with documenting that the on-site solar generation system satisfies the Opt-Out Requirements.

ii. Upon receiving documentation regarding Opt-Out from a building owner, the Administrator shall compare the documentation to the compliance documentation specified in Section 10-115(a)4C and confirm whether, based on the documentation, the installed solar system meets or exceeds the Opt-Out Requirements. Within 30 days of a building owner providing documentation, the Administrator shall provide written confirmation to the building owner whether, based on the Administrator’s review of that documentation, the on-site solar generation system satisfies the Opt-Out Requirements. The Administrator may, at its discretion, verify the documentation through a physical inspection. The Administrator shall maintain record of the documentation that demonstrates and confirms the on-site solar generation system met the Opt-Out requirements for the remainder of the Participation Period.

iii. Upon a building owner’s exercise of the Opt-Out, all costs and benefits associated with participation in the community shared solar and/or battery storage system shall cease. If any balance of costs or benefits is owed to either party at the time of Opt-Out, such balance shall be paid to that party.

iv. The Administrator (or other entity approved by the Commission pursuant to Section 10-115(a)4Bii) shall not impose any penalty related to a participating building’s Opt-Out, or charge participants for recuperation of unrealized revenue that would have been expected to accrue beyond the end of participation. If the Administrator (or other entity approved by the Commission) plans to charge any other fees at the time of building Opt-Out, the Application for Commission Approval shall explain the purpose of those fees.

5. Additionality. The community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system shall provide the energy savings benefits specified in Section 10-115(a)3 exclusively to the participating building(s). Those energy savings benefits shall in no way be attributed to other purposes or transferred to other buildings or property.

A. The participating building(s) shall be served primarily by renewable resources developed specifically for the community solar electric generation system.

B. Other renewable resources may be used when participating buildings are permitted before the renewable resources developed for the program start operating or after they cease operating. During these times, other renewable resources may be used to meet the requirements of Section 10-115(a)4 for each participating building.

C. The renewable resources, including those developed primarily to serve participating buildings and those utilized to serve participating buildings during the time periods described in Section 10-115(a)5B for the purpose of meeting the requirements of Section 10-115(a)4, shall meet the following requirement:

i. For each renewable resource used to serve participating buildings, bundled Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), which satisfy the criteria of Portfolio Content Category 1, shall be retired and tracked in the Western Renewable Energy Generation Information System (WREGIS) on the behalf of program participants, to ensure that they will not be allocated to or used for any other purpose, including Renewable Performance Standard (RPS) compliance, resale of RECs or renewable generation to any other person or entity, or any other mandatory or voluntary renewable electricity program requirement or claim.

D. Renewable resources developed to serve participating buildings may also be used to serve other loads when there is excess generation beyond what is needed to serve participating buildings. Any excess generation used for such other loads shall be isolated from the generation serving participating buildings and shall not result in violation of Section 10-115(a)5C.

6. Location. The community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system shall be located on a distribution system of the load serving entity providing service to the participating buildings.

7. Size. The community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system shall not be served by any individual source larger than 20 MW.

8. Accountability and Recordkeeping. Applicants for Commission approval of community shared solar electric generation systems and/or community shared battery storage systems shall be accountable to all parties who relied on these systems for partial or total compliance with the on-site solar electric generation and/or battery storage system that would otherwise be required, including but not limited to builders of the buildings, owners of the buildings, enforcement agencies, and the Commission.

A. Each year beginning twelve months after initial approval, the Administrator shall provide to the Commission a report demonstrating the previous year’s compliance with each requirement of Section 10-115.

B. Recordkeeping regarding compliance with the requirements in Sections 10-115(a) shall be maintained over the period of time specified in Section 10-115(a)4 for each building for which the community shared solar electric generation or battery storage system is used to demonstrate partial or total compliance. Access to these records shall be provided to any entity approved by the Commission for auditing compliance with these requirements.

(b) Application for Commission Approval. Any entity may apply to the Commission for approval to administer a community shared solar electric generation or community shared battery storage system to provide partial or total compliance with the on-site solar electric generation system and/or battery storage system required by Section 150.1 of Title 24, California Code of Regulations, Part 6. Once approved, the entity shall be the Administrator of the community shared solar electric generation or community shared battery storage system.

1. The application shall demonstrate to the Commission’s satisfaction that each of the requirements specified in Section 10-115(a) will be met and shall include detailed explanation of the actions that will be taken by the applicant to ensure that each requirement is met over the period of time specified in Section 10-115(a)4 for each building for which a partial or total offset is used to demonstrate compliance.

2. All applicants have the burden of proof to establish that their application should be granted.

3. Applications from public agencies shall be submitted to the Energy Commission only after public review through at least one public meeting within the jurisdiction of the public entity or service area of the load-serving entity and adoption by the public agency. The Commission shall have the authority to not approve any application that the Commission determines to be inconsistent with the requirements of Section 10-115.

(c) Executive Director Approval of Revised Applications. The Administrator of an approved community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system shall submit a revised application demonstrating compliance with the Section 10-115 requirements to the Executive Director for approval, when:

1. A new renewable resource is proposed to be added to a community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system, and/or

2. The Commission modifies the requirements of Section 10-115 in a building standards rulemaking. Such modified requirements would not apply retroactively to the buildings for which building permit applications are submitted prior to the effective date of the modified standards or to the continued use of previously approved renewable resources developed to serve a community shared solar electric generation system and/or community shared battery storage system.