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<br />ORDER NO. PSC -2018 -0581 -TRF -EI
<br />DOCKET NO. 20180160 -EI
<br />PAGE 2
<br />December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2019. This Commission has approved similar community
<br />solar tariffs for Gulf Power Company3 and Duke Energy Florida, LLC.4
<br />FPL waived the 60 -day file and suspend provision of Section 366.06(3), Florida Statutes
<br />(F.S.), until our December 11, 2018 Agenda Conference. During the evaluation of the petition,
<br />Commission staff issued two data requests to FPL for which responses were received on October
<br />15, 2018 and November 14, 2018. This Commission has jurisdiction in the matter pursuant to
<br />Sections 366.05, 366.06, and 366.075, F.S.
<br />Decision
<br />The VSP program was designed for FPL to use the voluntary customer contributions to
<br />support the revenue requirement associated with constructing and operating the solar facilities
<br />supported under the program so that non -participants are not required to subsidize these solar
<br />facilities. The revenue requirement includes a return, depreciation, operations and maintenance
<br />(O&M) expenses, and other costs such as property taxes and insurance. As required by the initial
<br />VSP order, marketing and administrative expenses are capped at 20 percent of participant
<br />contributions.
<br />The voluntary contributions did not cover the revenue requirement in 2015; however, for
<br />2016 through 2018, FPL showed that the revenues received under the VSP program are greater
<br />than the revenue requirement of the solar facilities. Thus, the net impact to all customers has
<br />been positive since 2016. FPL projects that the voluntary customer contributions will total
<br />$6,717,000 by December 2018, while the total revenue requirement for the VSP program will
<br />total $5,100,000.5 The electricity generated by the solar facilities displaces fuel that otherwise
<br />would have been used for generation, resulting in avoided fuel costs. FPL calculated the fuel
<br />savings to be $43,000, resulting in a positive net impact to all customers of $1,660,000,6 which
<br />will be used to support additional solar facilities under the program.
<br />As discussed in the initial VSP order, FPL is sizing the solar projects supported by the
<br />program based on the level of participation. FPL currently has 84 solar structures at 39 locations
<br />completed for a total of 1,395 direct current kilowatts (kW) of solar capacity. An additional 53
<br />solar structures are under construction at 22 locations. FPL stated that the completed and
<br />planned solar projects comprise a diverse set of assets, including ground -mount structures,
<br />rooftop installations, covered walkways, parking canopies, and tree -like structures. The
<br />installation size of the projects ranges from three kW to 200 kW.
<br />3 Order No. PSC -16 -0119 -TRF -EG, issued March 21, 2016, in Docket No. 150248 -EG, In re: Petition for approval
<br />of community solar pilot program, by Gulf Power Company.
<br />4 Order No. PSC -2017 -0451 -AS -EU, issued November 20, 2017, in Docket No. 20170183 -EI, In re: Application for
<br />limited proceeding to approve 2017 second revised and restated settlement agreement, including certain rate
<br />adjustments, by Duke Energy Florida, LLC.
<br />5 Amounts reflect actuals through June 2018 and forecasted data for July 2018 — December 2018. See FPL's
<br />response to Commission staff's first set of data request No. 1.
<br />6 $6,717,000 — $5,100,000 + $43,000 = $1,660,000.
<br />7 FPL provided a complete listing of all completed and planned solar projects in response to Commission staff's first
<br />data request, No. 4.
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