LEGAL
Last year, I wrote a profile on David Streier and his first few months working in Minnesota's burgeoning solar energy industry. I met up with him again near the anniversary of his first year working for Newport Partners to talk about life in the solar energy industry, state regulatory changes, and drafting challenges in daily life. As the project development manager, Streier has seen a lot of change in the past year with new installations, new customers, and new laws enacted by the Minnesota Legislature this spring. We talked about what he has learned and where he sees the solar energy industry headed in Minnesota and across the globe.
Like many professionals in smaller corporate legal departments, Streier has adapted to all the change by finding best practices and keeping abreast of the laws and regulations that affect his industry. We talked about the challenges of drafting contracts that are tailored to each of the new installations financed by Newport Partners. Using contracts originally drafted by outside counsel, Streier builds every contract to include the customers' information, deal terms, and anything else that is specific to the contract. After that, the contract may shuttle back and forth between Streier and the customer as the terms are finalized.
One important point Streier emphasized is that he has learned to confirm when a contract is considered final by both sides. He also favors sitting down with all parties at the beginning of a project to explain the terms that will appear in the contract. He has instituted that meeting as a best practice, whenever possible
The regulatory outlook for photovoltaic (PV) solar providers in Minnesota is sunny after some favorable legislation passed through the Minnesota House and Senate, and was signed by Governor Dayton on May 23. According to a report by the Star Tribune, Minnesota is the seventeenth state to legislate a solar energy mandate.
The new law mandates a solar energy standard for state utility providers. Under the new solar energy standard, utilities such as Xcel Energy must generate 1.5% of their retail electric sales from solar energy by 2020, and must begin reporting on their efforts in 2014. The solar energy standard also encourages development of smaller solar units that generate 20 kilowatt hours or less.
In addition to the solar energy mandates, the new laws also made changes to a solar rebate program designed to encourage more PV installations. A state rebate program that has been administered by Xcel Energy will be administered by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, starting in 2014. The commissioner of Commerce must implement new regulations to administer the solar incentive programs.
All of these regulatory changes are on the radar for Streier's employer. The new laws have greatly expanded the opportunities for Minnesota solar businesses including manufacturers and installers, but they also bring compliance hurdles – the legislation provides bonus incentives for solar modules manufactured in Minnesota such as those by Silicon Energy, a PV module manufacturer and business partner of Newport Partners.
Of course, additional incentives will also bring new competitors to the marketplace so established solar providers must be ready to defend their market share and grow. Streier looks forward to the growth and challenges that will come with this new investment in the Minnesota solar energy industry.
Mary Grams markets Thomson Reuters transactional and business law products, including Drafting Assistant-Transactional and Practitioner Insights, to legal and business professionals within corporate legal departments. She writes about trends in the practice and business of law.
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