Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of articles
focusing on Minnesota’s solar market. Past articles can be accessed here.
In addition to Solar Gardens initiative, Minnesota’s Value of Solar Tariff (VOST) initiative was seen
as the first large-scale stage for the new calculation methodology originally
pioneered by Austin Energy. The VOST method adds up multiple value streams for
distributed solar, such as energy, capacity, and environmental benefits, to
create a single purchasing rate that separates a solar customer’s consumption
from their generation. Once the calculation methodology was developed,
Minnesota investor-owned utilities (IOU) could use it to replace net metering,
at their option.
