2025 Alaska Railbelt Net Metering Update

1 2025 Alaska Railbelt Net Metering Update Kate Modler and Chris Pike 1Alaska Center for Energy and Power University of Alaska Fairbanks Technical Report UAF/ACEP/TP-06-0003 November 2025 Suggested Citation: K. Modler, C. Pike. “2025 Alaska Railbelt Net Metering Update” Alaska Center for Energy and Power, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, 2525. UAF/ACP/TP-06-0003. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17807394. 2 3 Notice The University of Alaska (UA) is an equal opportunity and equal access employer, educational institution, and provider. The University of Alaska does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, age, sex, physical or mental disability, status as a protected veteran, marital status, changes in marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, parenthood, sexual orientation, gender identity, political affiliation or belief, genetic information, or other legally protected status. 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This report is available at no cost from the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) at www.uaf.edu/acep/our-resources/index.php. 4 Table of Contents List of Figures 4 List of Tables 4 Introduction 5 Railbelt Wide 6 Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) 8 Homer Electric Association (HEA) 9 Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) 10 Chugach Electric Association (CEA) 11 List of Figures Figure 1: Total installed Railbelt net metering capacity in kilowatts by year. 6 Figure 2: Net metered capacity in kilowatts on the Railbelt over time, separated by individual utility. 6 Figure 3: Net metering nameplate capacity growth across the Railbelt in kilowatts by individual utility. 7 Figure 4: Total Homer Electric Association installed net metering capacity in kilowatts by year. 8 Figure 5: Total Golden Valley Electric Association installed net metering capacity in kilowatts by year. 9 Figure 6: Total Chugach Electric Association installed net metering capacity in kilowatts by year. 10 List of Tables Table 1: The number of net metered renewable energy installations added per year. 5 Table 2: The total installed capacity of net metered installations at the end of each year. 5 Table 3: Net metered customers broken down by utility and type of installation. 5 5 Introduction This is a summary of the growth of the installed net metered distributed generation capacity on the Alaska Railbelt during 2024 as reported in utility filings submitted to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA). The Alaska Railbelt is a 700-mile-long transmission corridor built beside a vital rail line that spans from Fairbanks, through Anchorage and Homer. The net metered capacity grew by 11% in 2024, compared to 17% in 2023 and 18% in 2022. Consistent with previous years, solar photovoltaic (PV) installations are responsible for most of the newly installed net metered capacity. There were 297 newly installed facilities, 296 of which were solar and one of which was wind (Table 1). The Railbelt-wide installed net metered capacity was equal to 3.5% of the average annual demand at the end of 2024. However, the percentage of annual energy production from net metered systems is far smaller than this. Using a 10% capacity factor assumption (which is high, most residential roof-mounted solar PV arrays experiencing at least some shading and sub-optimal tilt and orientation), at the end of 2024, the annual net metered renewable energy production was estimated to be about 15,535 MWh, or about 0.3% of Railbelt total retail sales. Starting in 2021, utilities were required to report how much energy from net metered systems was fed back onto the grid. It is important to understand that this amount is different from the amount of gross energy produced by the renewable energy asset. Because the generation source is behind the customer meter, the utility meter is only able to record power flowing back onto the grid when the customer load is less than customer generation. For example, a residential property that produces solar power that is used at the same instant by the household will not feed onto the grid and will not be observable by the utility. Of the 15,535 MWh of approximated total net metered renewable energy production at the end of 2024, 5,124 MWh, or about 33%, was fed back onto the grid. Across the Railbelt, there was a 0.75% increase in total load served in 2024 compared to the previous year. Both the Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) and Chugach Electric Association (CEA) saw slight load declines––0.7% and 0.5%, respectively. The Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) and Homer Electric Association (HEA) both saw load increases–– 1.7% and 8.5%, 1 respectively. 1 The notable load increase at HEA is most likely due to the addition of a Marathon oil refinery as a large commercial load. 6 Railbelt-Wide Capacity ● At the end of 2024, the Railbelt net metered renewable energy systems had an installed capacity of 17,735 kW (Table 2). This is an 11% increase from 2022, with 1,766 kW of newly installed capacity in 2024. ● Despite the initial cap that was established for net metering––a maximum of 1.5% of the average retail demand is to be met by net metering nameplate capacity––all four Railbelt utilities have filed and been approved for increases to that threshold, as specified in the individual utility profiles. ● There were 3,063 net metered customers on the Railbelt grid at the end of 2024 (Table 3). An overwhelming majority of these––2,985 customers, making up 97%––are solar PV producers. ● The total energy fed into the grid in 2024 was 5,124 MWh, again, nearly all of which (98.6%) was produced by solar PV. Table 2: The total installed capacity of net metered installations at the end of each year. Table 1: The number of net metered renewable energy installations added per year. Table 3: Net metered customers broken down by utility and type of installation. The percentage (%) column represents the percentage of net metered customers. 7 In general, the net metering capacity on the Railbelt has been increasing since 2017, although MEA and HEA have recently experienced a slowdown in growth (Figure 1). While CEA and GVEA have the higher nameplate capacity (Figure 2), it is notable that HEA and MEA are not far behind. When comparing the percentage of net metered energy fed to the grid in comparison to overall utility demand, HEA is significantly above others, with HEA’s net metered capacity being 6.8% of their average retail demand, whereas MEA’s is 3.8%, GVEA’s is 3.7%, and CEA’s is 2.5%. Although the reason for the discrepancy between HEA and the other Railbelt utilities has not been explicitly documented, possible contributing factors may include differences in average system size, seasonal occupancy patterns among customers, or variations in how utilities calculate and report net metered energy. Figure 1: Total installed Railbelt net metering capacity in kilowatts by year. Figure 2: Net metered capacity in kilowatts on the Railbelt over time, separated by individual utility. Year Year 8 Matanuska Electric Association (MEA) ● At the end of 2024, MEA had 3,382 kW of installed net metered capacity (Figure 3). ● The amount of installed net metered capacity accounts for about 3.7% of the average retail demand, the installed capacity being about 2.5 times higher than the 1.5% threshold interconnection amount of 1,346 kW. ● In July 2024, MEA submitted a tariff filing to increase the threshold criterion from 1.5% of retail demand to 5% of retail demand, which was approved. Under this tariff, MEA is required to accept all eligible net metering applicants provided the nameplate capacity remains within the 5% threshold. Although MEA has not publicly stated their rationale for this recent filing, after a period of accepting net metering applicants despite being over the 1.5% threshold, the change may indicate a response to continued customer interest in distributed generation and an effort to bring its policy in line with other Railbelt utilities. ● MEA net metered customers are primarily solar, with 513 solar PV systems, 23 wind, and eight solar PV and wind combination systems. All newly installed systems in 2024 were solar PV. ● The total energy fed into MEA’s system from net metered facilities in 2024 was 1,179,730 kWh. Of this amount, 1,141,165 kWh was from solar net metered facilities, 22,207 kWh from wind net metered facilities, and 16,358 kWh from combined solar/wind net metered facilities. Figure 3: Net metering nameplate capacity growth across the Railbelt in kilowatts by individual utility. Year 9 Homer Electric Association (HEA) ● At the end of 2024, HEA had 3,801 kW of installed net metered capacity (Figure 4). ● The amount of installed net metered capacity accounts for about 6.8% of the average retail demand, the installed capacity being about 4.5 times higher than the 1.5% threshold interconnection amount of 837 kW. ● In December of 2024, HEA filed to raise its net metering limit to 9% of its average annual load, which was approved, coming into effect in January of 2025. The previous limit was at 7%, set in September of 2020. ● HEA net metered customers are primarily solar, with 576 solar PV systems, 33 wind systems, and one biofuel system. All of the 42 newly installed systems in 2024 were solar PV. ● The total energy fed into HEA’s system from net metered facilities in 2024 was 1,607,897 kWh. Of this amount, 1,595,970 kWh was from solar net metered facilities, 11,926 kWh was from wind net metered facilities, and 1 kWh was from biofuel net metering technology. ● HEA collects a system delivery charge of $25.71 for customers that purchase less than 150 kWh per month from HEA. Per the HEA website, the system delivery charge “recovers expenses associated with building, operating and maintaining transmission and distribution facilities whether or not electric service is used. If energy consumption meets or exceeds 150 kWh within the billing period, no charge applies.” 2 2 “HEA Rate Schedule,” Homer Electric Association, accessed June 16, 2025, www.homerelectric.com /member-services/mybill/rates/. Figure 4: Total Homer Electric Association installed net metering capacity in kilowatts by year. Year