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Solar Policies & Agreement

Interconnection Agreement

This Agreement made and entered into 05/02/2024, by and between:

Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc., hereinafter called “TCEC,”

And
Member
hereinafter called “Member.”

Witnesseth:

1) Member desires to interconnect an electric power generator to Member’s electrical service via an indirect connection to TCEC’s distribution facilities.

2) TCEC does not allow a direct connection to its distribution facilities.

3) Each of the parties desire to operate the interconnection in a way that ensures the safety of the public, the parties and the employees and facilities of the parties.

In consideration of the mutual covenants of TCEC and Member (the parties), the parties agree as follows:

Section One: Tariffs

The section of the Tariffs of TCEC entitled “Distributed Generation” is incorporated as if copied and recited herein. The parties recognize that the Rules and Regulations of Service and Tariffs are subject to modification and change. This agreement shall be subject to such modification or change effective as of the date of the approval of such modification or change.

Section Two: Location

Member desires to indirectly connect to distribution facilities of TCEC at the following location:

Insert a description of the location and the Member account:

Section Three: Term

This Agreement is ongoing with no expiration and can be terminated by either party upon 60 days written notice.

Section Four: Change of Law, Regulatory Requirements, Tariffs or Rules and Regulations of Service

The parties agree that in the event of a change of law, regulatory requirement, TCEC Rules and Regulations of Service or the Distributed Generation set out in TCEC’s Tariffs, they will negotiate in good faith to amend this Agreement to reflect the change(s).

TCEC shall have the right to terminate this agreement upon 10 days written notice to member in the event the parties fail to amend this agreement for a period of 30 days to reflect any applicable change of law, regulatory requirement, or the distributed generation of TCEC.

Section Five: Installation

Member’s electric power generation facility shall be installed in accordance with all applicable laws, codes, tariffs and rules and regulations. Member shall provide all reasonably requested information concerning Member’s facilities and take or refrain from taking actions as TCEC may request or as may be necessary or appropriate in order to achieve the purposes of this Agreement or to carry out the transaction contemplated hereby.

Section Six: Metering

Metering installed for the facility of Member shall be capable of registering and accumulating the kilowatthours (kWh) flowing from the Member to TCEC and from TCEC to Member for each billing period.

Section Seven: Maintenance Outages

Outages on TCEC’s system are occasionally required for maintenance purposes. TCEC will provide as much notice to Member as practically feasible under the circumstances requiring the maintenance. It is recognized that in some emergency situations, notice of the outage to Member may not be possible.

Member will not be entitled to compensation for the lack of availability of TCEC’s facilities.

Section Eight: Access

Member grants TCEC access to Member’s site for maintenance and operations. TCEC has the right, but not the obligation, to inspect Member’s facilities. TCEC shall have the right to disconnect/isolate Member in the event that it is TCEC’s determination that Member’s facilities pose a risk to the general public, the Member, employees of TCEC or the facilities of TCEC.

Section Nine: Authorization

Each party to this Agreement will obtain any required federal, state or local governmental authorization, approval, order, license, permit, franchise or consent, if any, and any registration, declaration or filing with any government authority in connection with this Agreement and the facilities covered herein.

Section Ten: Indemnification

Member shall defend, hold harmless and indemnify TCEC, its authorized agents, wholesale power providers, respective employees, officers and trustees from and against all claims, demands, losses or damages, costs or expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and other expenses incident thereto) on account of damage to any third-party property or injury including death, to any persons (including any employee of TCEC) that arises from implementation or operation of the distributed generation of Member.

Section Eleven: Limitation of Liability

Member releases TCEC, its authorized agents, wholesale power suppliers, and other Members from any liability, whether direct, indirect or consequential to the implementation or operation of the Member’s generating unit.

Section Twelve: Modification

This Agreement shall only be modified by a writing signed by all parties.

Section Thirteen: Assignability This Agreement is not assignable by either party hereto without the written consent of the other party.

Member Consent(Required)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Distributed Generation Program Specifics

The following information is excerpted from the Electric Service Tariffs.

Distributed-Generation Program

Availability

Distributed Generation service is available to all members of TCEC meeting the following eligibility requirements:

  1. The member Distributed Generation Facility must be powered by wind, solar or biomass;
  2. The member Distributed Generation Facility must have a tariffed capacity that does not exceed the Cooperative’s service capacity to the member. The size of the Distributed Generation shall be no less than 1 kW and no greater than 300 kW;
  3. The Distributed Generation Facility must be owned by a member of TCEC;
  4. The Distributed Generation Facility must be connected on the member’s side of the TCEC retail meter (no direct connection to the TCEC distribution facilities is permitted);
  5. The member must operate the Distributed Generation Facility in a manner that the TCEC system is not adversely impacted with respect to reliability, quality of service, ability to serve other members, impact on distribution facilities and safety of the public.
  6. The member shall be responsible for the costs of protective equipment or other facilities required by TCEC to serve the Member’s load with the Distributed Generation Facility and shall be paid in advance of construction; and
  7. 7. The member shall be required to execute the Agreement for Interconnection and Parallel Operation for Distributed Generation. (Attached as Appendix A.)

Members with a Distributed Generation Facility connected prior to June 1, 2017 shall continue to be served under the existing agreement until June 1, 2029 or until service is terminated or transferred to new ownership, at which time, the provisions of this Distributed Generation Program will become applicable.

Metering

Metering installed for the service provided under this tariff shall be capable of registering and accumulating the kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity flowing in both directions in a billing period.

Monthly Billing

The electric energy generated by the member’s Distributed Generation Facility may be used to offset the member’s energy requirements at the time of generation.

The energy (kWh) supplied by the Cooperative to the member during the billing period, shall be billed by the Cooperative in accordance with the tariffs and charges under the member’s Standard Tariff Schedule.

The energy (kWh) generated by the member’s Distributed Generation Facility and delivered back to the Cooperative shall be credited to the member during the billing period at the Cooperative’s Avoided Cost. The Cooperative’s Avoided Cost shall be defined as the monthly locational marginal price of energy for the regional location provided by TCEC’s wholesale power provider.

Power Cost Adjustment – PCA-1

The tariffs (except Tariffs 45, 46, 47, 48, and any special agreements) shall be increased or decreased by the amount, in cents or fraction thereof, by which the average cost of power per kilowatt-hour (kWh) purchased was paid to wholesale power suppliers during the previous month exceeds or is less than 5.2594 cents per kWh. The power cost adjustment (PCA) shall be calculated in accordance with the following formula:

FormulaPCA = A x (1/ (1 - B)) + C
Where:
PCA=Power cost adjustment to be made per kilowatt-hour (kWh) billed.
A=The amount (in cents, or fraction thereof) by which the average cost of wholesale
power per kWh purchased (excluding accounts on Industrial Power Service tariffs
and any special contracts) paid to wholesale power suppliers during the previous
month preceding the end of the billing period for which kilowatt-hour (kWh) usage
billed exceeds or is less than 5.2594 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
B=The twelve (12) month average percentage of power losses expressed decimally
(excluding accounts on Industrial Power Service tariffs and any special contracts)
ending with the previous month.
C=An amount in cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) sold, or fraction thereof, which reflects
the periodic over or under recovery of power cost adjustment revenue from
previous periods that TCEC is entitled to recover under this section of the Tariffs.

Circumstances beyond the control of TCEC may arise that prevent the calculation of the adjustment for the cost of purchased power before the first billing of the month. In those instances, TCEC shall use the adjustment from the prior month’s cost of purchased power for all of the current month’s billings. A calculation shall be made the following month to the adjustment for the cost of purchased power to correct the previous month’s billings.

Power Cost Adjustment – PCA-2

PCA-2 will be the Wholesale Power Cost (including energy, demand, ancillary services, transmission service and any other costs) adjusted for the applicable losses to serve the load.

PCA-2 is only used on Tariffs, 47, 48 and 91, and any special agreements.

Application for Operation of Member-Owned Generation

This application should be completed as soon as possible and returned to TCEC (the “Cooperative”) in order to begin processing the request.

Information: This application is used by the Cooperative to determine the required equipment configuration for the Member interface. Every effort should be made to supply as much information as possible.

Application for Member Owned Generation

Member Information(Required)
Mailing Address(Required)
Estimated Load Information
(kW)
(kW)
Give a general description of the proposed installation.
Generator Data
(kW)
(kW)
Attach a readable photo of nameplate data, similar to the example shown here.
Max. file size: 300 MB.
Consent(Required)
(Full Name)
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.