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The Oregon Department of Energy is set to submit final rule changes for the before a deadline next week.

Anticipated tweaks range from truck efficiency to home weatherization, but two of the most significant changes would impact renewable energy projects.

The first change, a clarification for BETC solar projects, could require businesses operating out of personal residences to separately meter solar arrays. The second could grant companies more flexibility to change project equipment after receiving BETC pre-certification.

Rules pertaining to renewable energy projects, according to Andrea Simmons, assistant director of the state Energy Planning and Policy Division, have drawn the most questions from BETC applicants.

The separate-meter requirement would reduce the number of BETC applications the division has to process, and often reject, because there is no place on the application to indicate whether the home is used as a location for a business, Simmons said. The clarification for solar projects stipulates that a solar array and the structure that supports it must be used only for business purposes and that arrays installed at sites that include a residence must be metered separately from the home.

If, for example, farm owners wanted a solar array to power an irrigation pump, they couldn’t install the array on their house without metering it separately. Many family farms have solar arrays to power irrigation pumps, according to Steve McGrath of Sustainable Solutions in Portland.

“What the rule says as written is a small family farm with one meter is ineligible for the Business Energy Tax Credit,” McGrath said. “This is a common situation. Now these people won’t be able to put solar on a garage, even if it’s for business purposes.”

However, Simmons said another tax credit, the Residential Energy Tax Credit, is available for home solar installations. The energy department wants to avoid confusion between applications for these two programs by requiring the dual meters.

“There are many situations where you have pieces of property that function as both a home and a business,” Simmons said. “One of the easiest ways to differentiate between a solar array serving your residence versus an array serving a business like a cattle farm or winery is to require the two meters.”

In the past, when someone applied for a BETC for a renewable energy project, any equipment changes would require submission of a new application. But solar manufacturers like SolarWorld change their modules two or three times a year, according to Brent Gunderson, president of Gen-Con Inc.

“Often with these module changes, the price is the same, but the efficiency goes up,” Gunderson said. “It’s frustrating when you can’t get the older model you applied for. You can have two manufacturer changes in a year on a megawatt project.”

To address rapidly changing technology like solar, Simmons said the department had planned to allow changes to equipment in pre-certified BETC projects, as long as the efficiency doesn’t increase by more than 10 percent and a $300 fee is paid. After talking to contractors, however, Simmons found that a larger threshold may be needed for technology upgrades.

“People brought up good points, like I can get more output with a newer panel for the same price,” Simmons said. “But they also said these panels are going to increase in efficiency by more than 10 percent within a year. That’s how quickly these panels are changing. We are discussing internally how that benchmark could change before the final rules are submitted.”

The final BETC rules must be filed by Nov. 23, but Simmons wants to have something on file by Friday.

Eric Nill, vice president of Advanced Energy Systems in Eugene, said the industry is looking for certainty with BETC. The final rules won’t prevent the state Legislature from making further cuts to the program in 2011, Nill said. But he will soon know what to tell his clients.

“Uncertainty, beyond anything, makes it difficult to sell a project,” Nill said, “and we continue to be heavily reliant on state incentives like the Business Energy Tax Credit. Anything to solidify these rules is welcome.”