The state Public Utilities Commission has made it easier for small power generators to get their renewable energy flowing onto the electric grid.

Called the South Dakota Small Generation Interconnection Rules, Thursday's decision simplifies who can connect to the electric grid and how. It allows electric customers to be producers, too, by connecting clean energy systems such as solar panels and wind turbines to the grid.

The ruling will help move South Dakota's wind industry from potential to powerhouse, a renewable energy expert said. Next is a legislative review hearing. Barring changes, the interconnection rules will become law June 9.

"This is obviously a big deal," PUC Chairman Dusty Johnson said of the rules, which commissioners have been working on since 2007.

"Right now, there's been a patchwork quilt across the state as far as connectivity issues, and there's been some confusion out there," Johnson said. "When people complain, they complain about the hassle to connect to the grid rather than the price. The little guys haven't had the expertise or leverage to manage a nonuniform system, and this helps."

The interconnection rules would govern operations producing 10 megawatts of power or less. Tim Teeslink, dealer manager for GenPro Energy Solutions, a Piedmont-based company that sells wind and solar equipment for home use, called Thursday's decision "a wonderful thing."

"What it means is a lot less regulation, which is great for our customers," Teeslink said.

The average home uses 11,000 kilowatt-hours of power a year. A single megawatt can power about 800 homes. And South Dakota has the potential to provide 117,200 megawatts of wind-generated energy, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

That includes people who install a small turbine on their acreage or at a school and sell the excess, or companies such as Iberdrola Renewables, which received PUC approval in April to build a 306-megawatt wind farm in Brookings and Deuel counties.

Howard Learner, president and executive director with the Environmental Law & Policy Center, which has been working with Midwestern states on interconnection standards, called the PUC's decision a critical one.

"Where standards exist, it helps stabilize the industry, especially wind, which South Dakota has in abundance," Learner said.

While the state is fourth in potential for wind, it ranks 18th in existing capacity. The bottleneck is transmission. The interconnection standards will allow for so-called distributed generation, where people with solar panels or a wind turbine can sell their excess power close to where they live, on existing transmission lines.

"I think going forward, we'll see large, central station power rates increase, for a variety of reasons," Johnson said. "Ten years from now, I think we're going to see a whole lot more distributed generation. And we need rules in place now to see that happens."

South Dakota joins 30 other states with a uniform set of standards, said James Rose, a senior policy analyst with the Network for New Energy Choices, which publishes a yearly report called "Freeing the Grid."

"A few states have considered it and rejected it," Rose said. "And that's been unfortunate for renewable energy in some states."

As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, all public electric utilities are required to offer to their customers on request interconnection to the power grid. Having state PUCs streamline the process, with one set of rules, means more people have a chance to connect to the grid.

"Not everyone has $10 million to build a wind farm," said Steve Wegman, director of the South Dakota Wind Energy Association and a former analyst for the state PUC. "At my last count, there were 70 different energy companies in the state, each one with a different set of rules. Standards are always good."