Archive for February, 2013

OH SREC Rule Change: SRECs only created from date of application to PUCO

Posted February 11th, 2013 by SRECTrade.

On January 1, 2013 the Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUCO) stopped allowing SRECs to be created from power generated prior to the date of application for state certification.  The official reference to this rule change can be found  on the OH PUCO website.

What this means:

  • Starting in January 2013 SRECs are created from the date of application (this is in line with the rules for the PA SREC market).
  • SRECTrade applications should be submitted as soon as possible for all systems or some SREC opportunity will be lost.
  • Online monitoring software cannot be used to create SRECs retroactive to the date of interconnection.

NJ Market Update Webinar: Friday, 2/15/2013 at 3 pm ET

Posted February 11th, 2013 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade’s brokerage team is hosting a webinar covering the New Jersey SREC market on Friday, 2/15 at 3 pm ET.  The presentation will cover NJ SREC market trends and capacity projections. The discussion will target clients representing  commercial and utility-scale projects.

Project developers, SREC asset owners with projects over 250 kW in size, and other interested parties are encouraged to participate. The webinar will be recorded and posted online. Please register for this webinar by clicking the link posted here: https://srectrade.clickwebinar.com/NJ_Market_Update/register

SRECTrade will present another webinar focused on its retail and residential, defined as projects <250 kW, services for New Jersey installers and clients at a later date.

About the speakers:

Brad Bowery is the CEO of SRECTrade, a company he has managed since 2008. Under Brad’s stewardship SRECTrade provides SREC services for over 5,000 facilities and 70+ MW of aggregated solar capacity. Brad holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Steven Eisenberg is the Vice-President of Business Development. Steven has been with SRECTrade since 2010 and is responsible for starting and managing SRECTrade’s growing brokerage and institutional SREC asset management business units.

Alex Sheets comes to SRECTrade from SunEdison. As SRECTrade’s Director of Environmental Markets, Alex assists buyers and sellers in originating, executing, and negotiating SREC transactions in the over the counter markets.

SRECTrade SREC Markets Report – January 2013

Posted February 11th, 2013 by SRECTrade.


SRECTrade SREC Markets Report: January 2013

The following post outlines the megawatts of solar capacity certified to create SRECs in the Solar REC markets SRECTrade currently serves. All PJM data is based on the information available in PJM GATS as of the date noted. All MA data is based on the information provided by the DOER as of the date noted. This analysis does not include projects that are not yet registered and certified with the entities noted herein.

A more detailed analysis of supply, demand and price trends in the SREC markets can be found in the SREC Market Monitor, a joint-venture between SRECTrade and Greentech Media’s GTM Research.

A PDF copy of this table can be found here.

Capacity_January2013

***NJ Update*** NJ Clean Energy Program Installed Capacity as of 2/7/13: Through December 2012 NJ installed capacity reached approximately 955.6 MW of installed solar capacity; a 12.5 MW increase over the prior month. The number in the table above represents all capacity registered in GATS as of the date noted. The remaining capacity will be registered and receive SREC credit from the date of project interconnection.

Overview of PJM Eligible Systems

As of February 8, 2013 there were 31,787 solar PV and 620 solar thermal systems registered and eligible to create SRECs in the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS). Of these, 202 (0.64%) have a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or greater. Twenty-two of these projects have a nameplate capacity of 5 MW or greater. New Jersey continues to host most of the larger scale facilities, claiming home to 68% of the projects, 15 of 22 facilities, that are equal to or greater than 5 MW. The three largest projects are a new 29.06 MW FirstSolar project in MD, the  25.1 MW PSE&G utility pole mount project located in NJ and the 16.1 MW Mount St. Mary’s project in MD.

Massachusetts DOER Qualified Projects

As of February 15, 2013, there were 4,621 MA DOER qualified solar projects; 4,609 operational and 12 not operational. Total qualified capacity is 181.6 MW, 168.7 of which is operational and 13.0 MW not operational. Electricity suppliers providing power to the state need to acquire approximately 73,400 SRECs in 2012. According to NEPOOL GIS, 91,684 Q1 – Q3 2012 SRECs have been issued for the year to date. Additionally, 24,828 MWhs were reported to the MassCEC production tracking system for the 3 months covering October-December 2012.

How to Interpret This Table

The tables above demonstrate the capacity breakout by state. Note, that for all PJM GATS registered projects, each state includes all projects certified to sell into that state. State RPS programs that allow for systems sited in other states to participate have been broken up by systems sited in-state and out-of-state. Additional detail has been provided to demonstrate the total capacity of systems only certified for one specific state market versus being certified for multiple state markets. For example, PA includes projects only certified to sell into the PA SREC market, broken out by in-state and out-of-state systems, as well as projects that are also certified to sell into PA and Other State markets broken out by in state and out of state systems (i.e. OH, DC, MD, DE, NJ). PA Out-of-State includes systems sited in states with their own state SREC market (i.e. DE) as well as systems sited in states that have no SREC market (i.e. VA). Also, it is important to note that the Current Capacity represents the total megawatts eligible to produce and sell SRECs as of the noted date, while the Estimated Required Capacity – Current and Next Reporting Year represents the estimated number of MW that need to be online on average throughout the reporting period to meet the RPS requirement within each state with only that particular compliance period vintage. For example, New Jersey needed approximately 496.7 MW online for the entire 2013 reporting year to meet the RPS requirement with 2013 vintage SRECs only. SRECs still available from prior eligible periods can also impact the Solar RPS requirements. Additionally, the data presented above does not include projects that are in the pipeline or currently going through the registration process in each state program. This data represents specifically the projects that have been approved for the corresponding state SREC markets as of the dates noted.

Note: SREC requirements for markets without fixed SREC targets have been forecast based on EIA Report “Retail Sales of Electricity by State by Provider” updated 10/1/12. Projected SRECs required utilizes the most recent EIA electricity data applying an average 1.5% growth rate per forecast year. The state’s RPS Solar requirement is then multiplied by forecast total electricity sales to arrive at projected SRECs required. Projected capacity required is based on a factor of 1,200 MWh in PJM states and 1,130 MWh in MA, generated per MW of installed capacity per year.

Massachusetts 10 Year Opt-in Term Deadline

Posted February 6th, 2013 by SRECTrade.

Summary
The opt-in term for MA systems will likely be reset to 8 years for systems that submit their information to the DOER after June 20th. SRECTrade customers should submit the complete system information for any new systems prior to June 1st to ensure that SRECTrade can process them and correct any errors prior to the June 20th deadline. Existing systems which are already qualified or have submitted their complete information will not be subject to any change in their opt-in term and do not need to take any action at this time.

Details
There have been a number of questions recently submitted by astute readers of the MA solar carve-out rules about the potential for reduction in the opt-in term. One of the features of the MA solar carve-out is a dynamic opt-in term that expands and contracts based on the over or under supply of SRECs each year. The opt-in term is the length of time that a generation unit is eligible to participate in the Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auction, typically referred to as the last chance auction, run by the MA Department of Energy Resources.  The opt-in term was originally set to 40 quarters (10 years), and is increased or decreased by four quarters for each full 10% of the compliance obligation that is deposited into the last chance auction. However, it can only change by a maximum of 8 quarters per year, and can never go below 5 years or above 10 years. This system is designed to make solar installation less attractive in an over-build and more attractive in an under-build scenario, hopefully avoiding the significant volatility seen in other state SREC markets.

Each system is assigned an opt-in term at the time it receives its statement of qualification. The term commences the earlier of the RPS Effective date (the date a system is turned on or receives interconnection, whichever is later) or the first day of the next calendar quarter from the date of qualification. Once a system is assigned an opt-in term, it keeps that term for the life of the system. Any changes to the opt-in term only impact new systems going forward.

The opt-in term has remained at 10  years because no SRECs were deposited in the last chance auction last year. However, based on the installed base of systems in MA in 2012, SRECTrade calculates that approximately 50,000 more SRECs were produced than the 73,400 needed under the RPS. This will trigger a maximum 8 quarter reduction in the opt-in term. Systems can receive qualification prior to interconnection if a completed application is submitted to the DOER by June 20th.  Submitting an application to the DOER prior to  June 20th will allow the system to receive the current 10 year opt-in term. The applications will need to include all system information, however the system information can be updated with the final build specs when the interconnection letter is submitted.  We recommend that all SRECTrade customers have their full application in to SRECTrade by June 1st, to allow us to check for any missing information and ensure the completed application is submitted by the June 20th deadline.

For more information on the Massachusetts 10 year opt-in deadline please visit the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Statement of Qualification page.

Update, 2/25/2013, per an email from the DOER, systems greater than 1 MW must prove that they have received all applicable state and local permits (if they have not yet received interconnection) in order to qualify for the 10 year opt-in prior to June 20th.