Archive for the ‘Ohio’ Category

Ohio House Public Utilities Committee Passes SB 310: Full House Vote Imminent

Posted May 27th, 2014 by SRECTrade.

Today, May 27, 2014, the Ohio State House Public Utilities Committee passed the House version of SB 310 by a vote of 13-9. It is likely that the Ohio House will vote on the bill sometime this week.  If passed by the House and signed by  Ohio Governor Kasich, SB 310 would freeze Ohio’s renewable energy targets through 2016 and allow all of the state’s renewable energy targets to be met by facilities located in Ohio and bordering states.  The bill already passed the Ohio Senate on May 8, 2014.

SB 310 faces clear opposition from members of Ohio’s business and renewable energy stakeholder groups. Notably the Ohio Manaufacturers’ Association (OMA) testified before the House Public Utilities Committee on May 14th saying that SB 310 is bad for business. SB 310 is a step back for renewable energy advocates in Ohio and as written does not serve the general interests of Ohio ratepayers. In effect, the bill would have Ohio ratepayers subsidize renewable energy in other states while undermining the renewable energy economy within Ohio.

If you are an Ohio resident with an interest in continuing to grow Ohio’s clean energy industry, please use this list to express your point of view by contacting your State House Representative.

http://www.ohiohouse.gov/members/member-directory

SRECTrade will continue to posts updates as appropriate.

 

Ohio Legislature poised to pass legislation freezing Renewable Portfolio Standard

Posted May 21st, 2014 by SRECTrade.

As mentioned in our May 9th blog post, the Ohio State Senate passed SB 310. If signed in to law, the bill that would reduce the Ohio mandate for renewable energy installations, and allow the mandate for renewable energy in Ohio to be completely met with out-of-state facilities. The house version of the bill is up for consideration this week and is supported by Ohio Governor John Kasich who is quoted as saying that Ohio’s RPS mandates are, “simply unrealistic and will drive up energy costs for job creators and consumers.”

Overall, however, the financial impact of the Ohio RPS on ratepayers is likely quite low and represents approximately 0.45% of the total cost of electricity that Ohioans pay, or about $5 per average ratepayer per year. A more in depth analysis by SRECTrade of the RPS cost to OH ratepayers can be found here.

Breaking News: Ohio State Senate Passes Renewable Portfolio Standard Freeze

Posted May 9th, 2014 by SRECTrade.

Yesterday, May 8, 2014, the Ohio State Senate passed SB 310. The legislation calls for a temporary freeze of the Ohio Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) at current levels through 2016. The legislation must also pass the Ohio State House and be signed by the Governor before becoming law. Please see the proposed amendment to the percentage of renewable  in the image below.

The Ohio RPS defines the amount of SRECs required each year in Ohio. The number of OH certified SRECs increases annually according to a schedule defined by the RPS. If the RPS is frozen at current levels, the number of SRECs required will remain at approximately 194,178 SRECs per year (through 2016), rather than increasing next year to approximately 246,363 SRECs*.  The legislation also calls for removal of the requirement that at least 50% of the state’s renewable energy requirement be met by facilities physically-sited in Ohio. Instead, the RPS would be amended to allow the entire requirement to met by facilities located in Ohio and neighboring states.

The outcome of these two changes in policy would likely lower the value of SRECs generated in Ohio. Further, the policy precedent that this legislation sets might increase the cost of financing renewable energy projects,  an outcome that is counter to the assumed justification (the supposed high cost of renewable energy) for freezing the RPS at current levels.

If you are an Ohio resident we recommend contacting your state representative immediately. Let them know that you don’t support the move to reduce the Ohio RPS. Click below for the contact information for all members of the Ohio House of Representatives.

Ohio House of Representatives Directory

*SREC estimates are based on the Energy Information Administration (EIA) annual OH electricity usage in MW-hrs as of 10/1/2012. The 2014 OH RPS requires .12% of all electricity to come from solar. SRECs reflect one (1) MW-hr of solar power production.
Note: Ohio-sited facilities, sited in PJM territory, are eligible to cross register in the Pennsylvania SREC market. Like the Ohio SREC market, the Pennsylvania SREC market is oversupplied, but it does provide another option for monetizing SRECs. SRECTrade clients with OH-sited facilities may request PA certification through the facility “Settings” page in their SRECTrade.com accounts.

SB 310 Screenshot

Source: Ohio State Legislature website

PA and OH SREC Market Update Posted

Posted April 8th, 2014 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade hosted a webinar on April 8, 2014, covering the PA and OH SREC markets. The webinar is approximately 25 minutes long and is broken in to three main categories:

  1. PA and OH SREC market capacity and supply
  2. PA and OH SREC market pricing
  3. Question and Answers

The slides from the webinar are available here and the webinar recording can be viewed by clicking the image below.

Presentation Cover

 

 

 

 

 

OH and PA SREC SREC Market Webinar: Tuesday, 4/8 @ 2 pm ET

Posted March 27th, 2014 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade will host a webinar covering the latest pricing and supply numbers for the OH and PA SREC markets.

The webinar is open to the public and will be held on Wednesday, 4/8/14, at 2 pm ET.

Click here to register

OH and PA SREC market update

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.

FirstEnergy Closes SREC and REC RFP

Posted November 15th, 2011 by SRECTrade.

FirstEnergy’s Ohio utilities announced the close of its Request for Proposal (RFP) for 10 year SREC and REC contracts. The utility issued the RFP seeking 5,000 Solar Renewable Energy Credits and 20,000 Renewable Energy Credits per year for the compliance periods covering 2011-2020.

The utility noted they were able to successfully fill the requested volumes. The contracted supply will allow FirstEnergy to meet its 2011 RPS requirements including the SRECs not retired under their 2010 compliance obligations. The RFP received submissions from 28 qualified participants offering more than two times the requested SREC volumes and four times the requested REC volumes. Contract pricing was not disclosed.

PUCO Grants FirstEnergy Waiver From Solar Requirement

Posted August 10th, 2011 by SRECTrade.

On August 3, 2011, FirstEnergy was granted its “force majeure” application to reduce its 2010 in-state solar requirement from 3,206 Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs) to 1,629 SRECs by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). The shortfall of 1,577 SRECs will be added onto FirstEnergy’s 2011 solar energy resource (SER) requirements.

On April 15, 2011, FirstEnergy filed an application for force majeure to reduce its SER benchmark from 3,206 SRECs to 1,629 SRECs, the amount it actually acquired in 2010. In its motion, FirstEnergy claimed that it attempted to procure SRECs through requests for proposals (RFPs), SREC brokers, and SREC auctions. Despite its good faith efforts, it only managed to obtain 1,629 SRECs, or 51% of its SER requirements. FirstEnergy cited a lack of supply of in-state SRECs being reasonably available in the market, as well as the impracticability of constructing solar facilities as reasons for its inability to reach its SER target. Further, FirstEnergy was recently approved to conduct an RFP to purchase SRECs through 10 year contracts. The RFP will be used to meet future compliance requirements including any shortfall in 2010 that will be incorporated into its 2011 benchmark.

The full order from the PUCO website can be found here: PUCO FirstEnergy Order.

50 MW Ohio Solar Project Secures Further Financing

Posted July 28th, 2011 by SRECTrade.

In October of 2010, American Electric Power (AEP) Ohio announced plans to partner with Turning Point Solar to build a 50 MW solar project in southeastern Ohio.  The first panels are expected to go online in late 2012, and the final panels should be operational in late 2014.  A project of this size is expected to cost approximately 200 million dollars, some of which has already been secured.  AEP Ohio plans to invest 20 million in the project, and Agile Energy, the developer for the project, has also secured $37 million from Good Energies Capital, up from the previous commitment of $13 million.  Low-interest loans and tax credits are coming from the Rural Utilities Service, and the state of Ohio is providing $7 million in assistance.  This project is not falling under the umbrella of the DOE loan guarantee program, and thus will not be subject to any potential federal budget cuts.

According to projected construction schedules, the first 20 MW will begin construction in the summer of 2012 and online in late 2012, with another 15 MW coming online in late 2013, and the final 15 MW in late 2014.  This will significantly increase the number of SRECs available in the Ohio market, and will assist in providing the necessary SRECs for AEP to reach its solar RPS requirements.  Currently, AEP obtains a significant number of required SRECs from the 12 MW Wyandot Solar Facility in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.  With both facilities scheduled to be online for the entire 2013 reporting year, this will make up approximately 24% of the total Ohio SREC requirement and approximately 48% of the In-State Ohio SREC requirement.  It remains to be seen as to whether the constructoin of such a large generating facility in addition to other in state and out of state OH project development will drive down the prices of Ohio SRECs, but the construction of large solar farms moves the market away from the decentralized, local power generation that solar is capable of providing.

The chart below shows the projected SREC requirements for Ohio through 2015.  As the Turning Point Solar Facility capacity increases, SRECs controlled by AEP will comprise approximately 25% of the solar RPS requirement in each of 2013-2016 compliance years.  Because these are in-state SRECs, approximately half of the in-state solar requirement will be controlled by AEP.  How this will play out in terms of SREC prices is yet to be seen, but in other state markets organizations have stepped in to buy the SRECs from large producers to avoid SREC oversupply.  However, there has been no indication that this may happen in Ohio.

Ohio SREC Requirements and AEP controlled SRECs

50 MW Ohio Facility - Blog Post Chart2

Note: SREC forecast based OH RPS requirements and SRECTrade estimates. Turning Point Facility online dates based on projected construction schedules. Forecast assumes majority of generation produced in first full year following online date. Project assumed to generate 1,200 MWhs annually per 1 MW installed.

DC Closes Borders to Out-of-State Solar Systems

Posted July 12th, 2011 by SRECTrade.

The Council of the District of Columbia unanimously voted, today July 12th, to close the DC SREC market to out-of-state systems. The Distributed Generation Amendment Act of 2011 (Bill 19-10) increases the SREC requirement in 2011 as well as establishes an SACP schedule through 2023.  Once in effect, the bill will allow out-of-state systems registered prior to 1/31/2011 to continue to sell SRECs in the DC market. The DC Public Services Commission has not provided clarification on how the bill will affect out of state systems that have already granted DC registrations after the January 31st 2011 grandfather date. For more information on the bill please refer to our previous blog postings here and here.

The bill is not yet law. It first must go through a 30-day Congressional Review process before it can go in to effect. Given these mechanistic delays we don’t expect the bill to go in to effect for at least another month.

The following chart illustrates which out-of-state systems will be effected by the legislation.

State Eligible Markets (after B19-10 is effective)
DE DE, PA
IN OH; PA (if in American Electric Power territory)
IL PA (if in Com Ed territory)
KY OH; PA (if in American Electric Power territory)
MD MD; PA
MI OH; PA (if in American Electric Power territory)
NC NC; PA (if in Dominion Electric Territory)
NJ NJ, PA
NY
OH OH; PA
PA PA; OH
TN PA (if in American Electric Power territory)
VA PA
WV OH; PA
WI