The auction closed on Tuesday, January 17th at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. SRECs transacted at a clearing price of $540.00 per SREC. The clearing price, more than 98% of the 2011 Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (SACP), represents a strong demand for MA2011 SRECs due to a shortfall of supply in the market.

The next SRECTrade auction closes on Tuesday, January 31, 2012. This auction will cover all of the SREC markets including DC, DE, MA, MD, NJ, OH, and PA. The order window is currently open. All buyers and self-serve sellers can login here to place an order. Sellers utilizing SRECTrade’s management service, EasyREC, will have orders automatically placed on their behalf. If these sellers need to make changes to their minimum offer prices, they must do so prior to the order window close on January 31 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

The next issuance of MA2011 SRECs will be on April 15, 2012, and will cover the Q4 2011 (October – December) generation period.

The DOER noted the following in its release:

“DOER recognizes the importance for project developers and project financers, along with retail electric suppliers with compliance obligations, to have greater certainty of the ACP Rate further into the future.  Additional certainty is expected to enhance parties’ abilities to estimate expected SREC revenue streams and to facilitate project financing and negotiations for long-term contracts for SRECs.  The ACP rate must be sufficient to ensure sufficient project profitability to stimulate market growth to meet the program goals, but avoid unnecessary costs to ratepayers”

The ACP schedule to be implemented is at the values initially proposed. The table below outlines the schedule. Over the course of the 2012 and 2013 compliance periods, the rate will stay set at $550 per SREC and decline by 5% per year thereafter. Additionally, by January 31 of each year, the DOER will announce the new 10th year price in order to maintain a complete 10 year schedule at all times.

In Massachusetts SRECs are created once a quarter on a quarter delay. This means that a system that was installed in say, July 2010, will sell its first SRECs in January. Why the long delay? This is a function of the way the program has been implemented in Massachusetts. The solar system owners must first report solar production to the Production Tracking System (PTS). The PTS is part of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and is in charge of collecting all renewable energy production data. At the end of each quarter all of the solar production information is submitted to the NEPOOL-GIS, a third-party organization that is in charge of the software used to register and track SRECs. The NEPOOL-GIS creates SRECs at the end of the new quarter based on the previous quarter’s production data.

SRECTrade holds a Massachusetts specific auction on the day that the SRECs get created or the first business day that they are available. For example, January 15th 2012 falls on a Sunday, so the auction will be held on Monday, January 16th 2012.

The auction closed on Monday, October 17th at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. SRECs transacted at a clearing price of $535.00 per SREC. The clearing price, more than 97% of the 2011 Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (SACP), represents a strong demand for MA2011 SRECs due to a shortfall of supply in the market.

Any SRECs that went unsold in the auction will be available for sale in the next SRECTrade auction closing on Monday, October 31, 2011. This auction will cover all of the SREC markets including DC, DE, MA, MD, NJ, OH, and PA. The order window is currently open. All buyers and self-serve sellers can login here to place an order. Sellers utilizing SRECTrade’s management service, EasyREC, will have orders automatically placed on their behalf. If these sellers need to make changes to their minimum offer prices, they must do so prior to the 5:00 p.m. close on October 31.

The next issuance of MA2011 SRECs will be on January 15, 2012, and will cover the Q3 2011 (July – September) generation period.

Haven’t created an account yet? All self-serve sellers managing their own SRECs can create one here. If you are a buyer and have not yet signed up for an account you can do so here.

All sellers with a managed EasyREC account will have orders automatically placed on their behalf. If managed sellers need to make any changes to their offer prices, they can do so through their online account prior to 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Monday, October 17th.

The next SRECTrade auction covering all Solar Renewable Energy Credit markets (i.e. DC, DE, MD, MA, NJ, OH and PA) will close on Monday, October 31st at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. The order window is currently open. To place orders please login here.

Overall, the total qualified capacity currently stands at 40.6 MW, of which 26.6 MW is operational. The next SREC issuance period is scheduled for October 15, 2011. This will cover all SRECs generated during Q2 2011. Based on the information provided by the DOER as of 9/12/2011, 2,358 SRECs were issued in Q1 2011 (issuance date was 7/15/11). Additionally, based on the data provided, 5,652* MWh have been reported to the MassCEC Production Tracking System (PTS) for the period covering April – June 2011. An another 3,929* MWh have been reported during July and August 2011.

Taking into consideration the estimated load exemptions for the TransCanada settlement, MA electricity suppliers need to acquire approximately 63,000 SRECs during the 2011 compliance year.  According to the DOER 2012 minimum standard announcement, the forecast generation for the 2011 compliance year is 29,056 SRECs.

The chart below demonstrates the qualified capacity as of 9/23/11 compared to the estimated MW requirements needed to be online and operational during the entire 2011 and 2012 compliance years to meet the state’s solar obligations.

Note: The 2011 and 2012 estimated megawatts required in the chart above have been adjusted for the impact of the TransCanada settlement.

* These figures represent the MWhs reported to PTS on a monthly basis. The DOER notes that the data from PTS is not finalized and the actual number of SRECs minted by NEPOOL GIS may differ.

Upon running the figures, the DOER arrived at a 2012 compliance obligation of 81,559 MWhs or SRECs. This represents an increase over the 2011 standard by 2,982 SRECs, or approximately 3.8%. After factoring in the estimated load exemptions from the TransCanada settlement, the 2012 compliance year target is approximately 73,400 SRECs. This equals an increase of approximately 10,400 SRECs from the 2011 adjusted target of about 63,000 SRECs. Converting these figures to MW capacity, using a 1.13 MWh production factor per installed kW per year, 2012 will need the equivalent of approximately 65 MW online vs. the 2011 required capacity of approximately 55.7 MW. This step up in capacity represents an increase of 16.6%.

*Note: The 2011 and 2012 estimated megawatts required in the chart above have been adjusted for the impact of the TransCanada settlement.

Q2 generation (systems online before June 30th): must apply by 8/15/11

Q3 generation (system online before September 30th): must apply by 11/15/11

Q4 generation (system online before December 31st): must apply by 2/15/12

Please email your completed MA EasyREC application to easyrec@srectrade.com or fax to (732) 453-0065.

The proposal establishes a 10-year schedule for the SACP that would maintain the current rate of $550/SREC through compliance year 2013, then decrease 5% each following year. The proposal also requires the schedule to be updated on a yearly basis to include a price for the 10th year of the schedule. For example, the 2022 price will be added to the schedule no later than January 31, 2012. The table below demonstrates the proposed schedule.

Prior to implementation, the proposed schedule is to go through a comment process. The comment period is currently open through August 15, 2011. Once all comments are collected, the DOER will review and begin the necessary process to amend the existing Solar Carve-Out provisions.

Of the 649 projects that are operational, SRECTrade’s aggregation is by far the largest in the state, representing 36% of all facilities that are operational in Massachusetts. In terms of installed capacity, with nearly 3 MW of 19 MW installed as of July 11, the 16% share of capacity is second only to the state’s largest utility, National Grid who has installed 4 projects totaling 3.4 MW which represents 18% of the solar capacity in the market. That said, 16% understates SRECTrade’s presence in the Massachusetts since signing up for SRECTrade’s aggregation service is not a pre-requisite for selling through the platform.

Although key features like transparent, competitive market pricing, low fees, no contracts to sign and online access to the SRECs that are not lumped together with other facilities have made SRECTrade an attractive option to solar owners, the success of the platform can ultimately be attributed to the network of installers that recommend it to their customers. According to the DOER’s report, 42 of the 111 installers with facilities in the ground have customers with SRECTrade, including 8 of the top 10 installers by volume.

Top Installers In SRECTrade’s Network as of July 11, 2011 (as published by DOER)
- My Generation Energy, Inc., Brewster, MA
- SunBug Solar, Somerville, MA
- Sunlight Solar Energy, Waltham, MA
- E2 Solar Inc., Hyannis, MA
- Alteris Renewables Inc., Natick, MA
- NorthEast Solar Design Associates, West Hatfield, MA
- South Mountain Company, Inc., West Tisbury, MA
- SolarFlair Energy, Inc., Framingham, MA

The SRECTrade aggregation is not a prerequisite to participate in the SRECTrade market. The platform is open to anyone in the market looking to sell SRECs. The improved fee structure makes SRECTrade a simple and inexpensive option for aggregations with SRECs to sell. The combination of an open platform and guaranteed volume coming from the state’s largest aggregation makes SRECTrade the top destination in Massachusetts for entities with compliance obligations.