Archive for July, 2012

NJ Governor Christie Signs Bill to Increase Solar Requirements

Posted July 23rd, 2012 by SRECTrade.

Today, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law legislation to increase the state’s solar goals by amending the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Both Senate Bill 1925 and Assembly Bill 2966 were passed on June 25, 2012. The bill, which attempts to address the state’s SREC oversupply, adjusts the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Solar requirements by amending the following:

1) Solar RPS Requirements Increased beginning in Reporting Year 2014: Beginning June 1, 2013 the market will see an increase in SREC requirements, shifting the state’s solar goals from a fixed megawatt hour requirement to a percentage based requirement. Although the requirements increase in the near term, later dated requirements decline over the current solar goals.

2) New Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (SACP) Schedule: Beginning in the 2014 energy year, the SACP will be reduced to $339 declining to $239 by 2028.

3) Grid Supply Projects Capped at 80 MW Per Year in 2014-2016: In 2014, 2015, and 2016 only 80 MW of aggregated grid supply solar can be installed. Certain exemptions for landfills and parking lots have been made. The capacity of a single project shall not be greater than 10 MW.

4) SREC Life Extended to 5 Years: SRECs will be eligible to meet compliance obligations the year in which they are generated and the following four compliance periods.

5) Rules Set for Public Entity Net Metering Aggregation: The bill implements regulations for aggregate net metering for public entities such as schools, counties, or other municipal agencies.

NJ Solar RPS in 2014 and Beyond: Summary of Solar % Requirements and SACP

The charts below demonstrate the % Solar Requirements set under the new bill as well as the proposed SACP schedule. It is important to note that the existing 2012 and 2013 reporting year (RY) requirements do not change under this piece of legislation. RY2012 and RY2013 have an SREC requirement of 442,000 and 596,000 SRECs, respectively. Additionally, the SACP for RY2012 and RY2013 are $658 and $641, respectively.

Slow Down New Jersey, You’re Installing Too Much Solar – The NJ SREC Market Looking Forward

On July 19, 2012, the New Jersey Office of Clean Energy estimated installed solar capacity to be 831.6 MW as of 6/30/12. This represents an increase of approximately 29 MW from the prior month. Also, the state’s solar project pipeline increased by approximately 30 MW to 590 MW as of 6/30/12 from 560 MW the month prior.

As of the latest SREC issuance data in PJM GATS, we estimate the RY2012 market to be oversupplied by approximately 230,000 SRECs. Taking into consideration this oversupply and installed capacity through 6/30/12, the RY2013 market will be oversupplied by more than 600,000 SRECs without any new projects installed in the remaining compliance period (July 2012 – May 2013).

Looking forward to 2014, the state needs to realize a substantial reduction in installed solar capacity on a monthly basis to see the market come into balance in future reporting years. Using similar forecast cases from our prior analysis, Case 1 shows oversupply by approximately 97,000 SRECs through 2015. This is under a scenario in which install rates decline to 18.8 MW/month; representing half of the last twelve month (LTM) average – now 37.6 MW/month through June 2012.

The legislation signed into law today is a step forward to allow ongoing development of solar projects in the Garden State. This bill was needed to ensure companies servicing the NJ solar market are able to continue forward, existing solar projects see some stabilization, and rate payers are protected from excessively high SREC prices. The future development of projects needs to be monitored closely by all stakeholders as this bill requires current install rates to decline in the near term for the market to come into balance with the revised RPS requirements in future reporting years.

MA2012 SREC Auction Closes at $271.05/SREC

Posted July 17th, 2012 by SRECTrade.

The Q1 2012 (January – March 2012 generation) MA SRECs were issued on July 15, 2012. Unlike other SREC markets, the MA Solar Carve-Out program mints SRECs quarterly, three and a half months after the close of the calendar quarter. In coordination with the Q1 2012 issuance, SRECTrade recently held a separate auction for MA2012 SRECs.

The auction order window closed on Monday, July 16th at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. SRECs were transacted at a price of $271.05 per SREC. The clearing price, below the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Solar Credit Clearinghouse auction price, is a result of the oversupply of SRECs the MA2012 market will experience. According to NEPOOL GIS, 14,479 MA2012 SRECs were issued for Q1 2012 generation. Approximately 15% of this volume was available through SRECTrade in the last auction period. As a result of the price, the auction saw light volumes trade hands given the gap in pricing expectations between buyers and sellers.

The next SRECTrade Solar REC auction order window closes on Thursday, August 2 at 5 p.m. ET. 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 August 2nd.

The next issuance of MA Eligible SRECs will be on October 15, 2012, and will cover the second quarter of 2012 eligible SRECs.

Solar Capacity in the SREC States – June 2012

Posted July 10th, 2012 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade SREC Markets Report: June 2012

The following post outlines the megawatts of solar capacity certified and/or registered to create SRECs in the Solar REC markets SRECTrade currently serves.

A PDF copy of this table can be found here.

PJM Eligible Systems

As of this writing, there were 26,797 solar PV and 351 solar thermal systems registered and eligible to create SRECs in the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS). Of these eligible systems, 170 (0.63%) have a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or greater, of which 17 systems are greater than 5 MW. The largest system, the PSE&G utility pole mount project located in New Jersey, is 25.1 MW, and the second largest, located in New Jersey is 12.5 MW. The third largest system, at 12 MW, is located in Ohio.

Delaware: The reporting year 2011-12 (6/1/11 – 5/31/12) requirement for DE equates to approximately 23,700 SRECs being retired. If all retired SRECs were of DE2011-12 vintage, approximately 19.8 MW would need to be operational all year long. As of July 9, 2012, 28.3 MW of solar capacity was registered and eligible to create DE SRECs in PJM GATS. 11.2 MW of the 28.3 MW currently eligible is from the Dover Sun Park project developed by LS Power. In the 2011-12 compliance year, Delmarva Power has contracted to purchase 9,846 SRECs from the project, of which 7,000 are being held by the Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) until 2015-16*. Additionally, in April 2012 the DE SREC Pilot Program closed its first solicitation. As of July 10, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 31,700 DE2011-12 vintage SRECs. Additional SRECs from prior eligible periods may also impact the market should there be a demand for these older vintage SRECs.

Maryland: As of July 9, 2012, 53.0 MW of MD sited solar capacity was registered to create MD eligible SRECs. 2012 Solar RPS requirements are estimated at 56.1 MW or approximately 67,310 SRECs. MD Governor, Martin O’Malley recently signed into law legislation to pull forward the RPS requirements. The state has seen an average over the last twelve months of 2.7 MW added per month in PJM GATS. While this figure is made up of predominately residential and commercial projects, on July 7, 2012, First Solar announced the groundbreaking of its development of a 20 MW facility in Hagerstown, MD. Additionally, Constellation Energy is in the process of constructing a 17.4 MW facility at Mount St. Mary’s University. As of July 10, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 22,600 MD2012 SRECs. Lastly, there are MD sited SRECs available from prior eligible periods, which could be utilized for compliance needs in 2012.

New Jersey: The New Jersey 2012 reporting year requires 442,000 SRECs to be retired. This equates to approximately 368 MW of capacity being operational all year long, assuming all requirements were met with current vintage year SRECs. As of July 9, 2012, 789.8 MW of solar capacity was registered and eligible to create NJ SRECs in PJM GATS. While this figure represents all projects registered in GATS, there are recently installed projects awaiting issuance of a New Jersey state certification number. This delay results in a portion of installed projects not yet represented in the 789.8 MW figure. As of April 30, 2012 the NJ Office of Clean Energy (NJ OCE) reported that 770.0 MW of solar had been installed in NJ. Additionally, estimates through June 2012 show 831.6 MW of total installed capacity. On June 25 the NJ House and Senate passed legislation to increase the state’s Solar RPS. For details see the following: A Break in the Clouds? – NJ Legislature Passes S1925/A2966. As of July 10, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 671,500 NJ2012 SRECs. This figure surpasses the current 2012 compliance year requirement of 442,000 SRECs by approximately 230,000 SRECs.

Ohio: Ohio’s 2012 RPS solar target requires approximately 95,300 SRECs to be retired by the end of the compliance period. At least 50% of the SREC requirement must come from systems sited in the state. As of July 9, 2012, 49.3 MW of in-state capacity and 90.2 MW of out-of-state capacity were eligible to generate OH SRECs. As of July 10, 2012, GATS issued approximately 24,200 in-state and 44,200 out-of-state OH2012 eligible SRECs. Additional SRECs from prior years are also eligible for the current compliance period, which may impact the current year’s requirements.

Pennsylvania: The reporting year 2012 requirement for PA equates to retiring approximately 49,450 eligible SRECs. If all compliance obligations were met using 2012 vintage SRECs, approximately 41.2 MW would need to be operational all year long. As of July 9, 2012, 215.7 MW of solar capacity was registered and eligible to create PA compliant SRECs. As of July 10, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 197,300 PA2012 SRECs. Given the oversupply during previous reporting years, there are also SRECs from the 2010 and 2011 reporting years eligible for the PA2012 compliance period.

Washington, DC: DC’s 2012 RPS amended solar target requires approximately 61,180 SRECs to be retired by the end of the compliance period. The figures displayed above demonstrate the capacity of systems eligible to create DC SRECs moving forward. These SREC and capacity figures do not take into consideration the amount of electricity delivered into the district that may be exempt from complying with the Distributed Generation Amendment Act increases, considering some electricity contracts may have been signed prior to the amendment’s implementation. As of July 9, 2012, 24.1 MW of capacity was eligible to generate DC SRECs. Additionally, as of July 10, 2012, GATS reported the issuance of approximately 11,400 DC2012 eligible SRECs. SRECs from prior years are also eligible for the current compliance period, which may impact the current year’s requirements.

Massachusetts DOER Qualified Projects

As of July 6, 2012, there were 2,397 MA DOER qualified solar projects; 2,377 operational and 20 not operational. Total qualified capacity is 89.8 MW, 80.3 of which is operational and 9.5 MW not operational. Electricity suppliers providing power to the state need to acquire approximately 73,400 SRECs in 2012. 40,034 MWh have been reported to the PTS during January – June 2012. The next issuance period for Q1 2012 SRECs will be on July 15, 2012. For a detailed update on MA capacity analysis as of the beginning of June see the following link.

Capacity Summary By State

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 needs approximately 368 MW online for the entire 2012 reporting year to meet the RPS requirement with 2012 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.

*Source: State of Delaware Pilot Program For the Procurement of Solar Renewable Energy Credits: Recommendations of the Renewable Energy Taskforce

Note: SREC requirements for markets without fixed SREC targets have been forecast based based on EIA Report updated 11/15/11 “By End-Use Sector, by State, by Provider”. 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.

SRECTrade names Alex Sheets as Director of Environmental Markets

Posted July 2nd, 2012 by SRECTrade.

Sheets brings 5 years of renewable energy market experience at World Energy and SunEdison to SRECTrade’s Environmental Markets team.

San Francisco, CA, July 2, 2012 – SRECTrade, Inc. today announced that Alex Sheets has been named Director of Environmental Markets. Alex joins SRECTrade to expand the firm’s growing presence among institutional project developers and electricity suppliers in the solar renewable energy certificate (SREC) markets.

“Alex has been both a pioneer in environmental markets at World Energy and an expert on managing SREC portfolios for SunEdison, one of the world’s largest solar developers,” says Brad Bowery, Chief Executive Officer for the company. “He brings to our team the perfect combination of electricity supplier relationships and solar development expertise to bridge the gap between buyers and sellers in the SREC markets.”

Prior to joining SRECTrade, Alex Sheets was the SREC Portfolio Manager for SunEdison. In that role, he was responsible for managing one of the largest SREC portfolios in the nation, developing the firm’s trading strategy and executing transactions through a large network of relationships in the energy industry. Alex was also integral in the firm’s development process, advising SunEdison’s project finance team in existing markets and exploring incentive programs in new markets. At World Energy, Alex helped build the publicly traded energy firm’s Environmental Markets desk, exploring carbon and renewable energy credit opportunities throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia. Alex has an Undergraduate Degree in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master’s Degree in International Trade & Investment Policy from George Washington University.

“We have always approached our work with a level of preparation and knowledge that sets us apart in the SREC market. I think that is most evident in the information we provide in our research notes, blog and newsletters. We’re excited to bring Alex on board because he expands the depth of our knowledge, particularly in structured SREC transactions. I expect that he’ll be a huge asset for our institutional clients as they assess the various options available to them in these markets,” concluded Bowery.

For additional information, please contact: Sam Rust at press@srectrade.com or (877) 466-4606.

SRECTrade, Inc was founded in 2007 with the aim of developing the market for solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs) through a transparent, software-focused approach. Today, 60 megawatts of solar projects across the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Northeast use the firm’s software to track and monetize their SREC portfolios. In addition to providing asset management and transaction software, the firm offers SREC auctions and brokerage services to its diverse solar client base along with one of the most widely read research blogs in the industry.