Archive for April, 2014

Massachusetts SREC-II Launches, Official Filing Posted

Posted April 30th, 2014 by SRECTrade.

The Massachusetts SREC-II program officially launched on Friday, April 25th. The official filing can be  found here and program guidelines are here. However, the application window for the new program does not open until May 6th. Any applications submitted to SRECTrade prior to May 6th will be processed with the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) starting on May 6th.

Once a facility receives a Permission to Operate (PTO) from its interconnecting utility, SREC-II applications should be submitted using SRECTrade’s online application. Applicants may also apply for an Assurance of Qualification from the DOER provided that the application meets certain criteria outlined in the “How to apply in the Assurance of Qualification with SRECTrade” section below. The DOER’s official guidelines for Assurance of Qualification are here.

Key highlights of the MA SREC-II program

  1. MA SREC-II system owners can actively market offers to sell SRECs. Contact us directly to help facilitate any orders.
  2. The total capacity of the SREC-II program will be determined after the final SREC-I capacity is announced; by July 31, 2014 (i.e., 1,600 MW less Total SREC-I qualified capacity)
  3. Facilities are separated by Market Sectors based upon facility type, size and other characteristics. See below.
  4. Market Sector eligibility determines the ratio of SRECs issued relative to power produced. See below.
  5. Facilities greater than 650 kW DC in capacity, that are not eligible for other Market Sectors, fall under the Managed Growth sector.
  6. Unlike other Market Sectors, the Managed Growth sector is capped year over year. The 2014 capacity limit is 26 MW. The 2015 capacity limit is 80 MW.
  7. Facilities are eligible to apply for an Assurance of Qualification (i.e., a place in the SREC-II program assuming other future criteria are met) without first obtaining a Permission to Operate (PTO). This is most relevant for systems that fall under Managed Growth.
  8. Given the limited capacity of the Managed Growth sector, we recommend that impacted facilities apply for an Assurance of Qualification. It is expected that this capacity will be filled quickly.

Click here for a PDF of slides (complete with program definitions) and here for a link to a recording of our webinar covering the launch of SREC-II. Below is the summary of the various SREC-II Market Sectors:

Market Sectors and Factors

How to Apply for an Assurance of Qualification with SRECTrade

You may apply for an Assurance of Qualification using SRECTrade’s online application starting Tuesday, May 6th. If you would like to submit the Assurance of Qualification documentation prior to May 6th, please contact us directly.

What’s Required to Submit an Assurance of Qualification?

Assurance of Qualification applications require the same information needed for a Statement of Qualification application. Additionally, the information detailed below is also required and must be uploaded to SRECTrade’s online application form.

  1. An executed Interconnection Service Agreement (ISA), as tendered by the distribution company;
  2. Adequate site control (a sufficient interest in real estate or other contractual right to construct the Unit at the location specified in the Interconnection Service Agreement); and
  3. All necessary governmental permits and approvals to construct the Unit with the exception of ministerial permits, such as a building permit, and notwithstanding any pending legal challenge(s) to one or more permits or approvals.

Please note, SREC-II Assurance of Qualifications will be filled based on date of application submission. The ISA date of execution will serve as a tie breaker for applications submitted on the same day, and if the ISA date is the same for multiple applicants, the DOER will utilize a lottery process to determine the queuing position of the Assurance of Qualification application. Additionally, the DOER has provided preliminary guidance that the first week of Assurance of Qualification submissions will be treated as if they were submitted on the same day. For example, date of submission from May 6th through May 13th, will not be used to determine receipt of Assurance of Qualification. Rather, the ISA will be the first determining factor.

Also, the DOER has been recommending that projects outside of the Managed Growth category do not need to submit an application for Assurance of Qualification. There will be plenty of room under the SREC-II cap and it is not necessary during the initial stage of the program. Lastly, smaller residential and commercial projects (i.e., 25 kW and less) will likely be provided room under a future provision as the program gets close to meeting its cap.

For applications related questions

Allyson Umberger
Director of Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel
allyson.umberger@srectrade.com
(415) 763-7790

For brokerage related questions

Alex Sheets
Director of Environmental Markets
alex.sheets@srectrade.com
(802) 989-2617

For installer related questions

Sam Rust
Director of Business Development
sam.rust@srectrade.com
(415) 729-3546

Other contacts

Steven Eisenberg
Chief Executive Officer
steven.eisenberg@srectrade.com
(415) 702-0863

Tom MacKenty
Associate, Environmental Markets
tom.mackenty@srectrade.com
(415) 409-8537

 

DC and MD SREC Market Update: Tuesday, 5/6 @ 2 pm ET

Posted April 28th, 2014 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade will host a webinar covering the latest pricing and supply numbers for the Washington, DC and Maryland SREC markets.

The webinar is open to the public and will be held on Tuesday, 5/6/14, at 2 pm ET.

Click here to register

DC MD Webinar Screen

SRECTrade Markets: March 2014

Posted April 22nd, 2014 by SRECTrade.

The following post is a monthly update outlining the megawatts of solar capacity certified to create SRECs in the Solar REC markets that SRECTrade 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 PDF copy of this table can be found here.

Capacity_March2014

Overview of PJM Eligible Systems

As of April 14, 2014 there were 42,652 solar PV and 850 solar thermal systems registered and eligible to create SRECs in the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS). Of these, 280 (up 4 projects since February and representing 0.64% of the total number of projects installed) have a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or greater and account for 43.8% of the overall capacity registered. Thirty (32) of these projects have a nameplate capacity of 5 MW or greater (an increase of 2 since our last update). New Jersey continues to host most of the larger scale facilities, claiming home to 21 of the 32 facilities, that are equal to or greater than 5 MW. The three largest projects are a 29.1 MW project in MD and PA, followed by a 25.1 MW in NJ and a 20.0 MW project sited in Illinois and registered in the PA market.

NJ Office of Clean Energy Estimated Installed Capacity Through 3/31/14

On April 15, 2014, the New Jersey Office of Clean Energy (OCE) announced total installed solar capacity reached 1,267.1 MW; an increase of approximately 20.3 MW over the total capacity reported at the end of February. The average last six month build rate per month, according to the OCE data, is 20.8 MW. Note that this data does not directly tie to GATS registration data because of a lag between NJ Office of Clean Energy certifications and GATS registrations. For more information on the state of the NJ market see our latest webinar.

Overview of MA DOER Eligible Systems

As of March 26, 2014, there were 10,519 MA DOER qualified solar projects; 10,346 operational and 173 not operational. Total qualified capacity is 675.8 MW; 423.2 MW of which is operational (up 8.2 MW from the DOER’s February 2014 report) and 252.6 MW of qualified capacity is not yet operational under the current SREC-I program.

*Note: not operational, qualified projects over 100 kW in size were required to demonstrate that at least 50% of the project’s costs be incurred by 12/31/2013 in order to remain qualified. The latest DOER Solar Carve Out report suggests that at least 22.3 MW of capacity was removed from eligibility for failing to meet the requirements of this deadline. Projects less than 100 kW must be interconnected by the effective date of the SREC-II program or June 30, 2014, whichever is earlier. Whereas projects greater 100 kW in capacity must have submitted application paperwork and met certain requirements by July 5, 2013. For more information refer to our blog posts covering the current SREC program.

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 SREC-II Intro Webinar Posted

Posted April 22nd, 2014 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade hosted a webinar on Monday, 4/21/2014, outlining the MA SREC-II program. A recording of the webinar is available by clicking the image below.

A link to a PDF of the presentation can be found here. The slides contain additional market sector and other SREC-II legal definitions not included in the original webinar presentation.

Massachusetts SREC-I Application Deadline is this Thursday, April 24, 2014

Posted April 21st, 2014 by SRECTrade.

The final deadline for submitting completed SRECTrade applications for Massachusetts SREC-I program qualification is Thursday, 4/24/2014.  Please note that SRECTrade’s application deadline for SREC-I eligible systems was April 4, 2014. The Massachusetts deadline for SREC-I applications is April 24, 2014, but we cannot guarantee that applications submitted to SRECTrade after April 4, 2014 will be submitted to the DOER before the April 24th deadline for SREC-I eligibility.

Completed applications must be submitted online at www.srectrade.com and include the following documents:

Final “Permission to Operate (PTO)” from the interconnecting utility

Signed “Massachusetts Renewable Energy Certificates Purchase Agreement

Signed “Registration Consent” form

The Massachusetts SREC-II effective start date is Friday, 4/25/2014. Applications for facilities that are not yet qualified under SREC-I will be processed as SREC-II applications with the effective start of the SREC-II program.

April 2014 Auction Results

Posted April 16th, 2014 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade’s April 2014 SREC Auction closed on 4/15/2014. Below are the clearing prices by vintage across the SRECs transacted in the auction.

SREC Prices SREC Vintage Year
State 2011 2012 2013 2014
Delaware N/A N/A N/A N/A
Maryland N/A N/A $145.00 $125.00
Massachusetts N/A $257.48 $257.48 N/A
New Jersey N/A N/A $160.01 $166.01
Ohio Sited N/A N/A N/A $46.31
Ohio Adjacent N/A N/A $51.00 N/A
Pennsylvania N/A N/A $40.00 $51.00
Washington, DC N/A N/A $485.00 $480.00

The next SRECTrade auction for the PJM and MA SREC markets closes on Thursday, May 1 at 5 p.m. ET.

SREC-II Regs Filed – SRECTrade Webinar: Monday, 4/21 @ 2 pm ET

Posted April 11th, 2014 by SRECTrade.

On Friday, 4/11/2014, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources formally announced the submission of revisions to the Massachusetts RPS Class I regulations which set aside and define the Massachusetts SREC programs. As expected, the revisions call for the effective start of the next MA SREC program (commonly referred to as SREC-II) on 4/25/2014. A link to the announcement is here. SRECTrade will host a webinar covering the start of the MA SREC-II program on Monday, 4/21/2014 at 2 pm ET.

Webinar registration is open to anyone. Please register for the webinar by clicking this link or the image below.

The MA-SREC II program is the next iteration of the Massachusetts solar initiative to reach 1,600 MW of installed solar capacity. Massachusetts sited solar facilities that are not yet qualified for the SREC-I program by April 25th will be subject to the rules of the new SREC-II program. This webinar will cover the mechanics of SREC-II and adjustments made to the SREC program application process.

We look forward to seeing you on the webinar!

MA SREC-II blog image

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