Archive for September, 2017

U.S. International Trade Commission Finds ‘Injury’ in Solar Tariff Case

Posted September 22nd, 2017 by SRECTrade.

On Friday, September 22nd, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) unanimously voted that imported solar equipment has inflicted “serious injury” on domestic manufacturers. The decision is in favor of Suniva and SolarWorld’s petition under Section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act, wherein the petitioners argued that solar equipment imports have impaired domestic manufacturers’ ability to compete.

Following this finding, the ITC will hold a hearing on Tuesday, October 3, 2017 in Washington D.C. to evaluate potential trade remedies. The ITC will make its remedy recommendation to President Trump by November 13, 2017, ultimately leaving the decision on whether to impose a remedy in Trump’s hands. Considering the President’s demands for more tariffs on imported goods, it seems that a tariff on solar equipment imports is probable. President Trump will have 60 days after the ITC’s recommendation to issue his decision.

In their petition, SolarWorld and Suniva request a remedy of tariff levels of 40 cents per watt on imported cells and a floor price of 78 cents per watt on modules, either of which would negatively impact jobs and solar development across the U.S., with devastating impacts in states without renewable energy mandates. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the implementation of such a tariff could eliminate 88,000 jobs in solar installation, sales and construction.

Notably, the ITC vote carved out that U.S. manufacturers have not sustained injury from Singaporean and Canadian solar cells and modules, the finding of which could create the potential for these countries to become free trade zones. Singapore’s integrated solar equipment manufacturer, REC, could benefit greatly from this lack of injury finding.

SEIA President and CEO, Abigail Ross Hopper, assured the industry that the organization remains committed to its opposition-advocacy efforts, saying that “As the remedy phase moves forward, I am determined to reach a conclusion that will protect the solar industry, our workers and the American public from what amounts to a shakedown by these two companies.”

SRECTrade will continue to monitor and provide updates on the remedy hearings, recommendation, and Trump’s final decision.

PJM GATS Solar – Registered Capacity Update as of September 2017

Posted September 22nd, 2017 by SRECTrade.

The following post is a monthly update outlining the megawatts of solar capacity certified to create SRECs in the PJM GATS solar REC markets that SRECTrade serves. All data is based on the information available in PJM GATS as of the date noted.

The chart above compares the megawatts (MWs) registered in PJM GATS as of September 20, 2017 (the blue bar) to the estimated RPS solar MWs needed to be operational through the duration of the current reporting year (the green bar), to meet each market’s RPS targets. The Estimated RPS MW figure can be interpreted as the amount of active capacity that would need to be online throughout the year in order to produce the obligatory megawatt hours of electricity mandated by each state’s RPS schedule.

This chart is not meant to be a final representation of SREC supply for a given compliance period, but is instead a visualization of the relationship between installed capacity relative to each state’s estimated RPS requirements converted from a MWh to MW basis. Note that the Registered MW figures do not consider eligible SRECs carried over from previous reporting years and are only used as one aspect of current market supply drawn from the current MWs registered in PJM GATS. The installed capacity operational over the indicated time period will produce SRECs which, in addition to any eligible unsold SRECs from previous periods, will make up the final supply present in the market. For estimates on required number of SRECs per reporting year across the SREC markets SRECTrade covers, please visit our state market summary pages.

As of August 31, 2017, New Jersey had installed a cumulative total of 2,252.4MW of nameplate capacity. Their Solar Installation Report and Solar Pipeline Report can be found online here on the New Jersey Office of Clean Energy website.

Additionally, please note the following in the figures presented above:

OH2017: Represents all OH eligible solar facilities and includes some facilities that are cross-registered in PA. If any systems were eligible in higher priced markets, such as DC, the capacity was excluded from OH eligibility as it could be sold at a higher price in DC.

DE2017: Represents all solar facilities eligible for the DE solar RPS requirement. Some facilities registered in DE are also eligible in PA and could impact that market’s supply.

DC2017: Includes all systems eligible for the DC SREC market. If a system was eligible in another market, it was not included there given the current pricing for DC SRECs.

PA2018: Represents all solar facilities eligible for the PA SREC market. Some systems are cross-registered in OH as well. If a system was eligible in any higher priced markets (i.e. MD or NJ sited systems that cross-registered in PA) they were not included in the total MW balance displayed above.

MD2017: Includes all MD eligible solar capacity registered in PJM GATS as of the date noted. If projects were cross-registered in Washington D.C., the capacity was not allocated to Maryland’s eligible MW total.

NJ2018: The balance noted above represents the 8/31/17 Solar Installation Report reported by Applied Energy Group.

PJM GATS Registered Solar Projects Summary

There are 153,644 facilities across 4,943.3MW registered in PJM GATS as of 9/20/2017.

478 projects are 1MW or larger in capacity, representing 2,263.0MW or 45.8% of the qualified capacity. There are 132 projects that are 5MW or larger, representing 1,625.0MW or 32.9% of all qualified capacity.

Note: SREC requirements for markets without fixed SREC targets have been forecast based on the EIA Report “Retail Sales of Electricity by State by Provider”. Projected SRECs required utilizes the most recent EIA electricity data applying an average 1.0% 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 1,200MWh, in PJM GATS states, generated per MW of installed capacity per year.

Disclaimer. This document, data, and/or any of its components (collectively, the “Materials”) are for informational purposes only. The Materials are not intended as investment, tax, legal, or financial advice, or as an offer or solicitation for the purpose or sale of any financial instrument. SRECTrade, Inc. does not warranty or guarantee the market data or other information included herein, as to its completeness, accuracy, or fitness for a particular purpose, express or implied, and such market data and information are subject to change without notice. Past performance should not be taken as an indication or guarantee of future performance, and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made regarding future performance. Any comments or statements made herein do not necessarily reflect those of SRECTrade, Inc. SRECTrade, Inc. may have issued, and may in the future issue, other communications, data, or reports that are inconsistent with, and reach different conclusions from, the information presented herein.

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Renewable Energy Coalition Proposes Doubling of Maryland RPS

Posted September 15th, 2017 by SRECTrade.

A new campaign set forth by a coalition of environmental advocates and energy leaders in Maryland, calls for a doubling of the state’s current Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS). The campaign, dubbed the Maryland Clean Energy Jobs Initiative, aims to increase the current target of 25% renewable energy by 2020 to 50% by 2030, stimulating regional job growth, especially in low income communities, and promoting “environmental justice”. The program would require utilities and Load Serving Entities (LSEs) to purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs) representing one megawatt-hour of renewable electricity in order to comply with these standards. While the coalition acknowledges the political obstacles ahead, they are optimistic, attributing much of the political “momentum” to recent natural disasters and impacts of climate change. Organizations that have expressed support of the campaign include the NAACP, Interfaith Power and Light, SEIU 119, and the MDV SEIA.

SRECTrade to present at Solar Power International 2017

Posted September 5th, 2017 by SRECTrade.

Heading to Solar Power International (SPI) 2017 this year? Come visit the SRECTrade team! SRECTrade’s CEO, Steven Eisenberg, and CTO, Lewis Wagner, were selected to present at this year’s poster reception. The reception will be held on Monday, September 11, 2017 from 5-6 p.m. on the trade show floor.

Steven and Lewis will be presenting a poster entitled “Scaling Up Solar Incentive Markets: Standards to Unlock Innovation, Investment and Value”. The poster addresses the following:

Two technology factors with large influence on the REC market are providing open and equitable access to underlying registries and the development of software solutions that institutionalize portfolio management. SRECTrade has campaigned to open the underlying REC registries, resulting in the development of the first Application Programming Interface (API) for NEPOOL GIS and an improved API for PJM GATS. Open access to the underlying REC platforms is fundamental to the growth of renewable energy adoption. In 2017, the SREC market in PJM and MA is estimated to exceed $2b in transactions, exposing organizations to potential costly risks and operational mistakes.

Most registries do not have APIs and those that do are limited. Decision makers are resistant to change, but the benefits are clear. Open access places the cost of innovation on the market and reduces the dependency on central authorities.

To reduce portfolio management costs and mitigate risk, the ability for organizations to either buy or build software is critical. The absence of APIs prevents organizations from building or procuring services. We seek to solve this by advocating for APIs and providing comprehensive management services.

A lack of standards and access to underlying data fuels complexity and ultimately increases risk and the cost of doing business. To reduce soft costs and the burden to REC portfolio managers, the industry needs to drive towards free and open data communication. Achieving this will unlock innovation, investment and value across the market.