Archive for July, 2021

New Jersey Successor Solar Incentive Program Approved

Posted July 30th, 2021 by SRECTrade.

On Wednesday, July 28th, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) unanimously approved the highly anticipated Successor Solar Incentive Program (“SuSI Program”). The SuSI Program will support the development of 3,750 megawatts (MW) of new solar generation by 2026, effectively doubling the state’s current solar capacity and driving solar to become approximately 10 percent of the state’s total electricity supply.

Importantly, the SuSI Program will take effect on August 28, 2021, and contains two sub-programs detailed below. Thus, the New Jersey Transition Incentive (TI) Program will close at midnight on Friday, August 27th. TREC applications will be accepted until that date and will be provided with a 5-business day window to correct minor deficiencies, if required, after their review.

  1. The Administratively Determined Incentive (ADI) – a 15-year, fixed-price incentive payment for net-metered solar projects less than or equal to 5 MW in size. This sub-program is inclusive of all residential projects and most commercial and industrial projects, with pricing varying based on project type and size (see table below).
  2. The Competitive Solar Incentive (CSI) – a competitive solicitation for grid supply projects and net metered commercial and industrial projects larger than 5 MW. The first competitive solicitation is projected to launch in early-to-mid 2022.
Incentive levels for the ADI Program, ranging from $70-$120 per SREC-II.

Notably, net-metered residential projects will receive pricing only $1.20/megawatt-hour (MWh) less than their current effective TREC pricing of $91.20/MWh. The incentive value for public entities in each market segment is $20/MWh than their non-public counterparts. Public entities include school districts, municipalities, and public colleges and universities.

SRECTrade will continue to post significant updates on the transition between the current Transition Incentive program and the upcoming SuSI Program as they become available.

Maryland SREC Market Update

Posted July 13th, 2021 by SRECTrade.

On June 1, 2021, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan allowed Senate Bill 65 (SB 65) to pass into law without his signature. SB 65 revises Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), decreasing the solar carve-out from 2022-2029 while increasing its solar alternative compliance payment (SACP) from 2023-2029. The new law still requires 50% of MD electricity sales from Tier I renewable energy resources with a 14.5% solar carve-out by 2030.

This adjustment to Maryland’s RPS should bring a more gradual increase to the solar carve-out requirement. Our enclosed analysis projects the 2021 market and forward years to be undersupplied – we expect the degree of undersupply to increase in years 2022 and 2023 and show a moderate decrease in year 2024. The forecasted degree of undersupply seen in years 2022-2024 has seen a substantial decrease from our previous analysis due to the recent reductions in RPS. While we project that the new changes to Maryland’s RPS will decrease the degree of undersupply seen in forward years, build rates still must show a substantial increase in order to keep up with the new RPS schedule.

Current MD SREC pricing has been consistent over the last few months with 2021 SRECs pricing around $77.50, 97% of the ACP and 2022 SRECs pricing around $57.00, 95% of the ACP.

Final 2021 MD SREC production, final 2021 MD load figures, and actual grandfathered load could impact the degree of undersupply seen in 2021 and forward years.



Virginia REC Opportunities

Posted July 2nd, 2021 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade’s Virginia application is currently live on our website. As previously mentioned, the Virginia Clean Economy Act compels Dominion to procure 1% of their RPS compliance from in-state distributed solar resources smaller than 1 MW. This equates to approximately 90 MW in 2021. Dominion filed an RFP this year to meet their obligations.

While there is still uncertainty regarding spot trades in the Virginia market, SRECTrade is continuing to monitor the market and will monetize RECs through all available channels. Beginning in Q3 2021, SRECTrade will be offering 2-year and 5-year forward contracts for systems under 1 MW located in the state of Virginia.

For more information regarding contract opportunities please reach out to installers@srectrade.com.