SRECTrade will host a webinar covering the Maryland and Washington, DC SREC markets on Thursday, 3/28 at 3 pm ET. As with previous state market focused webinars, SRECTrade will cover MD and DC specific market trends and capacity projections. Additionally, we will address options clients have for selling SRECs through SRECTrade.
Register here: https://srectrade.clickwebinar.com/MD_and_DC_SREC_Market_Webinar
TweetSRECTrade’s March 2013 SREC Auction closed on 2/28/13. Below are the clearing prices by vintage across the markets covered in the auction.
| March SREC Prices | SREC Vintage Year | ||
| State | 2011 | 2012 | 2013* |
| Delaware | – | – | – |
| Maryland | – | $135.00 | $128.00 |
| Massachusetts | – | $220.00 | – |
| New Jersey | $100.00 | $105.56 | $112.00 |
| Ohio In-State | – | – | $40.00 |
| Ohio Out-of-State | – | – | $5.99 |
| Pennsylvania | – | – | $10.00 |
| Washington, DC | – | $386.12 | $381.12 |
Notes:
*Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania operate on a June-May energy year. For example, current vintage SRECs are generated beginning in June of 2012.
Green text represents a price increase over the last auction clearing price for that vintage, red text represents a decrease.
“-” reflects no sale, which would result if there were no SRECs available for sale in that vintage or there were no matching bids and offers to determine a clearing price.
For detailed analysis of SREC market prices and trends please subscribe to the SREC Market Monitor, a joint publication of Greentech Media’s GTM Research and SRECTrade.
State Market Observations:
Delaware: No DE SRECs transacted in the March auction. Most demand for DE SRECs will be through the DE SEU SREC Procurement Program solicitations. For the latest information on the upcoming 2013 solicitation click here: 2013 DE Program Announcement.
Maryland: MD2012 and MD2013 SRECs transacted at $135/SREC and $128/SREC, respectively, in the March auction. While MD12s in the over the counter (OTC) market transacted higher in the middle of the month, demand subsided at the end of the month. Compliance obligations for 2012 are currently being finalized.
Massachusetts: MA2012 SRECs traded at $220/SREC. OTC transactions have trended at the same levels between $220 and $230/SREC. SREC issuance volumes in Q1-Q3 2012 and October – December 2012 MWhs reported to the MA CEC demonstrate that 2012’s requirements have been met. The next SREC issuance for Q4 2012 generation will fall on April 15, 2013. The 2012 market will be oversupplied by approximately 50% of this year’s compliance obligation. On 2/27/13, the DOER announced proposed rule changes.
New Jersey: NJ2012 and NJ2013 SRECs traded up to $105.56 and $112/SREC, respectively. The NJ Office of Clean Energy announced total installed capacity through January 2013 was estimated to be 973.4 MW, a monthly increase of approximately 17.4 MW. Over the past few days OTC transactions have trended down to come inline with the March auction pricing. New Jersey’s regulated utilities will be hosting an auction for upwards of 60,000 NJ2013 SRECs on March 19. This auction will decrease demand and may result in continued downward pressure on SREC pricing.
Ohio: OH2013 Sited SRECs transacted at $40/SREC and OH2013 Adjacent SRECs traded at $5.99/SREC. There was no sale of the 2012 vintages indicating the lack of demand and oversupply in the market. 2013 is expected to continue to experience oversupply and minimal demand. Most demand for OH Sited SRECs has been fulfilled through long term agreements with large utility scale projects or through long term RFPs with the state’s regulated utilities. 2012 compliance obligations are currently being finalized.
Pennsylvania: PA2013 SRECs traded at $10/SREC, in line with the February 2013 auction. OTC transactions have been pricing slightly higher. SREC oversupply continues to impact PA’s market.
Washington, DC: The 2010 and 2012 vintages increased to $355 and $386.12/SREC, respectively. Additionally, DC2013 SRECs traded at $381.12. Compliance entities are currently finalizing obligations for 2012. It is expected the market will continue to experience under supply into the 2013 trading year.
For historical auction pricing please see this link. The next SRECTrade auction closes on Monday, April 1 at 5 p.m. ET and will cover PJM Solar RECs. The next MA Solar REC auction will close on Monday, April 15 after the Q4 2012 NEPOOL GIS issuance. Click here to sign in and place an order.
TweetSRECTrade SREC Markets Report: February 2013
The following post is a monthly update outlining the megawatts of solar capacity certified to create SRECs in the Solar REC markets that SRECTrade currently 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 more detailed analysis of supply, demand and price trends in the SREC markets can be found in the SREC Market Monitor, a joint-venture between SRECTrade and Greentech Media’s GTM Research.
A PDF copy of this table can be found here.
***NJ Update: Installed Capacity Surpasses 1 GW of Solar*** Through February 2013 NJ installed capacity reached approximately 1,008.4 MW of installed solar capacity; a 35 MW increase over the prior month. The number in the table above represents all capacity registered in GATS as of the date noted. The remaining capacity will be registered and receive SREC credit from the date of project interconnection.
Overview of PJM Eligible Systems
As of March 11, 2013 there were 31,932 solar PV and 663 solar thermal systems registered and eligible to create SRECs in the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS). Of these, 213 (0.65%) have a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or greater. Twenty three of these projects have a nameplate capacity of 5 MW or greater. New Jersey continues to host most of the larger scale facilities, claiming home to 65.2% of the projects, 15 of 23 facilities, that are equal to or greater than 5 MW. The three largest projects are a 29.1 MW FirstSolar project in MD, the 25.1 MW PSE&G utility pole mount project located in NJ, and the 16.1 MW Mount St. Mary’s project in MD.
Massachusetts DOER Qualified Projects
As of March 13, 2013, there were 4,962 MA DOER qualified solar projects; 4,945 operational and 17 not operational. Total qualified capacity is 214.6 MW, 195.4 MW of which is operational and 19.2 MW not operational. Electricity suppliers providing power to the state need to acquire approximately 73,400 SRECs in 2012. According to NEPOOL GIS, 91,684 Q1 – Q3 2012 SRECs have been issued for the year to date. Additionally, 25,750 MWhs were reported to the MassCEC production tracking system for the 3 months covering October-December 2012.
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.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DELAWARE’S SUSTAINABLE ENERGY UTILITY TO OFFER 2ND ANNUAL SOLAR RENEWABLE ENERGY CREDIT AUCTION
SRECTRADE SELECTED TO MANAGE SECOND SOLAR CREDIT AUCTION
2013 SREC Procurement Auction News Release
Wilmington, DE, March 8, 2013 –The Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU), announced today the dates for the commencement of its 2nd Solar Renewable Energy Credit Procurement auction. The application process will commence on March 25th and accept applications through April 12th. The procurement program creates a market in Delaware for the buying and selling of Solar Renewable Energy Credits (SRECs). SRECs allow generators of renewable energy to sell credits to Delmarva Power for its compliance with state standards for renewable energy development. These credits can accrue automatically to solar panel owners and often can be traded and sold like stocks on the stock market.
This second procurement auction follows last year’s successful pilot program. The program is designed to bring price stability through 20-year SREC contracts offered by the SEU in a manner that helps to drive down long-term energy costs for everyone. The procurement program for 2013 is being improved based on an evaluation and recommendations by the Delaware Renewable Energy Task Force which made recommendations to the Public Service Commission as part of Delmarva Power’s petition to enter into an agreement with the SEU to offer the auction. On January 22, 2013, the Public Service Commission approved moving forward with the second auction. One important change approved by the Public Service Commission is an expansion of the program to enable owners of solar systems installed prior to December 30, 2010 to participate.
Senator Harris B. McDowell III, Chairman of the SEU stated, “Building on our very successful Solar Pilot Program in 2012 where 9800 SREC’s were procured and 91 new solar projects were incented this second auction is the latest step taken by the SEU to create jobs and promote renewable energy. The SEU is fulfilling its role as the one-stop shop for clean energy needs of all our citizens and businesses. The SREC Market will assure continued job creation in Delaware while cost-effectively increasing energy security, reducing our carbon footprint, and lowering the state’s pollution.” The Senator continued, “The unique capabilities of the SEU make the new solar auction possible. It can independently and transparently provide a statewide platform for buying and selling SRECs at the lowest price, and greatly reduce the long-term social, economic and environmental risks that future generations would otherwise face.”
SRECTrade, Inc. was selected by competitive bid to act as Procurement Agent for the program in 2012 and again for 2013. Mr. Kevin Quilliam, President of SRECTrade said, “SRECTrade started the first public, transparent market place for Delaware SRECs in 2009, and we look forward to continuing to support the evolution of the Delaware marketplace as the SREC Procurement Program is implemented. SRECTrade will use its leading SREC management platform and apply its market expertise in the execution of the program.”
The auction will be hosted at www.SRECDelaware.com and all program information regarding the procurement will be posted on the site. SRECTrade will use its leading SREC management platform and apply its market expertise in the execution of the program. All information regarding the procurement will be available at www.SRECDelaware.com and like the Pilot Procurement; all bids will be entered online at this site. The 2013 procurement auction will consist of five tiers, three for new systems and two for existing systems. All Tiers will be competitively bid. Each winning bid will enter into a contract for a term of 20 years. For the first 7 years, the SREC price will be the accepted bid price. For the remaining 13 years, the SREC price will be fixed at $50 per SREC. There will be no requirement for an owner representative in this solicitation, although owners can opt to use the services of an owner representative. The Solar Renewable Energy Credit price used in any return on investment calculations is not guaranteed. Winning any solicitation or auction is not guaranteed. The SREC price may vary.
For SEU Contact: Tony DePrima (302) 883-3038
For SRECTrade Contact: Kevin Quilliam (877) 466-4606
On 2/27/2013 the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) released proposed changes to the RPS Solar Carve-Out program. The change-tracked version of the proposed rules can be viewed here. Interested parties can submit comments to DOER.SREC@state.ma.us with the word COMMENTS in the subject line from March 1st until 5:00 PM on March 25th. A public hearing will be held on March 22nd in the Gardner Auditorium, Massachusetts State House in Boston from 1:00pm to 3:00pm.
The proposed changes to the rules fall into two general categories: 1) updates to the existing program and 2) changes to smooth the approach to the 400MW program cap. The following is a brief summary of the proposed changes:
On January 8, 2013 B20-0057 , the “Community Renewable Energy Act of 2013” was introduced. The bill has 8 sponsors (Alexander, Barry, Bonds, Cheh, Graham, Grosso, McDuffie, and Wells), a majority of the 13-member DC Council. The “Community Renewable Energy Act of 2013” proposes to amend the “Retail Electric Competition and Consumer Protection Act of 1999” (which created net metering in Washington, DC) to allow rate payers in DC to “subscribe” to electricity from solar power produced from registered “Community Energy Generating Facilities.” If passed, this bill would open up the solar electricity market in DC to the entire rate payer base (including renters and condo owners) and not just property owners. Theoretically, legislation of this nature would also lower the investment risk of going solar in the District for “subscribers” and project developers by diversifying the required type and commitment of investors able to participate.
The bill must next progress to committee before it can be voted on by the general council. SRECTrade will track the progress of the legislation and provide updates as applicable. View the proposed bill here.
Some interesting clauses to note in the proposed bill:
– “Community Energy Generating Facilities” cannot be larger than 5 MW in capacity
– There can be as few as 2 subscribers to the power produced from eligible facilities
– Subscriptions cannot be for more than 120% of the subscriber’s 12 month electricity usage
– Subscriber accounts can only be adjusted once a month
– Utilities (Pepco) may be able to require all subscribers to be on the same billing cycle
– The owner(s) of the Community Energy Generating Facility owns the rights to SRECs produced from the power
– Power production will be tracked by a production meter installed by the Community Energy Generating Facility owner
– In months where subscribers receive credit for more power than they consume the excess power will be credited towards the next month’s electric bill
– Excess power credits at the end of the annual cycle (ends in April of each year) will be lost and reallocated to rate payers eligible for the District’s Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
– Requires adoption of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) interconnection standards within 6 months of the bill’s passage.
– Most interestingly, the proposed bill requires that the District Department of Energy and the District Sustainable Energy Utility to develop a proposal within 6 months of the bill’s passage for an equitable and creative program for financing community net metering projects.
TweetThe Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) sent an email update today (2/22/2013) with clarifications on how the DOER intends to address the approach of the 400 MW cap to the existing Solar Carve-Out program as well as a timeline for establishing a solar policy beyond the existing 400 MW Solar Carve-Out. Read the bulletin here. Currently the Massachusetts Solar Carve-Out program is limited to 400 MW of installed eligible solar capacity.
Highlights of the bulletin are:
Plans for the approach of the 400th MW
– DOER to submit a Public Notice on March 1, 2013 outlining a queuing system for SREC eligible projects as the Solar Carve-Out approaches the 400 MW cap
– Following public comment the DOER intends to firmly establish any queuing system for SREC eligible projects before the DOER Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auction in June
Plans for a solar program after the 400th MW
– DOER to present a post 400 MW policy proposal at a stakeholder meeting in March 2013 (date to be announced)
– A finalized post-400 MW policy will be adopted in April or May
SRECTrade will closely follow the development of these two DOER initiatives. Stay tuned to our blog for details as they emerge.
* Update, 2/27/2013: The DOER sent a follow up email today with a link to the proposed amendment for Solar Carve Out program. A public hearing will be held on March 22, 2013 at the Massachusetts State House in Boston in the Gardner Auditorium. The public comment period for written comments will run from March 1, 2013 to March, 25, 2013.
Tweet
If you want to know the ins and outs of the SREC markets in simple, actionable language then subscribe to the SREC Market Monitor. This quarterly report covers all of the SREC markets in clear detail. The SREC Market Monitor is a joint partnership publication between SRECTrade and GTM Research.
In a 2/20/2013 GTM blog post titled, “Oversupply Uncertainty for Massachusetts SREC Market in 2013,” GTM Research highlighted a portion of the analysis found in the Q4 2012 SREC Market Monitor.
TweetSRECTrade’s February 2013 SREC Auction closed on 2/1/13. Below are the clearing prices by vintage across the markets covered in the auction.
| February SREC Prices | SREC Vintage Year | ||
| State | 2011 | 2012 | 2013* |
| Delaware | – | – | – |
| Maryland | – | $140.00 | – |
| Massachusetts | – | $206.12 | – |
| New Jersey | – | $95.00 | $110.00 |
| Ohio In-State | – | $40.00 | – |
| Ohio Out-of-State | – | $9.00 | – |
| Pennsylvania | – | – | $10.00 |
| Washington, DC | $366.13 | $370.00 | – |
Notes:
*Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania operate on a June-May energy year. For example, current vintage SRECs are generated beginning in June of 2012.
Green text represents a price increase over the last auction clearing price for that vintage, red text represents a decrease.
“-” reflects no sale, which would result if there were no SRECs available for sale in that vintage or there were no matching bids and offers to determine a clearing price.
For detailed analysis of SREC market prices and trends please subscribe to the SREC Market Monitor, a joint publication of Greentech Media’s GTM Research and SRECTrade.
State Market Observations:
Delaware: No DE SRECs transacted in the February auction. Most demand for DE SRECs will be through the DE SEU SREC Procurement Program solicitations. For the latest information on the upcoming 2013 solicitation click here: 2013 DE Program Announcement.
Maryland: MD2012 SRECs have consistently transacted at $140/SREC over the past 3 auction periods. As Q1 2013 comes to a close any compliance entities needing MD12 SRECs will be wrapping up their purchases. It is expected that the market will experience a small amount of oversupply for the 2012 compliance period.
Massachusetts: MA2012 SRECs traded at $206.12/SREC. SREC issuance volumes in Q1-Q3 2012 and October – December 2012 MWhs reported to the MA CEC demonstrate that 2012’s requirements have been met. The next SREC issuance for Q4 2012 generation will fall on April 15, 2013. The 2012 market will be oversupplied by approximately 50% of this year’s compliance obligation.
New Jersey: NJ2012 and NJ2013 SRECs traded up to $95 and $110/SREC, respectively. The NJ Office of Clean Energy announced total installed capacity through January 2013 was estimated to be 973.4 MW, a monthly increase of approximately 17.4 MW. Monthly install rates continue to surpass RPS requirements.
Ohio: OH2012 Sited SRECs increased to $40/SREC and OH2012 Adjacent SRECs traded at $9/SREC. Both markets are oversupplied. Most demand for OH Sited SRECs has been fulfilled through long term agreements with large utility scale projects or through long term RFPs with the state’s regulated utilities. 2012 compliance obligations are currently being finalized.
Pennsylvania: PA2013 SRECs traded at $10/SREC, $2/SREC less than the January 2013 auction. SREC oversupply continues to impact PA’s market.
Washington, DC: The 2010, 2011, and 2012 vintages increased to $330, $366.13, and $370/SREC, respectively. Increases in price may continue as the 2012 and 2013 markets are under supplied.
For historical auction pricing please see this link. The next SRECTrade auction closes on Thursday, February 28th at 5 p.m. ET and will cover PJM and MA Solar RECs. The next auction will be the first in which 2013 vintage SRECs will be available in Maryland, Ohio, and Washington, DC. Click here to sign in and place an order.
TweetSRECTrade’s brokerage team will cover NJ SREC market trends and capacity projections. The webinar is particularly geared for institutional and commercial scale market participants. Register for the webinar by clicking this link: https://srectrade.clickwebinar.com/NJ_Market_Update/register
About the speakers
Brad Bowery is the CEO of SRECTrade, a company he has managed since 2008. Under Brad’s stewardship SRECTrade provides SREC services for over 5,000 facilities and 70+ MW of aggregated solar capacity. Brad holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Steven Eisenberg is the Vice-President of Business Development. Steven has been with SRECTrade since 2010 and is responsible for starting and managing SRECTrade’s growing brokerage and institutional SREC asset management business units.
Alex Sheets comes to SRECTrade from SunEdison. As SRECTrade’s Director of Environmental Markets, Alex assists buyers and sellers in originating, executing, and negotiating SREC transactions in the over the counter markets.
