New York Solar Legislation Update

Posted September 21st, 2012 by SRECTrade.

A series of bipartisan bills were signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on August 20th aimed at supporting business and homeowner investments in solar energy.  We outline the bills below.

Bill 34-B, expands the 25% tax credit for non- 3rd party owners, lessees, and PPA off takers. The credit does not exceed $3,750 for “qualified solar energy system equipment expenditures” before September 1st, 2006 or $5,000 on “qualified solar energy system equipment expenditures” after September 1st 2006. Qualified solar expenditures include:

A) Solar equipment installed on a property in the state and is the principal residence of the taxpayer at the time of install.

B) A solar equipment lease of at least 10 years in New York and is the principal residence of the taxpayer at the time of install.

C) Power purchase agreement spanning at least 10 years in New York and is the principal residence of the taxpayer at the time of install.

D) The expenditures connected with installation and labor.

E) This does not include the interest or other finance charges of solar equipment purchase.

Bill A10620 allows a property tax abatement over a “compliance period” of four years available to solar-generating systems installed in cities of one million people or more. The bill covers:

A)  Installations before January 1st 2011 can receive a tax credit that is the lesser of:

    1. 8.75% of facility cost
    2. 8.75% total amount of taxes payable
    3. $62,500

B) Installations on or after January 1st 2011 and before January 1st 2013 can receive a tax credit that is the lesser of:

    1. 5% of facility cost
    2. 5% total amount of taxes payable
    3. $62,500

C) Installations on or after January 1st 2013 but before or on January 1st 2015 can receive a tax credit that is the lesser of:

    1. 2.5% of facility cost
    2. 2.5% total amount of taxes payable
    3. $62,500

Senate Bill S03203 exempts commercial solar energy system installation costs from state sales tax obligations. Additionally Senate Bill S03203 gives municipalities the power to grant certain systems a tax exemption.

On another note, the much anticipated, “NY Solar Jobs Act” legislation, formally bill A05713 has been watered down under a renamed Assembly Bill  A09149.  This new bill, proposed by Assemblyman Steven Englebright eliminates language creating a state-wide SREC market due to push back from the New York Senate and Governor’s office. Representatives from Steven Englebright’s office, maintain “cautious optimism” that the bill will gain support when the 2013 Legislative Session begins in January. As of September 7th,  the “Solar Jobs Act” is searching for a Senate sponsor.

Analysis of the bill can be found on VoteSolar.org here. The bill sets a solar target of 670 MW in 2015 and ramps up to 3,000 MW in 2021 but segments goals in to three separate requirements, based on type of utility. The bill allows the utilities the ability to define how they plan to achieve the solar mandate and does not specify interim solar requirements between 2015 and 2021.

 Utility Type  2015  2021
 Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs)  270 MW  900 MW
 New York Power Authority  120 MW  400 MW
 Long Island Power Authority  150 MW  500 MW

Solar Capacity in the SREC States – August 2012

Posted September 12th, 2012 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade SREC Markets Report: August 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 28,155 solar PV and 437 solar thermal systems registered and eligible to create SRECs in the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS). Of these eligible systems, 185 (0.65%) have a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or greater, of which 18 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 Maryland is 16.1 MW. The third largest system, at 12.5 MW, is located in New Jersey.

Delaware: The reporting year 2012 (6/1/12 – 5/31/13) requirement for DE equates to approximately 48,100 SRECs being retired. If all retired SRECs were of DE2012 vintage, approximately 40.1 MW would need to be operational all year long. As of September 11, 2012, 28.8 MW of solar capacity was registered and eligible to create DE SRECs in PJM GATS. As of September 11, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 5,900 DE2012.  Additional SRECs from prior eligible periods may also impact the market should there be a demand for these older vintage SRECs.

Maryland: As of September 11, 2012, 72.5 MW of MD sited solar capacity was registered to create MD eligible SRECs. A large increase came from a 16.1 MW project Constellation Energy commissioned at Mount St. Mary’s University. The 2012 reporting year requirement for MD equates to approximately 67,310 SRECs being retired. If all retired SRECs were of MD2012 vintage, approximately 56.1 MW would need to be operational all year long. As of September 11, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 41,800 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 and 2013 reporting years require 442,000 and 596,000 eligible SRECs, respectively. For 2012, this equates to approximately 368 MW of capacity being operational all year long and 496.7 MW for 2013, assuming all requirements were met with current vintage year SRECs. As of September 11, 2012, 843.3 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 843.3 MW figure. As of July 31, 2012 the NJ Office of Clean Energy (NJ OCE) reported that 852.7 MW of solar had been installed in NJ. Estimates for August 2012 show a total of 876.0 MW. On July 23, NJ Governor, Chris Christie, signed into law legislation to increase the Solar RPS requirements. For details see the following: NJ Governor Christie Signs Bill to Increase Solar Requirements. As of September 11, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 699,200 NJ2012 SRECs. This figure surpasses the current 2012 compliance year requirement of 442,000 SRECs by approximately 257,200 SRECs. Additionally, the second month of RY2013 generation was issued at the end of August. GATS reported a total of 196,700 total NJ2013 SRECs for the compliance year to date were issued; approximately 33% of the current year’s obligation (not considering the eligible oversupply from NJ2012).

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 September 11, 2012, 50.2 MW of in-state capacity and 96.7 MW of out-of-state capacity were eligible to generate OH SRECs. As of September 11, 2012, GATS issued approximately 40,400 in-state and 71,900 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 and 2013 requirements for PA equates to retiring approximately 49,450 and 78,750 eligible SRECs, respectively. If all compliance obligations were met using 2012 and 2013 vintage SRECs, approximately 41.2 and 65.6 MW would need to be operational all year long within each compliance period. As of September 11, 2012, 222.4 MW of solar capacity was registered and eligible to create PA compliant SRECs. As of September 11, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 220,000 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. Additionally, as of September 11, 2012 GATS reported approximately 52,000 PA2013 SRECs were issued.

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 September 11, 2012, 24.4 MW of capacity was eligible to generate DC SRECs. Additionally, as of September 11, 2012, GATS reported the issuance of approximately 18,000 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 September 11, 2012, there were 3,134 MA DOER qualified solar projects; 3,118 operational and 16 not operational. Total qualified capacity is 121.3 MW, 110.4 of which is operational and 10.9 MW not operational. Electricity suppliers providing power to the state need to acquire approximately 73,400 SRECs in 2012. According to NEPOOL GIS, 14,479 Q1 2012 SRECs were issued on July 15, 2012. Additionally, 53,359 MWhs were reported to the MassCEC production tracking system for the 5 months covering April-August 2012.

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.

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.

MA Gov. Deval Patrick Signs Law Adjusting Net Metering Cap

Posted August 30th, 2012 by SRECTrade.

Massachusetts Bill SB 2395, “Relative to Competitively Priced Electricity in the Commonwealth,” was signed into law on August 3, 2012 by Governor Deval Patrick.  The new legislation clarifies some issues related to meeting the Massachusetts Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) goal of 22.1% by 2020. Its purpose is to further bolster the existing RPS goals by:  1) increasing the net metering cap; 2) expanding requirements for the EDC long-term contract program and 3) limits entities from owning more than 25 MW of solar. *Please see note below. While this legislation does not explicitly impact the solar carve out portion of the Massachusetts RPS, it does impact net metering policy in MA, a key facet of solar project development. By raising the net metering cap, there is now more room for the development of solar projects at any scale. If development continues to exceed the yearly capacity goals set aside by the DOER, then SREC prices should remain suppressed relative to the SACP.

The legislation doubles the net metering cap to 6%, with 3% allocated for public and private projects each. As Massachusetts was already close to the 3% net metering cap, the bill was essential to ensure renewable energy project development of all types throughout the rest of the year. In addition to the increase in the cap, the bill also states that Class I facilities that are less than 10 kW (single-phase) and <25 kW (3-phase) in capacity will be exempt from the net metering cap altogether. The <10 kW/ 25 kW Class I REC exemption ensures that developers of residential and small commercial facilities will not need to take in to consideration the net metering cap. Class I RECs include RECs produced from most renewable energy technologies (solar, wind, tidal, biomass etc.) that were operational after December 31, 1997. (Source: DSIRE)

*A previous version of this post included language about a property tax exemption for qualified renewable energy facilities. The property tax exemption portion of SB 2395 was not included in the final bill.

MA DOER Announces 2013 SREC Requirement

Posted August 29th, 2012 by SRECTrade.

Today, the MA DOER announced the 2013 compliance year (January 1 – December 31, 2013) Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) requirement. Massachusetts’ SREC requirement is set each year by a formula that takes into consideration the current year SREC obligation plus the projected SREC generation for the current year less the SRECs generated in prior years multiplied by 1.3. Additional adjustments are then made for prior year’s Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) volume, banked SREC volume, and DOER Credit Clearinghouse auction volume. The detailed formula for 2013 is as follows:

Total Compliance Obligation 2013 = Total Compliance Obligation 2012 + [Total SRECs Generated (projected) 2012 – SRECs Generated (actual) 2011] x 1.3 – ACP Volume 2011 + Banked Volume 2011 + Auction Volume 2011

MA2013 Compliance Obligation

The MA2013 SREC requirement has been set at 135,495 SRECs. This figure does not take into consideration exempt load based on the TransCanada settlement reached during the first year of the MA SREC market. In the calculation, the DOER provided the effective reduction in SREC Demand for 2013 at 4,784. This means that, under the announced 2013 requirement, the actual number of SRECs needed to be purchased under the 2013 obligation will be equal to 135,495 less 4,784; 130,711 SRECs.

The 2013 Requirement Might Increase

In coordination with its announcement, the DOER also stated its intention to begin a rulemaking process to address the following:

1) Formally insert the 10 Year Solar ACP schedule into regulation;

2) Adjust the formula above to remove the term that subtracts “ACP Volume” from prior years.

The DOER stated its intention to adjust the formula would retroactively apply to the 2013 SREC requirement. The removal of this term from the formula would increase the SREC requirement from 135,495 to 189,297 SRECs required in 2013. Taking into consideration the effective reduction of 4,784, that would put the net 2013 requirement at 184,513.

The table below demonstrates the current formula requirement vs. the proposed formula requirement:

The DOER noted their plans to begin the rulemaking process in September 2012. The DOER welcomes any comments on the announcement prior to beginning the process. Comments can be sent to DOER.SREC@state.ma.us by 5:00pm on September 14th.

Solar Capacity in the SREC States – July 2012

Posted August 8th, 2012 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade SREC Markets Report: July 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 27,262 solar PV and 369 solar thermal systems registered and eligible to create SRECs in the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System (GATS). Of these eligible systems, 180 (0.65%) 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 2012-13 (6/1/12 – 5/31/13) requirement for DE equates to approximately 48,100 SRECs being retired. If all retired SRECs were of DE2012-13 vintage, approximately 40.1 MW would need to be operational all year long. As of August 7, 2012, 28.5 MW of solar capacity was registered and eligible to create DE SRECs in PJM GATS. As of August 7, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 4,300 and 32,500 DE2012-13 and DE2011-12 SRECs, respectively.  Additional SRECs from prior eligible periods may also impact the market should there be a demand for these older vintage SRECs.

Maryland: As of August 7, 2012, 54.6 MW of MD sited solar capacity was registered to create MD eligible SRECs. The 2012 reporting year requirement for MD equates to approximately 67,310 SRECs being retired. If all retired SRECs were of MD2012 vintage, approximately 56.1 MW would need to be operational all year long. As of August 7, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 31,200 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 and 2013 reporting years require 442,000 and 596,000 eligible SRECs, respectively. For 2012, this equates to approximately 368 MW of capacity being operational all year long and 496.7 MW for 2013, assuming all requirements were met with current vintage year SRECs. As of August 7, 2012, 818.3 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 818.3 MW figure. As of June 30, 2012 the NJ Office of Clean Energy (NJ OCE) reported that 831.6 MW of solar had been installed in NJ. On July 23, NJ Governor, Chris Christie, signed into law legislation to increase the Solar RPS requirements. For details see the following: NJ Governor Christie Signs Bill to Increase Solar Requirements. As of August 7, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 689,600 NJ2012 SRECs. This figure surpasses the current 2012 compliance year requirement of 442,000 SRECs by approximately 247,600 SRECs. Additionally, the first month of RY2013 generation was issued at the end of July. GATS reported 95,270 NJ2013 SRECs were issued; approximately 16% of the current year’s obligation (not considering the eligible oversupply from NJ2012).

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 August 7, 2012, 50.0 MW of in-state capacity and 94.0 MW of out-of-state capacity were eligible to generate OH SRECs. As of August 7, 2012, GATS issued approximately 32,190 in-state and 58,630 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 and 2013 requirements for PA equates to retiring approximately 49,450 and 78,750 eligible SRECs, respectively. If all compliance obligations were met using 2012 and 2013 vintage SRECs, approximately 41.2 and 65.6 MW would need to be operational all year long within each compliance period. As of August 7, 2012, 220.8 MW of solar capacity was registered and eligible to create PA compliant SRECs. As of August 7, 2012, PJM GATS reported the issuance of approximately 199,000 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. Additionally, the first month of PA2013 generation was issued at the end of July. GATS reported approximately 26,400 PA2013 SRECs were issued.

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 August 7, 2012, 24.2 MW of capacity was eligible to generate DC SRECs. Additionally, as of August 7, 2012, GATS reported the issuance of approximately 15,000 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 August 10, 2012, there were 2,651 MA DOER qualified solar projects; 2,634 operational and 17 not operational. Total qualified capacity is 109.9 MW, 98.9 of which is operational and 11.0 MW not operational. Electricity suppliers providing power to the state need to acquire approximately 73,400 SRECs in 2012. According to NEPOOL GIS, 14,479 Q1 2012 SRECs were issued on July 15, 2012. Additionally, 38,623 MWhs were reported to the MassCEC production tracking system for the 4 months covering April-July 2012.

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.

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.

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.

A Break In The Clouds? – NJ Legislature Passes S1925/A2966

Posted June 26th, 2012 by SRECTrade.

Introduction

On June 25, 2012, S1925/A2966, now aligned with each other, passed the New Jersey Senate and House. Next, the bill needs to be signed into law by the Governor, which given his recent public support is expected to be completed within the next couple weeks. 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.

Summary of the Legislation’s Solar % Requirements and SACP

The charts below demonstrate the % Solar Requirements set under the new bill as well as the proposed SACP schedule.

More Solar Now, Less Solar Later – How Does This Compare to the Current RPS Solar Requirements?

While S1925/A2966 increases the RPS requirements in the near term, by 900,000 or more SRECs each year in the 2014-2020 reporting years, beginning in 2024 the bill reduces the SREC requirements. The table below shows the current RPS requirements vs. the number of SRECs estimated to be required under the new legislation.

Oversupply Likely Through at Least 2014, Possibly Longer – What Does This Mean For the Market Moving Forward?

While increasing the RPS requirements is needed to address NJ’s current solar oversupply, the requirements implemented under S1925/A2966 do not necessarily put the market back into under supply. The days of SRECs trading up against the SACP at levels of $600+/SREC are long behind us for 2 reasons: 1) The SACP will naturally push pricing down to levels below $339 when it comes into effect in 2014 and 2) current installed capacity points to oversupply should the market continue at recent rates. This means that if the market is to see an under supplied scenario (i.e. a seller’s market), the amount of solar installed needs to slow down. We would naturally expect to see this take place given the removal of certain federal incentives and a decline in SREC prices, but this decline has been taking somewhat longer than expected in the first half of 2012 (i.e. likely a result of projects being wrapped up from the end of calendar year 2011).

The table below demonstrates the current RPS requirements vs. the estimated requirements under S1925/A2966 assuming no new additional capacity is installed after the NJ Office of Clean Energy’s May 31, 2012 capacity estimates.

It is important to note that the table above shows that regardless of the impact of the new legislation, the 2013 compliance period is oversupplied by approximately 575,000 at a minimum (i.e. the unlikely case of no build throughout the period).

Below, similar to our prior posts, 3 scenarios are analyzed. The first assumes future build continues at half of the last twelve month (LTM) average rate, 38.6 MW/month through May 31, 2012. The second assumes the market continues to build at its LTM average rate and the third case assumes install rates grow adding 1.5x the LTM average rate.

The table below shows the impact of the three scenarios presented above as compared to the estimated SREC requirements under S1925/A2966. If installation rates are able to decrease to half of the LTM average rate, the market will see a slight under supply beginning in 2014. Cases in which the market continues at current rates or increases above current monthly capacity installed show substantial oversupply in each of the periods forecast.

In conclusion, it is important that the solar industry recognizes that if this legislation is signed into law, it does not allow for the rate of installs to see continued growth. The bill merely helps address the oversupply by increasing the near term requirements and putting some limitations on larger scale solar projects. It will be necessary that all industry stakeholders track the market’s progress closely to clearly understand how supply is pacing relative to the SRECs required during that compliance period.