Posts Tagged ‘CA SREC’

California TREC Market Held Up

Posted June 29th, 2010 by SRECTrade.

On May 6, 2010, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) released its decision to stay the prior decision authorizing the use of tradable renewable energy certificates (TRECs) for compliance with the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) program. This decision came after the April 23, 2010 workshop presentations, in which California’s IOUs discussed the valuation components and calculation of REC pricing.

The decision will be stayed pending resolutions of two petitions 1) the joint petition filed by Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and San Diego Gas & Electric Company (the utility petition) and 2) the petition filed by the Independent Energy Producers Association (IEP).

As outlined in the CPUC’s decision, the petitions filed look to address the following points:

The utility petition seeks to:

  • Revise the criteria for what transactions are bundled and what can be unbundled for TREC trading
  • Apply the criteria only to contracts submitted for approval after the effective date of the decision
  • Eliminate the temporary limit on TRECs for compliance with the RPS by the large utilities
  • Expand the rules for “earmarking” TREC contracts to address current short-fall with future generation

The IEP petition seeks to:

  • Revise the criteria for bundled and unbundled transactions with revisions different from the utility’s petition
  • Expand the review of the least-cost best-fit methodology for RPS bid evaluation and set a time for its completion

In addition to the subjects the petitions seek to address, the decision also included the concurrences and dissents of the CPUCs commissioners. The full document can be viewed here.

SRECTrade will continue to watch the CPUC’s decision making process and provide updates as they become available.  We will maintain everything we know about it on our California SREC page.


California SRECs (TRECs) coming soon!

Posted March 12th, 2010 by SRECTrade.

The California TREC market is here!

Yesterday California passed legislation to allow for a Tradable Renewable Energy Credit (TREC) market. This essentially means that utilities in California can now buy SRECs unbundled from the electricity. Prior to this ruling, any SRECs used to comply with the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard had to be purchased with the electricity itself, i.e. the SRECs had to be bundled with the electricity and sold to the utility together.  The reason behind this ruling is that the utilities are not able to meet the growing requirement from projects sited within their territories and this new rule allows them to get credit for renewable energy produced elsewhere by purchasing the SRECs (or TRECs as the state calls them) from generators outside their territories.  The Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) will start at $50, creating a cap, but that cap and other restrictions around the use of RECs is planned to be lifted after 2011 after the state has had time to get more comfortable with the program.  In the early stages, this means that TREC values will be significantly lower than values in other states where the Solar ACP (SACP) is anywhere from $250-$700. Currently TRECs include all forms of Renewable Energy, however, it is unclear if there will be a market in the future that places a distinction on Solar RECs, SRECs in the California market place. With this legislation, SRECs carry the same value as any other RECs.

We see this being an important opportunity for generators outside California who are now able to help the state meet its renewable energy goals by purchasing RECs. The RECs must be registered in WREGIS in order to be eligible.  SRECTrade will have more information regarding the online market place for California TRECs soon.