With the announcement of new NJ solar build data last week, we wanted to provide an update on the current status of New Jersey SREC supply and demand. Since our last update in June 2017, build over the last 6 months (through September) has declined, pacing at 22.7 MW/month. That is approximately a 23.7% decrease against the last 12 month (LTM) rate of 29.8 MW/month. Additionally, the 3 months ending September 2017 saw a 45.5% decline in total build to 48.1 MW for the quarter, against 88.2 MW for the 3 months ending June 2017.
Electricity load served for reporting year 2017, ending May 2017, is estimated to be up 1.3% over RY2016 to 75.2 million megawatt hours. This is a shift in the flat to declining trend the market has experienced since reporting year 2012. Given current build and scenarios based off the 29.8 MW/month LTM rate, the NJ SREC market can expect an oversupply of approximately 500,000 SRECs during reporting year 2018 (approximately 20-25% over the estimated RY2018 requirement).
With regards to pricing, since the beginning of September pricing in the spot and forward markets have experienced appreciation. Pricing for NJ2018 and NJ2019 vintages has risen by approximately 12-14%, while pricing for NJ2020 and NJ2021 vintages has increased by approximately 30%. Price increases for the current vintages could be attributed to slightly lower than expected build rates and annual activity taking place ahead of the basic generation service (BGS) electricity auction, scheduled in early February 2018. Looking forward, price appreciation could also be due to early BGS activity, but also potentially attributed to the possibility of increased RPS requirements, particularly in light of the recent election of NJ Governor Phil Murphy and his stance on clean energy initiatives.
For a complete update on the supply and demand outlook, see our presentation here.
SRECTrade will continue to provide updates as available. Thank you and wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!
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