Posts Tagged ‘PA AEC’

PA’s Latest Attempt to Increase Solar Requirements – HB 1128

Posted November 12th, 2010 by SRECTrade.

At the end of September, Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced HB 1128. The main focus of the bill is to amend the requirements under PA’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS) by increasing the amount of renewable energy to come from Tier I alternative energy sources and Solar Photovoltaic technologies. In addition to increasing the requirements, HB 1128 attempts to amend the program by introducing a fixed alternative compliance payment (ACP) for the Solar PV portion of the AEPS. Currently, the ACP under the PA solar carve-out is derived based on 200% of the average SREC price paid by buyers during the reporting year. The ACP in RY2008 and RY2009 was $528.17 and $550.15 per MWh, respectively. The table below demonstrates the the key changes to the solar requirements, attempting to increase the total requirement 3 times the current level by the 2022 energy year.

Positive Impacts of HB 1128
The increase in PV capacity would help support the growing solar economy in Pennsylvania and provide more room under the current requirements for more solar to come to market. The current PA market has over 2,900 solar projects registered and eligible for the AEPS program. The total nameplate capacity of these projects is equal to 51.8 MW. Of these 2,900 projects only four projects are greater than 1 MW. In addition to being eligible for the PA SREC market, many of these facilities could also be registered in other states such as Ohio and Washington D.C.

The current capacity of solar projects eligible for the PA market is greater than the requirements for the current energy year. The implementation of HB 1128 would allow for the solar market to continue to grow and support the development of projects of all sizes, from small rooftop residential to larger multi-MW utility scale solar systems. Pennsylvania’s inability to implement some sort of amendment to increase the solar RPS requirements could result in a migration of PA’s solar industry to other surrounding states such as New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware which have all recently increased the requirements of their solar RPS programs and maintain fixed alternative compliance payment schedules. It has been estimated that the increase in the AEPS program could create at least 14,000 jobs over the next ten years. A stronger solar policy in PA will not only help create new, clean energy focused jobs, but will help move the state towards a more energy independent future.

Compared to HB 2405, the treatment of out-of-state facilities is not addressed in HB 1128. Though the future acceptance of out-of-state facilities can be left up to the lawmakers to debate, the major problem with HB 2405 was that it excluded existing facilities from neighboring states that have been financed based on being accepted into the SREC program in Pennsylvania. This disregard for the existing out-of-state facilities is unacceptable. Fortunately, HB 1128 does not address this issue. Any future Bill to address this topic should at the very least grandfather in any previously approved facilities.

Negative Impact of HB 1128
Despite the need for an increased requirement, PA HB 1128 may not be the answer because of the low ACPs that are included in the Bill.  It could depress SREC market pricing to levels that could be prohibitive to the economics of solar today.  There are few financeable projects at SREC values below $200, especially when there is limited access to long-term contracts. Compared to other state markets, PA would have the lowest ACP and be heading in the opposite direction of states like Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey that have increased the fines to encourage growth and discourage electricity suppliers from paying the ACP.

Pennsylvania’s Current ACP
Meanwhile, the current ACP in Pennsylvania has not been implemented the way it was intended, which could have an impact on the market in the long run.  The way the law was written, the intent was to fine electricity suppliers 200% of the average SREC purchase price in the PJM region. i.e. keeping them in check with neighboring state markets.  Most likely because this was somewhat vague and difficult to calculate, the ACP was interpreted differently by the organizations implementing the program. Instead of being fined based on neighboring state markets, the interpretation of the ACP was that since Pennsylvania accepted SRECs from throughout the PJM region, it was a fair indication of the average price in the region. Therefore, Pennsylvania uses an ACP of 200% of the average price paid for compliance in Pennsylvania. Instead of keeping buyers in the PA market in check with other states, the ACP in Pennsylvania keeps buyers in check with themselves. The goal for buyers in Pennsylvania is to keep the average price down, so that the fines will remain low in non-compliance years. In reality, the price paid will ultimately have to be just enough to get a project done, though the market would be far more stable if the ACP were implemented as it was originally intended.

Click here for a link to the HB 1128 summary.

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Pennsylvania SREC Pricing

Posted July 13th, 2009 by SRECTrade.

The Pennsylvania Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (SACP) is structured a bit differently than the rest of the states in our auction.  Most states have a set SACP that is known at the beginning of each year.  Pennsylvania releases their SACP six months after the Energy Year ends. The 2008 Pennsylvania SACP of $528.34 was released in December of 2008 for the Energy Year ending May 31, 2008. It is calculated as 200% of the PJM area average SREC price. This means that from June 1, 2007 – May 31, 2008, the average PJM area SREC price was $264.17.  The interpretation used by the program is that this is an average of the price paid for SRECs used to comply with the Pennsylvania state RPS.  So in reality, it is an average of PA SRECs.

PA SRECs are valued based on speculation of what the SACP will be in  December. PA utilities should be willing to pay more for SRECs if they are struggling to meet the solar requirement in Pennsylvania. In the early years of this program, that requirement may be attainable, but it ratches up pretty quickly, so it may not be long before the SREC values in Pennsylvania increase above all the other states in the region.

For reference, our July 10th auction saw PA close at $300.  DE closed at $245, and MD closed at $375.

This is good news for solar owners in Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, West Virginia and the other surrounding states who may be eligible to sell into Pennsylvania.  Of course the influx of supply of SRECs into PA might at some point depress the price of SRECs.  It will be interesting to see how the market plays out.  One thing is certain—as a seller, it doesn’t hurt to be registered in as many states as you can.  See our post on cross-listing to learn how.

SRECTrade launches its service in Pennsylvania

Posted June 18th, 2009 by SRECTrade.

We are really excited to announce that we will be launching our auction in Pennsylvania next month! We are adding seven new states in our July 10th auction and giving Solar Alternative Energy Certificate sellers (AEC sellers or SREC sellers as they are referred to in other states) the ability to cross-list their SRECs.

The Pennsylvania SREC market is going to be significant and increase rapidly every year. Our estimates show that there will be a demand for 14,000 SRECs in Pennsylvania this year. These numbers represent the 0.0063% solar requirement for utilities and this number will grow to 0.5% by 2021.

Utilities that fail to comply will have to pay a Solar Alternative Compliance Payment (SACP) for each SREC (i.e. 1 Mega Watt Hour of electricity) they are short. Pennsylvania has a unique SACP structure where the penalty is not pre-fixed but is actually set 6 months after the end of the energy year. The energy year of Pennsylvania runs from June 1 to May 31 of the next year (for example, the 2009 energy year was from June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009). The SACP for the 2009 energy year will be declared on December 20, 2009 and will be 200% of the average SREC trading price in Pennsylvania in that year. This means that the SRECs will be sold without really knowing their true value. We plan on providing information on the average SREC trading price in the state to give our Pennsylvania customers a rough idea of what they should sell their SRECs for.

PA, MD, DC, NC and OH are the states accept out of state SRECs for now. For those of you who wish to be able to sell your certificates in these states, your system needs to be registered in that state and have a separate State Certification Number. This will be done with GATS, and we will soon put up information on the procedure.