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Posts Tagged ‘Solar Thermal’

DOER Files APS Regulations with Legislature

Posted October 16th, 2017 by SRECTrade.

On October 13, 2017, the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) filed an amended draft regulation with the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. Pursuant to Chapter 251 of the Acts of 2014 and Chapter 188 of the Acts of 2016, the draft regulations add renewable thermal, fuel cells, and waste-to-energy thermal to the Massachusetts Alternative Portfolio Standard (APS). The filing follows two rounds of public hearing and comment periods occurring in the summers of 2016 and 2017. The draft regulation and accompanying guidelines are available on the DOER’s website here.

In response to stakeholder comments, the DOER made several revisions in the filed regulations. A brief summary of these changes is provided here, but the full redlined version is available for review here.

  • Woody Biomass: revised definitions and requirements, including fuel specification and performance requirements
  • Liquid Biofuels: reorganized quarterly caps to be distributed during each year and aligned requirements for Eligible Liquid Biofuels with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)
  • Compost Heat Exchange Systems: added compost heat exchange systems as an eligible Renewable Thermal Generation Unit
  • Fuel Cells: revised efficiency threshold and modified eligibility for behind-the-meter, electric only, fuels cells to those interconnected to the Massachusetts electric grid
  • Multipliers for Non-Emitting Technologies: added multiplier for compost heat recovery systems and revised multipliers for intermediate and large, partial air source heat pump systems
  • Combination of Funding Provision: removed the combination of funding provisions and increased the maximum combination of funding percentage from DOER or any other state agency to 80%

In addition to the foregoing, the DOER made several technical edits and clarifications to reconcile language inconsistencies in the regulation and Guidelines. The DOER’s announcement of the filing is available here.

SRECTrade will continue to monitor the progress of the APS regulations and will provide updates as they are made available.

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Posted in Massachusetts, Solar Thermal | Comments Off on DOER Files APS Regulations with Legislature

Selling SRECs from Solar Hot Water Systems

Posted May 18th, 2012 by SRECTrade.

It’s been a while since we last updated our readers on the fundamentals of SRECs for solar hot water (SHW) systems. Currently two markets, Washington DC and Maryland, allow for SRECs sold from solar hot water systems. There have been proposals to create SREC markets for SHW in other markets, but no other states have concrete plans to do so.

Key concepts:

SRECs from SHW systems are calculated by using the annual energy estimate provided by the Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC) OG- 300 Water Heating System Rating or by converting BTUs to kW-hr equivalents from BTU meters.  BTU meter readings are provided directly to the tracking registry (PJM GATS) in BTU’s and PJM GATS converts the BTUs into kilowatts.  Calculate kW-hr equivalents by multiplying system BTUs by .000293 and 1,000 kW-hrs = 1 SREC.

Maryland SHW Registration Rules

    • Must be located in MD
    • Only systems commissioned with passing plumbing inspections issued after June 1, 2011 or later are eligible
    • Single dwelling residential systems are capped at 5 SRECs per year
    • Commercial systems are not capped
    • SHW systems cannot be used for heating a pool or hot tub
    • Systems must be certified by the SRCC OG-300 reporting protocol or have an International Organization of Metrology (OIML) compliant meter
    • SHW modules must be SRCC OG-100 compliant

District of Columbia SHW Registration Rules

    • Must be located in DC
    • Residential system must be SRCC OG-300 certified
    • Commercial systems producing >10,000 kW-hr equivalents must be SRCC OG-100 certified and have an OIML compliant meter
    • Commercial systems producing <10,000 kW-hr equivalents must be SRCC OG-100 certified, have an OIML meter or be certified to the SRCC OG-300 reporting protocol

If you’d like to utilize SRECTrade to monetize SRECs produced from SHW systems in either MD of DC please fill out this application and follow the directions on the form.

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Posted in Maryland, Solar Thermal, Washington, DC | Comments Off on Selling SRECs from Solar Hot Water Systems

MD to Accept In-state Solar Water Heating Systems for SREC Market

Posted May 27th, 2011 by SRECTrade.

Maryland recently passed legislation which will allow residential-scale in-state solar water heating systems (SWH) installed on or after June 1st 2011 to sell SRECs into the MD SREC market.  Eligible systems will, at a maximum, be able to produce 5 SRECs per year. The law does not go in to effect until January 1st 2012, so even if the system is installed now it will be another few months before they can monetize their SRECs. The bill states that eligible SWH systems are those that are not used solely for heating a pool or hot tub and are either metered by a device that meets the standards of the “International Organization of Legal Metrology” (OIML) or be OG-300 certified.

Another requirement is that the SWH collectors (the product that captures the sun’s heat) must be a “glazed liquid-type flat-plate or tubular solar collector by the OG-100 standard of the Solar Ratings and Certification Corporation (SRCC).”

Because SWH systems produce heat and not electricity, output is measured in British Thermal Units (BTUs) and not kW-hrs. In order for these systems to produce SRECs equivalent to their PV-system counterparts, they must be certified and metered in a way that can allow for accurate measuring and unit conversions. By multiplying each BTU by a conversion factor of .000293, one can determine the kWh equivalent production from the system. As a point of reference, a single a 21 ft2 flat plate solar thermal collector located in Baltimore, MD that has a conversion efficiency of 60% may produce as many as 2 SRECs per year.  Conversion efficiencies and BTU output will vary depending on the type of SWH panel used.

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Posted in Maryland, Solar Thermal, SREC Markets | 1 Comment »

Solar Capacity in the SREC States – December 2010

Posted January 5th, 2011 by SRECTrade.

SRECTrade SREC Markets Report: December 2010

The following post outlines the megawatts of solar capacity certified and/or registered to create SRECs in the SREC markets SRECTrade currently serves.

PJM Eligible Systems

As of the end of December, there were 11,241 solar PV (11,015) and solar thermal (226) systems registered and eligible to create SRECs in the PJM Generation Attribute Tracking System registry. Of these eligible systems, 35 (~0.3%) have a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or greater, of which only 3 systems are greater than 5 MW. The largest system, currently located in Ohio, is 12 MW,  and the second largest, located in Chicago and eligible for the PA and DC markets, is 10 MW. The third largest system, located in NJ, is 5.6 MW.

Massachusetts DOER Qualified Projects

As of December 10, 2010, there were 180 MA DOER qualified solar projects; 156 operational and 24 not operational. Of these qualified systems, 9 (~5.0%) have a nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or greater, of which only 2 are between 1.5 and 2 MW. None of the projects greater than 1 MW are currently operational.

Capacity Summary By State

The tables below 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. For example, PA In State includes projects eligible to sell into the PA SREC market as well as projects that may also be eligible to sell into OH and DC. 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. For example, New Jersey needs approximately 255 MW online for the entire 2011 reporting year to meet the RPS requirement. Additionally, the data presented below 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 to date.

Dec JPEG Image updated

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Posted in Capacity Summary, SREC Markets | 2 Comments »

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