Current Status of the RPS Solar Carve-Out Program

DOER Announces 2012 Minimum Standard

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) announces the Minimum Standard for Compliance Year 2012. The Minimum Standard for 2012 will be 0.1630%. The Total Compliance Obligation will be 81,559 MWh.

See the announcement  .

Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auction Account Closes with No SRECs Deposited

The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) announces the close of the Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auction Account for Compliance Year 2010. As of 12:00 AM EST on June 16 ^th no SRECs had been deposited into the Auction Account at NEPOOL GIS. Given that there was no volume of SRECs in the Account at its closing, DOER will not hold a Solar Credit Clearinghouse Auction in late July.

The lack of deposits in the Auction Account reflects the shortage of SRECs available to meet the 2010 solar compliance obligation, enabling all sellers of SRECs to find willing buyers in the market.

SRECs Minted and Expected

The following table was developed in an effort to provide transparency to the market in regards to the number of Solar Carve-Out Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) that have been minted at the NEPOOL GIS and the number of MWh that have been reported to the MassCEC Production Tracking System (PTS). The table will be updated monthly.

SRECs Minted and MWh reported to the PTS  - May 7, 2012

Minimum Standard

Each Retail Electricity Supplier, both regulated utilities and competitive suppliers, must demonstrate to DOER in an Annual Compliance Filing that it complied with the RPS Minimum Standard for the prior calendar year (Compliance Year). The Minimum Standard for the Class I Solar Carve-Out is the percentage of a Supplier's total retail load obligation that must be met by the ownership of Solar Carve-Out Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) issued by the NEPOOL GIS, with each SREC signifying one MWh of electrical energy from a PV Generation Unit (or Aggregation) that has been qualified by DOER for the Solar Carve-Out.

The Solar Carve-Out Minimum Standard is part of, not in addition to, the RPS Class I Minimum Standard. The Minimum Standard for the RPS Class I Solar Carve-Out of each year is calculated and announced in accordance with the provisions of the RPS Class Regulation in 225 CMR 14.07(2).

Calculation of the RPS Class I Solar Carve-Out Minimum Standard
 

Opt-In Term

The Opt-In Term set for projects that receive Statements of Qualification through July 19, 2012 is 40 quarters or 10 years. DOER will announce any changes to the Opt-In Term no later than July 20, 2012.

Alternative Compliance Payment Rates

The Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) Rate is $550/MWh for Compliance Year 2012. Competitive Retail Electric Suppliers will be able to meet their Solar Carve-Out compliance obligation for load under contract prior to January 1, 2010 with an Alternative Compliance Payment at a rate equal to the RPS Class I ACP rate for the applicable Compliance Year. These eligible contracts do not include any contracts associated with Basic Service load sold by distribution companies to retail customers.

Forward Solar Carve-Out ACP Rate Schedule

Qualifed Projects

DOER has granted Statements of Qualification for the following Generation Units: RPS Solar Carve-Out Qualified Units  - May 7, 2012

This information is provided by the Department of Energy Resources.