This page, APS Renewable Thermal Statement of Qualification Application , is offered by
Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources

APS Renewable Thermal Statement of Qualification Application

Anyone who wants a Generation Unit to be qualified for participation in the APS Renewable Thermal program must apply for a Statement of Qualification (SQA). This page includes directions for applying for the APS Renewable Thermal SQA.

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Eligibility Criteria

All Renewable Thermal Generation Units must:

Generate useful thermal energy using sunlight, biomass, biogas, biofuel or naturally occurring temperature differences in ground, air or water
Deliver a useful thermal load to a facility located in Massachusetts
Have an operation date January 1st 2015 or later

Eligible APS Renewable Thermal technologies include:

Air source heat pumps systems
Ground source heat pumps systems
Solar thermal systems
- Solar hot water
- Solar hot air
- Solar sludge drying
Woody biomass systems
- Wood pellet
- Wood chip
Liquid biofuel systems
Biogas systems
Deep geothermal systems
Compost heat exchange systems

For more information on each individual technology, please visit our technology specific pages, above, or review the APS Program One Pagers, below.

Program Guidelines and Supplemental Information

The following regulations and guidelines provide all the necessary information to submit an APS Statement of Qualification Application:

On January 11th and 12th, DOER hosted Stakeholder Information Sessions to review the finalized program requirements for each technology. The slides from these sessions can be seen below.

On January 16th, DOER hosted a webinar to walk through the web application for renewable thermal systems in the APS. The recording of the webinar can be seen below.

Applying to the Massachusetts' Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (YouTube)

Incentive Estimator Tool

For small Generation Units and intermediate biomass Generation Units under 134,000 Btu/hr capacity the tool below can be used to estimate the number of AECs and the approximate APS incentive value. For the remaining intermediate and large Generation Units, the APS Renewable Thermal Performance Workbook, see below, can be used as an incentive estimator.

Please note, this tool is for informational purposes only and is intended to be used as a resource, and not a guarantee of an incentive.

APS Renewable Thermal AEC Calculator for Unmetered Systems (.xlsx)

Size Classifications

All renewable thermal Generation Units are classified into three sizes, small, intermediate, or large. The breakdown of each size classification can be seen below:

System	Small	Intermediate		Large
Solar thermal: Evacuated tube and flat plate solar hot water	Collector surface area less than or equal to 600 sq ft	Collector surface area between 660 and 4,000 sq ft	Not Applicable	Collector surface area greater than or equal to 4,000 sq ft
Solar thermal: solar hot air	Not Applicable	Collector surface area less than or equal to 10,000 sq ft	Not Applicable	Collector surface area greater than 10,000 sq ft
Solar sludge dryer	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	All
Eligible biomass fuel	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Capacity less than or equal to 1,000,000 Btu per hour	Capacity greater than 1,000,000 Btu per hour
Compost heat exchange system	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	All
Air source heat pump: electric motor or engine driven	Output capacity less than or equal to 134,000 Btu per hour	Not Applicable	Output capacity between 134,000 and 1,000,000 Btu per hour	Output capacity greater than or equal to 1,000,000 Btu per hour
Ground source heat pump	Output capacity less than or equal to 134,000 Btu per hour	Not Applicable	Output capacity between 134,000 and 1,000,000 Btu per hour	Output capacity greater than or equal to 1,000,000 Btu per hour
Deep geothermal	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	All

The size classification of a Generation Unit determines the metering methodology that must implemented for APS implementation. More information on metering methodologies can be found in the Guideline on Metering and Calculating the Useful Thermal Output for Renewable Thermal Generation Units, see above.

Small Generation Units do have the option to be classified as either intermediate or large Generation Units if they wish to forgo pre-minting or forward minting and instead meter their production. Intermediate Generation Units also have the option to be classified as large Generation Units if they wish to fully meter their production. Generation Units which opt to change their size classification must notify the Department in their Statement of Qualification Application and must remain their chosen size classification for the duration of their qualification period.

Multipliers

In order to provide a meaningful incentive to APS renewable thermal Generation Units, DOER has established the following multipliers:

APS Renewable Thermal Generation Unit Multiplier

System	Small	Intermediate	Large
Active solar hot water systems used for domestic hot water	3	3	3
Active solar hot water systems used for domestic hot water, space condition, or process loads	1	1	1
Active solar hot air systems	Not applicable	5	5
Solar sludge dryer	Not applicable	Not applicable	1
Ground source heat pumps	5	5	5
Deep geothermal	Not applicable	Not applicable	1
Air source heat pumps (electric or engine driven) - supplying less than 100% of building heating load²	2	Not applicable	Not applicable
Air source heat pump (electric or engine driven) - all other²	3	3	3
Compost heat exchange system	Not applicable	Not applicable	1
Biomass, biofuels, biogas	Not applicable	Not applicable	Not applicable

In addition to the above multipliers, any air source or ground source heat pumps are eligible for one additional multiplier of 2 (added to their base multiplier above) if they meet any of the following requirements:

the building achieves a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index rating of 50 or less as defined by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET) system, and as documented by a Certified RESNET Professional
the building meets the definition of “Zero Energy” as defined by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) publication “A Common Definition for Zero Energy Buildings,” dated 15 September 2015, and as documented in the application by a Massachusetts licensed Professional Engineer
the building is PHIUS+ Certified by the Passive House Institute US (PHIUS), as documented by a PHIUS-recognized Passive House Consultant (CPHC© )
the building is registered as a Certified Passive House Building or an EnerPHit Retrofit by the International Passive House Association (iPHA), as documented by an iPHA recognized Certified Passive House Designer.

Multiplier values are applied to the Useful Thermal Energy generated by the system.

AECs = Useful Thermal Energy (MWH) * ( base multiplier + additional multiplier)

Application Instructions

The APS Renewable Thermal application is a web-based application form hosted by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center's Production Tracking System. In order to qualify an APS eligible Generation Unit. applicants must register in the online application portal by creating a username and password and complete the application for each system they wish to qualify. Once applicants have registered, they will be able to save new applications and log out and reenter the application platform. Please note, all system owners are encouraged to work with an aggregator, see information below, who may submit the application on their behalf.

APS Renewable Thermal Application Portal

For how to use the APS Renewable Thermal Application Portal please consult the video below.

Applying to the Massachusetts' Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard (YouTube)

For the following technologies, all applicants should contact DOER at thermal.DOER@mass.gov for more information.

Intermediate liquid biofuels systems
Deep geothermal systems
Solar sludge drying systems
Compost heat exchange systems

Application Attachments

The following table indicates the attachments that are required for a Statement of Qualification Application, per technology and size classification:

ST = Solar Thermal, ASHP = Air Source Heat Pump, GSHP = Ground Source Heat Pump
Attachment	Small ST	Intermediate ST	Large ST	Small ASHP/GSHP	Intermediate ASHP/GSHP	Large ASHP/GSHP	Intermediate Biomass	Large biomass
AEC Services Agreement	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional
Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Certification	NA	NA	NA	Optional	Optional	Optional	NA	NA
Affidavit of Zero Energy	NA	NA	NA	Optional	Optional	Optional	NA	NA
Passive House Certification	NA	NA	NA	Optional	Optional	Optional	NA	NA
Independent Verifier Request Form	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
Fuel Supply Plan	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	Required	Required
One Line Electrical Diagram with all APS Meters Shown	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
Metering Plan	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
List of APS Meters	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
System Information Data Sheet	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
Equipment Arrangement Drawing	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
General Site Plan	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
Annotated Product Literature for all Major Equipment	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
Annotated Product Literature for Each APS Meter	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
Annotated Product Literature for the Data Acquisition System	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
Description of System Controls and Sequence of operations	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
System Performance Workbook	NA	Required	Required	NA	Required	Required	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	Required
Certified Performance Data Construct	NA	Required	NA	NA	Required	NA	Required for systems larger than 134,000 Btu/hr output capacity	NA

The following documents are required for a system submitting a Statement of Qualification Application, as noted above:

AEC Service Agreement (PDF)
APS Renewable Thermal Independent Verifier Request Form (PDF)
APS Renewable Thermal Performance Workbook - ASHP (.xlsx)
APS Renewable Thermal Performance Workbook - GSHP (.xlsx)
APS Renewable Thermal Performance Workbook - Solar Thermal (.xlsx)
APS Renewable Thermal Performance Workbook - Other (.xlsx) (Including biomass, compost heat exchange, solar sludge dryers, and deep geothermal)

Application Deadlines

DOER has established deadlines for submitting applications for each quarter. If a system wishes to receive credit for production in a particular quarter, it must submit a complete application by the deadline for that quarter. For example, if a project interconnected on January 1^st submitted an application after the Q1 deadline of May 15^th, it would lose all credit for production occurring between January 1^st and March 31^st.

Quarter	Application Submission Deadline
Q1	May 15th
Q2	August 15th
Q3	November 15th
Q4	February 15th

Aggregators

DOER encourages Owners of all sizes and technologies to take advantage of Aggregations, managed by an aggregators. An aggregator provides the benefits of managing the qualification process through DOER, establishing a NEPOOL GIS account and asset ID on behalf of the Generation Unit, and the marketing and sale of a Generation Unit's AECs. Owner should be aware of and carefully consider the aggregator’s contract terms and fees for the disposal of its members' AECs. A reference list of aggregators working in the Massachusetts market is provided below.

An Aggregation can only be composed of projects that are of the same technology, located in the same state, and each meet all applicable eligibility criteria for qualification under APS.

If the system is part of an Aggregation and the system owner and aggregator are separate entities, than the following document must be signed by each party attesting that a contract has been signed and should the contract be terminated DOER will be notified within 30 days.

List of Aggregators Updated March 2025

Independent Verifiers

All intermediate and large Generation Units (except intermediate biomass systems less than 0.134 MMBtu/hr capacity) are required to contract with an Independent Verifier (Third Party Meter Reader), also referred to as an IV. The duty of the IV is to access/read the output of each meter of the unit, assure itself that the reading is reasonable, and accurately report the generation of the unit to the NEPOOL GIS (GIS) on a quarterly basis. Such reporting is done via the IV's own account at the GIS. DOER has provided a list of Massachusetts RPS/APS Qualified IVs for reference below. However, applicants are not required to select an IV from the list and the inclusion of an IV on the list does not necessarily guarantee its approval for all Generation Units. All applicants must attach the Independent Verifier Request Form to the online application and provide the details on the IV chosen. If the chosen IV is not already registered at the GIS, the IV must register via the GIS homepage (nepoolgis.com); such registration can be completed only when the Department informs the GIS it has approved the IV for that Generation Unit.

All small Generation Units and intermediate biomass Generation Units less than 0.134 MMBtu/hr do not need to contract with an Independent Verifier, as the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center will act as the Independent Verifier for all of these systems.

RPS/APS List of Independent Verifiers (.xlsx)

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