The table below is an excerpt from Mass.gov Energy and Environmental Affairs regarding the current status of the RPS Solar Carve-Out Program. The table includes the number of MA SRECs that have been minted and the number of MWh that have been reported to MassCEC’s Production Tracking System as of August 10, 2012.  For more information, please go to: http://www.mass.gov/eea/energy-utilities-clean-tech/renewable-energy/solar/rps-solar-carve-out/current-status-of-the-rps-solar-carve-out-program.html

$292 for First Quarter 2012 Massachusetts Credits

Knollwood Energy is selling all first quarter credits for $292 per SREC.  If you have not given us a minimum sale price or have set a minimum sale price at or below that level, you will be paid for the first quarter credits you minted.

The following scenarios may happen at any time during the year if you set a minimum sale price:

1. If you set a minimum sale price which is below our current selling price then your credits will be sold.
2. If you set a minimum sale price and it is above our current selling price, your credits will not be sold at that time. If at anytime during the year, our selling price matches or exceeds your minimum sale price, then all unsold credits will be sold.
3. If you have unsold credits at the end of the SREC year, we will put them in the Clearinghouse Auction.  The auction for unsold 2012 credits will take place July 2013.  If your credits sell, the sales price will be $285 ($300 – $15 MA administrative fee) less our fee. If they do not sell, they will be returned to our Aggregation in the customer’s name and be eligible to be sold anytime in the 2013, 2014 or 2015 SREC year. Returned SRECs can not be placed in any future Clearinghouse Auctions.

If you set a minimum sale price with us, it can be changed/removed at any time. Please email Alane@knollwoodenergy.com at any time if you wish to set, change, or remove a minimum sale price.

As of 12/1/2012, the BPU will no longer allow customers to use engineering estimates for systems under 10kW and will require the use of a revenue grade meter that meets the specifications of ANSI C12.1.  Most of you will be receiving  notification of this from GATS and your installer.  This is a requirement!   If you do not have a new revenue grade meter, you will not be eligible to receive SRECs. Check with your installer first to determine if you already have a revenue grade meter in place.  Please contact us if you would like a list of installers who can provide you with the right meter.  Lastly, when your new meter is installed, be sure to ask for instructions on how to read it.

MA SREC Forecast

It is now expected that 2012 will have more credits for sale than demand. Minting for first quarter 2012 will occur on July 15th.  Pricing is expected to fall below the “floor” of $285.

Reported production between January – June 2012 is 40,034MWhs.  There are currently about 90MWs of systems installed.  If there were no additional installations (obviously not going to happen), that would generate approximately 47,000 additional SRECs for the year.   So, based just on what is in the ground today, over 87,000 SRECs will be minted, which is well over the 73,400 SRECs required for 2012.

How the Auction is expected to work

Since there were not enough credits to meet the 2011 compliance requirement, it is highly unlikely that there will be a Clearinghouse Auction in July 2012.  Unsold credits in the 2012 SREC year, can be placed in the Clearinghouse Auction which will take place July 2013.  MA DOER will run the auction up to three consecutive times increasing the value to the buyers after each round.  If there are still unsold credits after the third (and final) auction, those SRECs will be re-minted.  Re-minted SRECs will be deposited back to the generation unit for sale during the next three years.  Those redeposited, re-minted SRECs could actually be “more valuable” than a current year SREC.  Note, redeposited SRECs cannot be put into any future Clearinghouse Auctions.

How can credits sell less than the “floor”?

Credits sold in the MA Clearinghouse Auction will be sold for $300 minus a MA DOER administrative fee of $15.  This has given the illusion that the minimum selling price for an SREC is $285.  As noted above, it is possible that not all credits will be sold in the auction.  It is also likely that during a year of expected over supply, generation unit owners would be willing to take a lesser amount to get their credits sold during the current year instead of waiting for the auction the following July.

How long will this continue?

The current SREC program will not qualify new installations once MA reaches 400MWs of approved systems.  All systems qualified and approved prior to reaching 400MWs will continue to be eligible for SRECs and to participate in the Clearinghouse Auction until their Opt-In End Date.  As of July 6, 2012, there are 89.9MWs of approved systems.  The last two months have seen an installation rate just under 9MWs per month.  That 20MWs in two month is equal to the total number of systems qualified in all of 2010.  The rate of installation is expected to continue to increase each month.  We expect that once MA reaches the 400MW the volatility will be greatly reduced and credits will stabilize close to the floor.  With the growth and what has been witnessed in other states, this will occur much sooner than originally expected.

How Knollwood Energy is prepared for this uncertain market

Knollwood Energy has been monetizing solar renewable energy credits since 2006.  We have experience with the up and down markets in PA and NJ.  Knollwood Energy’s approach has always been to help our customers make the most informed decision to meet their financial needs and desires.

Based on current and expected market conditions, SREC prices will be trading below the floor price for the foreseeable future. Please contact us no later than next Friday, July 20 if you would like to set a minimum sale price for your 2012 credits.  If we do not hear from you by July 20, we will sell your first quarter credits at the prevailing market rate.  If we do not sell all of your credits by the end of the SREC year, they will be placed in the Clearinghouse Auction.

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact Alane Lakritz  by email at Alane@knollwoodenergy.com or by phone at 862-432-0259.

Effective March 8, 2012 Knollwood Energy, LLC assigned the rights to its facilities in Massachusetts to its affiliate Knollwood Energy of MA LLC.  This new LLC will allow us to focus time and capital specifically on the needs of the dynamic Massachusetts market.

This transition is seamless to the customer. The current contracts of Massachusetts customers have been taken over by Knollwood Energy of MA LLC. MA DOER will be assigning all current Knollwood Energy LLC customers to the new entity.

The primary contacts remain the same:

Alane Lakritz – President,  Alane@KnollwoodEnergy.com, 862-432-0259
Karen Adelman – VP of Sales, Karen@KnollwoodEnergy.com, 862-432-0370
Amy Molinaro – MA Operations Manager, Amy@KnollwoodEnergy.com, 908-955-0590

We thank all of our customers for their business and we look forward to continuing to provide you with outstanding service.

New Jersey solar installations hit a record in the month of January, with about 85MW getting installed in the month.   The reason for the tremendous bulge is due to the timing of the end of the Treasury 1603 tax grant.  This brings total installed capacity to about 650MW.   As can be seen from the table below, this is about as much solar as is needed for the 2014 SREC year, which begins June 1, 2013.

We would expect the rate of installation to drop dramatically from the January level, but the 1603 impact should be impacting installations throughout the 2012 calendar year.  We are estimating install rates to average 20MW/month for the period between now and the end of the 2013 SREC year, or May of 2013.

With these estimates, we expect to see depressed SREC prices in New Jersey for the foreseeable future unless there are either legislative or BPU changes to increase demand.

SREC                            RPS installation                    Projected                          Excess
Year                            requirements (MW)        installation (MW)*           installation (MW)
2012                                      368                                   500                                  132
2013                                      497                                   730                                  233
2014                                      643                                   970                                  327
2015                                      804                                1,090                                  286
2016                                      958                                1,210                                  252
2017                                   1,131                                1,330                                  199
2018                                   1,326                                1,450                                  124
2019                                   1,548                                1,570                                    22
2020                                   1,803                                1,690                                 -113

*Assumes 20MW/month thru May 2013, then 10MW/month thereafter
Also, this does not include the cumulative impact of banked SRECs, which would increase the number of years until the market is in balance.

Massachusetts minted third quarter (July-September 2011) SRECs on January 15th.  Knollwood Energy sold all third quarter MA Solar Renewable Energy Credits for $541.  We are committed to providing our customers with excellent customer service, low fees and competitive pricing.

The chart below represents Knollwood Energy’s selling price for MA SRECs since the inception of the program.

Knollwood Energy is one of the largest institutional sellers of solar renewable energy credits in the country. We have been monetizing credits since 2006 with over 3700 residential and commercial systems.  Our experience, size and direct relationship with utility buyers enables us to maximize the revenue for all of our customers.  We transform our customers into a multi-megawatt institutional seller.  The utilities pay us a premium to get a large quantity of credits in one transaction.  Our customers benefit from Knollwood’s ability to strategically place anticipated SRECs when strong market conditions present themselves.  We do not charge our buyers a fee, which in turn means better pricing for our customers!

**** Please note, the deadline to register installations that occurred prior to December 31, 2011 is February 15th. Please contact us ASAP to register your solar installation.  We will take care of all the required paperwork to get a system approved and registered for MA SRECs before the deadline.

This week, President Obama and Governor Patrick both confirmed their visions for our clean energy future. In the State of the Union speech, the President talked about the “promise of clean energy,” and said “nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy.” In the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth address, he brought it home, reminding us that the Green Communities Act fundamentally shifted our state’s energy focus toward efficiency and renewable energy.

Thanks to this leadership and the work of thousands across Massachusetts, we’ve made significant clean energy progress over the last year. Please take a minute and view my Massachusetts 2011 Clean Energy Year in Review post on our Energy Smarts blog to see many of the advances we made together in 2011.

Click the image below to see the advances in our energy agenda from last year. You can also view the Massachusetts 2011 Clean Energy Year In Review on this site: http://prezi.com/x07ifhovrdku/massachusetts-2011-clean-energy-year-in-review/

After carefully reviewing the public comments that were received, the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) is pleased to publish the Guideline that establishes a rolling 10 year Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) Rate Schedule for the RPS Solar Carve-out. The schedule maintains the ACP Rate at its current level through Compliance Year 2013, and then reduces the Rate at 5% per year. The ACP Rate Schedule was established with consideration of price levels necessary to maintain robust solar development, while protecting ratepayers from unnecessary cost impacts.

DOER recognizes the importance to project developers and project financers, along with retail electric suppliers with compliance obligations, of having greater certainty about the ACP Rate further into the future. DOER expects this newly provided certainty will enhance parties’ abilities to project SREC revenue streams and facilitate project financing and negotiations for long-term contracts for SRECs.

Process for Implementing Solar ACP Rate Schedule

DOER will shortly commence rulemaking with limited scope to revise 225 CMR 14.00 to integrate the Solar ACP Rate Schedule into the Solar Carve-Out provisions as substitute for the current section 225 CMR 14.08(3)(b)2 that provides DOER the discretion to reduce the Rate annually.

10-year Forward Schedule
Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) Rate
MA Solar Carve-Out
RPS Program 225 CMR 14.00

Karen joins the Knollwood Energy MA team
Knollwood Energy is pleased to announce that Karen Adelman will be assisting with customer relations in Massachusetts. Karen has been with Knollwood Energy for the past year covering the Pennsylvania market. She can be reached at: Karen@KnollwoodEnergy.com or direct phone number 862-432-0370.

Alane Lakritz will be focusing on business development. She is actively working on enhancing Knollwood Energy’s financial product offerings in Massachusetts.  Stay tuned for information in the near future on this. She will also be responsible for expanding our market territory in existing SREC states and new states as SREC programs becomes available. Alane is always available to speak with customers, prospects and installers to answer specific questions on Knollwood Energy, the MA SREC program, or about the SREC market in general. She can be reached at Alane@KnollwoodEnergy.com or direct phone number 862-432-0259.

Q2 Minting
Knollwood Energy sold all Q2 credits for $539. Our customers will receive payment by the first week of November. If you are not an existing customer but would like to sell your credits to Knollwood, please contact us, we will be happy to assist.

Q3 SREC Deadline
MA DOER and MassCEC are tightening up the deadlines to submit paperwork. The deadline to submit paperwork for systems interconnected in the third quarter is November 15th. Please email Karen@KnollwoodEnergy.comimmediately if you have a system that interconnected prior to October 1, 2011 and is not set up for SRECs yet. If paperwork is submitted after this deadline, all production prior to October 1, 2011 will be lost.