NJBPU Announces Closure of the SREC Program: The Day for Solar Transition Arrives
In a series of orders issued on March 27th, and again on April 6th, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (“NJBPU” or the “Board”) effectuated the closure of New Jersey’s Solar Renewable Energy Credit (“SREC”) program and ordered transition to a successor program as required by the Clean Energy Act of 2018 (“CEA”).
As we have previously reported, the CEA mandates the closure of the SREC program after 5.1% of electricity sold in New Jersey is generated by solar energy. On April 6th, the NJBPU found that the 5.1% milestone will be attained before May 1, 2020. As a result, the Board ordered that new SREC registrations will be closed as of April 30, 2020. Pursuant to previous Board orders, all solar projects in the SREC Registration Program (“SRP”) that have not attained commercial operation on or before April 30, 2020 will not be able to participate in the SREC market. At that time, a Transition Incentive Program will commence.
As to current projects that remain within the SRP, the Board indicated in a January 8, 2020 Order that commercial operations would be deemed achieved when the public utility issues a permission to operate (“PTO”) letter. The NJBPU reiterated this in their recent orders and provided that projects obtaining a PTO letter prior to April 30th can submit their post-construction certification package within 90 days of the date of issuance of the PTO. Any project that has not obtained a PTO letter on or before April 30, 2020 will be in the Transition Incentive Program. In any case, the SRP portal used for processing post-construction certification packages for SRECs will close on July 29, 2020.
For more information, please contact your CSG attorney or the authors listed below.
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