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Daniel Popp
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Posts by Daniel Popp
Solar Energy for New Jersey Business
September 2nd, 2010
Michael Flett, President and CEO, of Flett Exchange recently spoke at the “Solar Energy for New Jersey Business-Developing and Financing Your Own On-Site Solar Facility“ conference on Thursday, August 19th, 2010. The solar forum was hosted by the law firm Gibbons P.C. and CPA firm Eisner Amper LLP. More than 500 business owners, senior executives, and industry representatives attended the conference, which provided a comprehensive overview of solar development, regulatory compliance, and innovative financial structures. The clean energy economy is growing and thriving in the Garden State. New Jersey is the second most active state for solar power installations and the seventh for venture capital investments in clean energy projects. With millions of dollars available from private equity, venture capital funds, and Federal and State agencies, corporations have the incentive to enter this growing marketplace.
Some of the state’s leading authorities on solar energy discussed:
- The business case for solar projects
- Federal and State incentives
- Choosing between rooftop, ground mount, or carport structures
- Analyzing the risks, costs and benefits of solar energy projects
- Project development from financing and assembling a team through design, operation, and maintenance
Keynote Speaker:
- Upendra Chivukula, New Jersey State Assemblyman
Executive Panelists:
- Michael Flett, President and CEO, Flett Exchange LLC
- Rich Cleaveland, Partner, Amper, Politziner & Mattia
- Al Bucknam, CEO SunDurance Energy
- George Cruden, Director of Market Operations, Power & Communications Market Team, Clough Harbor Associates
- Doug Janacek, Co-Chair, Real Property & Environmental Department, Gibbons P.C.
- Valerie Montecalvo, President, Bayshore Recycling Corp.
- Steve Morgan, President and CEO, American Clean Energy, LLC, and past senior executive of First Energy Corporation including CEO and Chairman of Jersey Central Power & Light
- Anthony DiGiacinto, Amper, Politziner & Mattia
- Paula Durand, Senior Venture Officer, Clean Technology, New Jersey Economic Development Authority
- Kurt Fuoti, TD bank
- Ronald Reisman, Manager of Business Outreach, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
- James Rice, CEO, Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC
- Govi Rao, President and Chief Executive Officer, Noveda Technologies, Inc.
Gibbons P.C. and Eisner Amper LLP look forward to identifying solar opportunities and working together with qualified corporations to enhance the evolution of the New Jersey solar marketplace.
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Delaware Set to Boost RPS
July 29th, 2010
June 29th, 2010 –
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The Delaware House of Representatives has passed the latest revision of SB 119, entitled “AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO THE RENEWABLE ENERGY PORTFOLIO STANDARDS” by a margin of twenty-six to seven. The latest in a series of energy bills, Substitute 1 for SB 119 extends and increases Delaware’s RPS, raises penalties for non-compliance, and requires municipal electricity suppliers and rural cooperatives to submit their own plans for renewable energy, shall they choose to exempt themselves from the program. Already passed by the Senate, the bill is now awaiting the signature of Governor Jack Markell. |
After the bill is signed into law, the current RPS of 20% by 2019 with 2.005% minimum from solar will be increased to 25% by 2025 with 3.5% from solar. Additionally, the Alternative Compliance Penalty will be raised from $250 to $400 per MWh, with the $50 annual increase for non-compliant utilities remaining in effect. This comes as welcomed news for Delaware’s home-grown solar industry and residents, who depend on incentive programs to spur new installations. Short-term solar targets are also slated to increase, with new targets of .2% by 2011 and .354% by 2014 going into effect.
The bill also incentivizes locally-sourced solar. It provides an additional 10% credit toward RPS compliance for SRECs produced by solar facilities that were built using at least 75% in-state labor or consist of at least 50% in-state manufactured components. These provisions demonstrate Delaware’s commitment adopting clean energy while still fostering a robust home-grown solar industry.
Also, new provisions have been added to allow state energy coordinators to adjust the ACP by as much as 20% “to determine reasonableness compared to market-based SREC prices” and another that allows the solar requirement to be frozen all together if the total cost of compliance exceeds 1% of the retail cost of electricity. These amendments demonstrate Delaware’s willingness to provide better incentives for going green while still safeguarding against unreasonable rate hikes.
Delaware’s amendments echo similar legislation in neighboring Maryland, which has recently expanded its own renewable energy portfolio, and demonstrates a growing trend all over the United States toward fostering growth in renewable energy. Delaware and other PJM states are leading the way in creating effective renewable energy programs, striking a balance between increasing clean energy while still protecting tax payers from unfair rate hikes.
SB 119 – Original, Delaware.gov Legis Home Page:
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis145.nsf/vwLegislation/SB+119/$file/legis.html?open
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS145.NSF/7712cf7cc0e9227a852568470077336f/6b0482f3610e0c11852575750058d5a8?OpenDocument
SB 119 – Substitute 1, Delaware.gov Legis Home Page:
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/lis145.nsf/vwLegislation/SS+1+for+SB+119/$file/legis.html?open
http://legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS145.NSF/b51f4b5053c30a5c852574480048057a/a189cc0072f401998525771300660055?OpenDocument
Township of Verona SREC Public-Auction Results
June 28th, 2010
Flett Exchange is pleased to announce the results of the Township of Verona Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) public-auction. 79 Energy Year 2010 New Jersey SRECs were sold at a clearing price of $675.00. The sale was conducted on Flett Exchange’s online, transparent environmental exchange under its “Public-Auction SREC Market” and total market proceeds equaled $53,325.00. Qualified buyers and the public could observe the bidding in real time by logging in to Flett Exchange.
The $675.00 clearing price is 97.4% of the $693 Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP). The ACP is the payment electric producers have to pay to the State of New Jersey if they do not produce a specified amount of electricity using solar energy or through the purchase of SRECs from facilities located in New Jersey. This activity supports solar development in New Jersey and SREC revenue goes to entities that take risk in developing solar facilities.
Proposal to Extend and Expand Federal Renewable Energy Grants Until 2012
June 28th, 2010
June 15, 2010, WASHINGTON DC — — U.S. Senators proposed extending the 30% federal cash grants to renewable energy developers for another two years. Passed as part of the “2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act”, Section 1603 gives 30% cash grants in lieu of investment tax credit (ITC) to renewable energy developers. Set to expire at the end of this year, the proposal would extend the Treasury-Department-issued grants until 2012. Though other Recovery Act programs have helped provide liquidity to the renewable energy, extending these cash grants is seen as vital to ensuring new solar, wind, and geothermal projects continue being installed across the United States.
Prior to the “2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act”, a 30% tax credit was given to renewable energy developers to incentivize projects. Developers then sought tax-equity partners in order to provide initial project funding. While large Wall Street banks were able to provide tax-equity services before the financial crisis; after credit markets dried up, cash grants were needed to spur continued growth in renewables. By giving developers direct access to capital, the grants provide crucial start up funding for renewable energy projects, which can run into the millions of dollars.
The proposal comes in the form of an amendment to the “tax extender” portion of a $140 billion dollar federal unemployment and tax break extension package currently being deliberated in Congress. Six democratic senators, including Dianne Feinstein of California and Maria Cantwell of Washington, introduced the legislation last Tuesday. According to Feinstein, “The clean energy sector is the next frontier in jobs creation, so we need to ensure that developers can access financing to launch wind, solar and geothermal projects and put people to work.”
The current grant program is credited with helping keep U.S. wind, solar, and geothermal markets afloat after the financial crisis evaporated many sources of funding for renewable energy developers. Now, industry insiders and analysts agree that the proposed extension is crucial to avoid a possible slowdown. The senators did not specify the exact cost of the latest bipartisan proposal but said it would be minimal and will help to “jumpstart” a transition to clean energy.
It’s likely that as the grant-expiration deadline nears the federal government will act swiftly on the measure to prevent renewable energy sector from suffering a slowdown. The reliable funding provided from these incentives is vital to continued expansion and adoption of renewable energy in the United States. If this measure is passed, growth in renewables should continue to accelerate and increase as well as spur job creation in this important sector.
More about Flett Exchange:
Flett Exchange operates a continuous, real-time trading platform where users can buy and sell solar renewable energy credits (SRECs). Flett Exchange offers long-term SREC contracts, public-auction services, power purchase agreements (PPAs), request for proposals (RFPs), voluntary REC markets, and solar consulting services for its clients. A pioneer in renewable energy markets, Flett Exchange has been publishing daily SREC settlement prices and other market data since 2007 bringing transparency, standardization, and fairness to renewable energy markets.
Source(s):
http://www.greentechnologydaily.com/energy/576-proposal-would-extend-cash-grant-for-renewables-to-2012
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-2899
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/utilities/senators-propose-extending-renewable-energy-grant-program/
Future of Connecticut Energy Financing Bill Remains Uncertain After Veto
June 28th, 2010
The Connecticut State Senate and House of Representatives passed State Bill 493 recently, but a veto from the Nutmeg State’s republican governor, M. Jodi Rell, has state democrats scrambling for votes to overturn her decision. Rell says the Bill, entitled “AN ACT REDUCING ELECTRICITY COSTS AND PROMOTING RENEWABLE ENERGY”, will accomplish neither of its two stated goals.
Fed up with the nation’s second highest electric rates (Hawaii is number one), Connecticut residents, businesses, and municipalities are frustrated with their state government’s reluctance to provide relief. The Bill, a revised version of an earlier piece of legislation (SB 463), aims to cultivate Connecticut’s home-grown clean-energy industry by incentivizing energy efficiency, providing loans for investment in renewables, and subsidizing clean-generation with grants for residents, businesses, and municipalities. Among some of the Bill’s more ambitious objectives is a promise to install a minimum of 30 Megawatts of residential solar PV by the end of 2021, and financing for a tariff fund to subsidize up to 50 Megawatts of utility-scale solar PV capacity.
The Bill would give municipalities new powers, allowing them to create loan programs and issue bonds in order to promote renewables and energy efficiency. It would also loosen requirements for a $200-500/kilowatt grant on “distributed resources”, such as on-site solar PV. Currently, the grants are only given if the project results in a reduction in Federally-Mandated Congestion Charges (FMCCs), a fee associated with interstate electrical transmission.
In addition to removing the FMCC eligibility clause mandated in 2005, the Bill would cap the grant at $200/kilowatt for installers and $250/kilowatt for electric companies, decreasing down to $25 in 2013. The Bill also seeks better coordination between electric companies, businesses, municipalities, financing, and regulatory agencies. It also calls for more frequent compliance auditing, and the creation of a yet unnamed agency to review and approve guidelines for the new programs.
The original proposal, SB 463, sought to fund the new loan programs by lowering Connecticut’s RPS and transferring the savings electricity companies would gain as a result into a special account used to subsidize the loan programs. But last minute changes to the Bill preserved incentives for energy efficiency, Combined Heating & Power (CHP), and solar PV, but removed the RPS reductions (Summary Section “B” Highlighted in YELLOW), leaving the original target of 20% by 2020 intact.
The amended Bill, SB 493, was passed by an 81-40 vote in the Connecticut House and a 20-14 vote in the State’s Senate. Whether the democrats in the senate can rally enough votes to overturn the Governor’s veto remains to be seen. Until then, the future of Connecticut’s renewable energy program is uncertain.
Source(s):
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/TOB/S/2010SB-00463-R00-SB.htm (Full-text SB463)
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/TOB/S/2010SB-00493-R00-SB.htm (Full-text SB493)
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/VOTE/S/2010SV-00324-R00SB00493-SV.htm (Senate Vote)
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/VOTE/H/2010HV-00214-R00SB00493-HV.htm (House Vote)
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2010/rpt/2010-R-0178.htm (Summary)
Litigation Looms Over the Mass. SREC Market
May 24th, 2010
Massachusetts based solar companies could lose a competitive advantage if a lawsuit filed by a Canadian company is successful. TransCanada Power, a Canadian utility provider who sells electricity to large commercial and industrial facilities in Northeast New England, is challenging a Massachusetts state law requiring utility providers to purchase all future renewable energy from firms based within the state.
According to the civil suit filed in Federal District Court on April 16th, 2010, TransCanada claims that the existing Massachusetts Solar Carve-Out and proposed Long-Term Renewable Energy Contract Program are unconstitutional and discriminatory on the grounds that they violate the Commerce Clause of US Constitution, which forbids restrictions on cross-state trading. The suit goes further claiming that the existing Carve-Out harms TransCanada and the public at large, forcing the purchase of Solar RECs at artificially and illegally high prices.
According to the suit, the current Solar Carve-Out “prevents the development of an efficient market for Solar RECs.” and, “will slow the development of an efficient market for solar energy.” TransCanada goes on to say, “Businesses and consumers will be forced to pay a higher price than they would need to pay for efficient production of renewable energy. As a result of artificially high prices, the purchasing public will be slower to adopt renewable energy.”
The suit takes direct aim at the ‘Green Communities Act’, passed in 2008, which calls for long term contracts to be entered exclusively with generators located in Massachusetts and Solar Renewable Energy Certificates to be purchased from generation units located in Massachusetts (or be forced to pay the Alternative Compliance Payment). TransCanada, whose subsidiary has committed over $300 million to construct the Kibby Wind Power Project along Kibby Mountain Range in Maine near the Canadian border, wishes to compete for Massachusetts long-term renewable energy contracts from the Kibby project and other sources located outside the state.
Public-Auction Results for Town of Morristown SREC Sale
May 20th, 2010
Flett Exchange is pleased to announce the results of the Town of Morristown Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) sale. 190 energy year 2010 New Jersey SRECs were sold at a clearing price of $676.25. The sale was conducted Flett Exchange’s electronic marketplace under its Public-Auction SREC Market and total market proceeds equaled $128,487.50. Registered buyers and the public could observe the bidding in real time by logging in to Flett Exchange.
The $676.25 clearing price is 97.5% of the $693 Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP). The ACP is the payment electric producers have to pay to the State of New Jersey if they do not produce a specified amount of electricity using solar energy or through the purchase of SRECs from facilities located in New Jersey. This activity supports solar development in New Jersey and SREC revenue goes to entities that take risk in developing solar facilities.
The Town of Morristown generated these Solar RECs from a solar facility located on their waste water treatment plant.
Click Here To View Our Upcoming Public Auction Schedule
Public-Auction Results for Most Recent ACUA SREC Sale
April 30th, 2010
Flett Exchange is pleased to announce the results of the Atlantic County Utilities Authority (ACUA) Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) sale. 100 energy year 2010 New Jersey SRECs were sold at a clearing price of $676.25. The sale was conducted on Flett Exchange’s electronic marketplace under its Public-Auction SREC Market and total market proceeds equaled $67,625. Registered buyers and the public could observe the bidding in real time by logging in to Flett Exchange.
The $676.25 clearing price is 97.5% of the $693 Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP). The ACP is the payment electric producers have to pay to the State of New Jersey if they do not produce a specified amount of electricity using solar energy or through the purchase of SRECs from facilities located in New Jersey. The auction was oversubscribed and there was strong participation by Load Serving Entities (LSE’s) trying to procure SRECs. This activity supports solar development in New Jersey and SREC revenue goes to entities that take risk in developing solar facilities.
More about the ACUA: “The Atlantic County Utilities Authority is responsible for enhancing the quality of life through the protection of waters and lands from pollution by providing responsible waste management services. The Authority is an environmental leader and will continue to use new technologies, innovations and employee ideas to provide the highest quality and most cost effective environmental services.”
The ACUA generated these Solar RECs from a solar facility located on their waste water treatment plant.
Click Here To View Our Upcoming Public Auction Schedule
US Solar Capacity Surges in 2009 on New Economic Incentives
April 21st, 2010
LOS ANGELES, APRIL 15, 2010 — (Reuters) — Installed solar capacity jumped an astonishing 37% in 2009 following an onslaught of state and federal incentives offered during the recent economic crisis to help prop-up demand for new solar equipment. Grants, subsidies, tax-credits and cash incentives helped push revenue past $4 Billion in 2009, a 36% increase from the previous year.
According to a report released last Thursday by solar advocates it was the fourth straight year of unprecedented growth for the solar photo-voltaic industry here in the United States. This contrasts with the long-standing European solar power industry, which has seen a decrease as it’s mainstay nations ramp-down their incentive programs.
New U.S. solar capacity reached 481 Megawatts (MW) last year, an increase of 130 MW from 351 in 2008. Solar thermal for water heating also rose, but at a more modest 10% on the year. The only decline was seen in solar-pool heating, which saw a 10% decline blamed mostly on the slowdown in the housing sector.
Analysts say that the spike in U.S. growth is also attributed to lower prices of solar hardware, which the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) reported fell an estimated 40% in recent years. “Despite the Great Recession of 2009, the U.S. solar industry had a winning year and posted strong growth numbers… Consumers took notice that now is the best time to go solar,” says SEIA CEO Thone Resch. The increase in solar was led by California, with New Jersey coming in second place, followed by Florida, then Arizona.
According to the SEIA, six solar utility projects also came on line in 2009, including both solar PV and solar concentration plants. Despite the increase, solar still remains under 1% of utilities generation within the United States. The SEIA is optimistic for the future however and predicts 17 Gigawatts of solar power down the line, enough to power over 3 million homes.
“Now we’re talking gigawatts of solar, not megawatts,” said Resch.
View the SEIA’s 2009 Industry Year in Review Here:
http://seia.org/galleries/default-file/2009%20Solar%20Industry%20Year%20in%20Review.pdf
View the original article from Reuters Here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN159853820100415
(Reporting by Dana Ford; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
