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Think Tanks Suggest Overhaul of Federal Subsidy Programs for Clean Tech Industry

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

After peaking in 2009 at $44.3 billion, Federal spending to support clean energy will decline precipitously between 2009-2014.  The main driver behind this phenomenon will be the expiration of many programs established by the American Re-Investment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009.  These programs include: the Treasury 1603 Grant Program, section 1705 of the DOE Loan Guarantee Program, and the Production Tax Credit (PTC) for the wind energy industry in 2012.  Coupled with declines of support in Europe, the formerly booming clean tech industry could experience a period of significant bust due to oversupply in both the European and American markets.  However, the expiration of such programs need not lead to the stagnation of this critical endeavor to bring clean technologies to cost competitive status.

Several think tanks including: the Breakthrough Institute, the Brookings Institute, and the World Resources Institute recently published policy recommendations that would create sustainable and efficacious alterations to current subsidization practices.  The report emphasized the importance of creating targeted and temporary policies.  Specifically, Federal support should focus on increasing R&D funding, accelerating advanced energy technology commercialization, strengthening advanced manufacturing capabilities, and supporting regional industry clusters.  Other key recommendations include:

  1. Establishing a Competitive Market – New policies should create market opportunities while fostering competition between technology firms.
  2. Providing Targeted and Temporary Support for Maturing Technologies – Perpetual subsidies are ultimately unsustainable and do not incentivize the rapid growth of economies of scale they are intended to create.  Deployment policies should terminate subsidies for technologies that fail to improve in price and performance or become competitive without a subsidy.
  3. Reducing Subsidy Levels in Response to Changing Technology Costs – Incentive programs should gradually decline as the technology performance and prices improve. This will save taxpayer resources and motivate firms to keep up with the “curve.”
  4. Providing Sufficient Business Certainty- While incentives should remain temporary, their structure and content should provide clarity for businesses and investors to make necessary decisions.
  5. Providing Ready Access to Affordable Private Capital- Incentives should seek to avoid high transactions costs, but also open up clean tech investments to larger private capital markets.

The suggestions by these think tanks advocate the replacement of the DOE Loan Guarantee program with more “flexible, independent, and sophisticated” financial tools designed to draw private investment into cleantech projects.  This can be accomplished through a variety of credit, standardization, securitization and investment mechanisms delivered through a Clean Energy Deployment Administration or other entities.  They also underscored the power of military procurement to leverage demand in the short term, as many clean energy technology can be used for both civilian and military activities (advanced vehicle technology, aviation biofuels, advanced solar power, storage technology, etc.).

Furthermore, these policies are believed to foster bipartisan traction in the legislative arena. They aim to reduce the impact on the taxpayer by maximizing the impact of public funds through targeted subsidization.  They also strive to utilize mainly private sector mechanisms, creating new markets in which private firms can thrive.

Read the full report by the Breakthrough Institute, “Beyond Boom and Bust: Putting Clean Tech on a Path to Subsidy Independence.”

Sol Systems will continue to track any progress of this and any other initiatives supporting the solar industry on the federal level.  Please also check out our blog for updates on state legislation as well.

About Sol Systems
Sol Systems is a solar energy finance and development firm that was built on the principle that solar energy should be an economically viable energy solution. With thousands of customers and hundreds of partners throughout the United States, Sol Systems is the largest and oldest SREC aggregator. We provide homeowners, businesses, solar installers, and developers with sophisticated financing solutions that help make solar energy more affordable. Sol Systems also helps energy suppliers and utilitiesmanage and meet their solar RPS requirements efficiently by providing them with access to diverse portfolios of SRECs. For more information, please visit http://www.solsystemscompany.com.

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1603 Grant Fails to Pass in the Senate

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

The 1603 Treasury Program expired at the end of 2011 sparking much debate over the critical role it plays in growth for the solar industry.  Without the 1603 Treasury Program, providing payments for solar facilities in lieu of tax credits, accessibility to financing for these systems will be much more limited and the solar industry is expected to take a slight hit in installations in the near future. The US Partnership for Renewable Energy (USPREF) expects a 50% decline in tax equity for solar projects- from peak equity levels of $7.5 billion in 2011 to $3.5 billion.  However, growth is expected to continue in the industry due to declining production costs, existing tax equity programs, and general momentum in the market.

From the President to Senate, action has been taken to bring this program back to the forefront of discussion.  In President Obama’s most recent budget proposal, he expressed his support for the clean energy industry by including language on a “Clean Energy Standard,” which would look to produce 85 percent of the country’s electrical power from clean energy sources by 2035 (including solar, wind, nuclear, and natural gas).  Keeping this “Clean Energy Standard” in mind, President Obama also included increased funding and opportunities for the above mentioned energy industries – highlighting the extension of the 1603 Treasury Program for the solar industry.

President Obama’s support for the clean energy industry sparked movement in Congress to bring the President’s suggestions to life.  Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) answered the President’s call for improvements and greater support for the clean energy industry by proposing legislation that would establish a Clean Energy Standard for America.  Moreover, Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) took similar action by introducing an amendment to the Highway and Transportation Bill (S. 1813) that would extend the 1603 Treasury Program, as well as many other renewable energy-related programs (S. Amdt. 1812).

Sen. Stabenow introduced the amendment on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 and was joined by many of her colleagues on either side of the aisle who introduced their own partisan energy-related amendments.  Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced an amendment that would put an end to energy subsidies, while leaving oil and gas incentives untouched (Senate Amendment 1589).  Less than a week later, the Senate passed the transportation bill without the presence of Sen. Stabenow’s amendment, which failed to receive bipartisan support with a 49-49 final vote.  In a small victory for the industry, DeMint’s amendment failed to pass during the March 13 vote.  Other amendments supporting the advancement of the renewable energy industry and the energy independence of our country failed to reach approval as well.  With a lack of full support from the Democrats and immense opposition on the Republican side, the partisanship of Congress created a harsh environment to ensure the passage of this amendment.

The benefits of the 1603 extended well beyond large-scale solar projects. The majority of the 5,000 solar firms in the US are small businesses, many of which have benefitted on some level from this program to acquire capital for their projects.  These companies, otherwise unable to monetize the various tax equity incentives because of a lack of immediate capital, have been able to create successful businesses through the section 1603 grant. In 2011, the 1603 grant filled a $3.5 billion void in demand for financing that totaled $7.5 billion.  The program created a low-risk cash transfer for projects, aiding the industry to grow at astronomical rates during its lifecycle, as well as lower capital costs to the producer and subsequently lowering consumer costs.  It enabled the solar industry to reach grid parity in Hawaii and California, and placed it on the same track for several other states.  The USPREF estimated that the 1603 grant created about 155,000 direct industry jobs, with the potential to create an additional 37,000 if renewed.

However, the opposition points to the failure of large-scale, capital-intensive projects as wasted expenses, funded by taxpayer money.  The program did not limit eligibility based on the size of the system. Therefore, all levels of the commercial sized system can qualify.  Perhaps future attempts to extend the 1603 grant should contain language that would target smaller commercial systems from larger commercial systems, which can qualify for tax equity incentives. Limiting the size of qualifying systems would shrink the magnitude of the funds supplied by the grant, thus reducing the size of the losses when they occur.  This will not only continue to benefit businesses that have thrived under the availability of cheap and reliable capital, but could also placate the Congressional opposition that highlights the loss of revenue from costly failed projects.

Sol Systems will continue to track any progress of this grant and any other initiatives supporting the solar industry on the federal level.  Please also check out our blog for updates on state legislation as well.

About Sol Systems
Sol Systems is a solar energy finance and development firm that was built on the principle that solar energy should be an economically viable energy solution. With thousands of customers and hundreds of partners throughout the United States, Sol Systems is the largest and oldest SREC aggregator. We provide homeowners, businesses, solar installers, and developers with sophisticated financing solutions that help make solar energy more affordable. Sol Systems also helps energy suppliers and utilitiesmanage and meet their solar RPS requirements efficiently by providing them with access to diverse portfolios of SRECs. For more information, please visit http://www.solsystemscompany.com.

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Sol Systems Launches Sol SREC Analytics: A Critical Tool for the Solar Industry

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012

Sol Systems announces the launch of Sol SREC Analytics, a solar renewable credit (SREC) price forecasting tool that provides a standardized benchmark for the solar industry to utilize when transacting in the SREC space.  This new service is designed to bring much needed transparency and greater knowledge to solar stakeholders.  Sol SREC Analytics provides users with the tools to easily analyze estimated capacity growth, intra and inter-state trading considerations, current and proposed demand schedules, and short and long-term pricing curves.

Short-term and long-term SREC pricing is aggregated from several sources as well as from Sol Systems’ proprietary market analysis and is updated on a real time basis so that developers or investors with project opportunities in D.C., Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania (as well as some of the secondary SREC markets) can easily evaluate their expected project returns based on different market scenarios.

“The launch of Sol SREC Analytics sets a new standard for the solar industry to reference in SREC transactions,” said George Ashton, CFO of Sol Systems.  “It allows developers, EPC providers, investors, and property owners to better understand SREC markets and adjust their development goals or project pricing accordingly.  With this new tool, we are giving the industry direct access to powerful market resources, and anticipate it will allow them to find solid footing in often volatile SREC markets.”

Sol Systems will be hosting a webinar on Friday, April 20 to run through key features of Sol SREC Analytics.  To register, please click here.

About Sol Systems

Sol Systems is a Washington D.C. based solar energy finance and development firm that was built on the principle that solar energy should be an economically viable energy solution.  To date, Sol Systems has helped over 3,000 customers finance projects ranging in size from 1 kW to multi-megawatts in size.  Sol Systems currently operates throughout the United States and has partnerships in place with hundreds of solar installers and developers.

Sol SREC Analytics is available through SolMarket, Sol Systems’ transaction-driven ecosystem for the solar industry.  SolMarket is focused on reducing solar project finance costs by driving standardization and transparency into the industry.  The SolMarket investor network currently has over $1.9 billion in aggregate committed capital.  For more information, please visit www.srecprices.com.

Contact

Andrew Gilligan, Associate, Sol Systems, LLC
andrew@solsystemscompany.com
(202) 588-6457

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Securitization of Commercial Solar Projects

Tuesday, April 17th, 2012

Project finance for commercial solar rests on two pillars:

  1. Contracted revenue
  2. Underwriting a project’s risk

At SolMarket, we work with developers all over the country to help them secure financing for their solar projects. As these projects are published on the site, our investor partners, we have around twenty of them, pencil out the numbers to determine whether the revenue clears their hurdle rate.  If projected revenue looks good, they move forward to underwrite the project’s risk.

Risk allocation for commercial project is often a bit more complex, and includes, but is not limited to, construction risk, construction counterparty risk, operational risk, host counterparty risk, electricity offtake counterparty risk, performance incentive counterparty risk, political risk, performance risk, and force majeure risk. In each one of these categories, an investor must review the contracts in place and identify if, and where, the project company has made itself vulnerable. This is where the majority of projects are thrown out. In short, it is typically not the underlying economics or incentive structure that kills projects, instead it’s the inherent underwriting risks imbedded in projects.  An investor often has to weight whether  a particular  set of risks to the project company  against the costs of trying to resolve these risks through contract rewrites – and often finds the costs of rewriting is higher than the potential reward of investing in the commercial asset.

Standardizing the underwriting principles and acquisition process for commercial solar would address this concern. If developers utilized standardized documentation, and a marketplace was created to acquire the assets, the market would be both more transparent and liquid. Asset liquidity, in particular, would significantly benefit the solar market.  A secondary market for take-out finance (either through securitization, or through large-scale infrastructure funds) would mean that investors putting development risk capital to work would have the opportunity to refinance their projects and reinvest their efforts, and capital, in new projects.  A combination of increased liquidity and standardization would produce a significant reduction in financing, unlocking the potential for commercial solar.

Standardization of the marketplace is not a particularly new or original idea. Go to one of the many solar conferences out there, and if you sit in on a finance session, and you will hear panel participants and audience members advocate for standardization. Investors constantly lament that developers are executing contracts that are not financeable or reinventing the wheel with each deal – sometimes negotiating terms with host entities that kill the deal later in the process. The truth is, trying to coordinate developers to utilize standardized contracts and processes is like herding a pack of cats.

At SolMarket, we are making the investments and creating the resources to achieve standardization, and ultimately securitization.

As a first step, SolMarket has created a financing ecosystem for solar project developers and investors that provides standardized origination and diligence tools. We have borrowed heavily from  the social networking paradigm, and each project developer , each developer and each project has a normalized ‘profiles’. we created in consultation with several of our investor partners. The profile requires the information and documentation necessary for an investor to run diligence.

Once a profile is published, an executive summary is released to our network of  investors which, in aggregate, have over $1.9 billion in capital. A potential sponsor can pencil some numbers, and to the extent interested, request more information on the project. In this diligence phase, the sponsor reviews the project’s risk allocation through SolMarket. This work flow gives structure to the acquisition process as a first step towards standardization. With over 180 projects, and over 300 MW, looking for financing, SolMarket is developing a streamlined infrastructure for project acquisition.

And this ecosystem is evolving.

SolMarket is now developing algorithms to rate projects based upon the underlying risk allocations strategies (or lack thereof). This is comprised of two pieces.

First, SolMarket rates projects by the ability and speed at which a sponsor could diligence the quality of the risk allocation strategy for a project. Projects with complete and substantiated documentation receive higher marks than those project profiles that do not substantiate information. This way, our investor partners will know immediately if a project opportunity is verifiable and if diligence can be initiated.

Second, SolMarket rates projects by their underlying risk allocation strategies. SolMarket does not rate the quality of the risk allocation strategy per se, but we do group risk allocation strategies, and chart these strategies by the project’s verifiability. In this way, SolMarket is initiating the formation of asset classes for our investor network.

While we acknowledge that these are first steps, we think these steps are incredibly important and will be a significant contribution to the industry as we move towards the maturation of the solar industry and potential securitization.  At the end of the day we feel that while it’s interesting to talk about industry standardization at conferences, somebody has to step up and spend the time, and money, to develop the infrastructure to see it through. That’s what we’re here for.

About SolMarket

SolMarket is a transaction-driven ecosystem for the solar industry that catalyzes investment in solar energy by transforming how solar projects are financed.  SolMarket provides investors and developers with the tools they need to efficiently originate, evaluate, finance, and construct renewable energy projects.  SolMarket has over $1.9 billion in committed partnership funds seeking qualified solar projects and hundreds of users from the solar community.  SolMarket is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sol Systems, the country’s oldest and largest SREC aggregator.  Sol Systemshas facilitated over $100 million in solar development through long term SREC financing.  For more information, please visit www.solmarket.com.

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Sol Systems Updates Process for Entering Monthly Meter Readings

Thursday, April 12th, 2012

In order to make our meter readings process more efficient and clear, Sol Systems recently updated the way customers can report their monthly generation. Customers that are required to submit meter readings still should submit their reading as close to the first of each month as possible. However, customers may now choose between “Meter Reading” and “Monthly Net Generation” each month, instead of locking into one type of entry method the first time they report generation The process for updating monthly generation is as follows:

- Login to your Sol Systems owner dashboard
- Click on the upper left hand icon title “Add a Meter Reading”

  • If you have more than one system, select the appropriate system

- Choose between updating your system’s “Meter Reading” or its “Monthly Net Generation”

  • “Meter Reading” is the cumulative output of your system in kilowatt hours, as indicated by your dedicated solar meter or inverter
  • “Monthly Net Generation” is the difference between the meter reading at the end of the current month and the meter reading at the end of the previous month

- Click “Submit” once you enter the correct generation to successfully complete the process
- Alternatively, on the 1st and 10th of each month, if you have not yet provided a meter reading, we will send you a reminder email with a link that takes you directly to where you can enter your meter reading

If you have any further questions regarding meter readings, please e-mail our customer service team at info@solsystemscompany.com or 888-235-1538 x1.

About Sol Systems
Sol Systems is a solar energy finance and development firm that was built on the principle that solar energy should be an economically viable energy solution. With thousands of customers and hundreds of partners throughout the United States, Sol Systems is the largest and oldest SREC aggregator. We provide homeowners, businesses, solar installers, and developers with sophisticated financing solutions that help make solar energy more affordable. Sol Systems also helps energy suppliers and utilities manage and meet their solar RPS requirements efficiently by providing them with access to diverse portfolios of SRECs. For more information, please visit http://www.solsystemscompany.com.

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Maryland General Assembly Passes Solar RPS Acceleration Bill

Monday, April 9th, 2012

In an effort to take a firmer commitment towards a clean energy future, the Maryland Senate passed legislation (37-9) that will accelerate the requirement of 2% solar energy generation in Maryland by two years. As mentioned in a previous blog by Sol systems, SB791/HB1187 were drafted to address potential SREC market volatility caused by the design of the former Renewable Portfolio Standard. Termed by supporters as the Solar Jobs Bill, Maryland can expect over $3 billion in investments to the state, as well as the creation of over 10,000 jobs- volumes significantly higher than those of the previous RPS.

Sol Systems currently offers three types of SREC agreements for Maryland solar systems (both photovoltaic and solar thermal): Sol Brokerage, Sol Upfront, and Sol Annuity. Please email info@solsystemscompany.com or contact your solar installer for more specific pricing.

About Sol Systems
Sol Systems is a solar energy finance and development firm that was built on the principle that solar energy should be an economically viable energy solution. With thousands of customers and hundreds of partners throughout the United States, Sol Systems is the largest and oldest SREC aggregator. We provide homeowners, businesses, solar installers, and developers with sophisticated financing solutions that help make solar energy more affordable. Sol Systems also helps energy suppliers and utilities manage and meet their solar RPS requirements efficiently by providing them with access to diverse portfolios of SRECs. For more information, please visit http://www.solsystemscompany.com.

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Maryland General Assembly on Track to Pass Legislation to Accelerate the State’s Solar RPS Requirement

Wednesday, April 4th, 2012

Due to sun-setting Federal incentive programs for solar energy and the current structure of Maryland’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), Del. Sally Jameson (D-28) and Sen. Rob Garagiola (D-15) proposed legislation that attempts to address this concern. House Bill 1187 will accelerate the solar carve-out expecting utilities in Maryland to achieve the 2% solar energy generation requirement by 2020, instead of the current requirement of 2% by 2022.  The belief is that the current standard will create a glut, or oversupply, of SRECs due to a higher annual increase in solar energy after 2016. This could distort supply and demand of SRECs, thus making the market volatile and less predictable.  HB 1187 aims to provide stability to a potentially volatile market by “smoothing” out the growth of solar in Maryland.

HB 1187 does not increase the overall solar requirement for Maryland; rather it accelerates the achievement of 2% solar by two years (see chart below for comparison). Moreover, although from 2013-2020 there will be yearly increases in demand, as compared to the current requirements, the end goal and requirements for solar will not be affected.

Energy Year Current Requirements Proposed Requirements
2012 0.10% 0.10%
2013 0.20% 0.25%
2014 0.30% 0.35%
2015 0.40% 0.50%
2016 0.50% 0.70%
2017 0.55% 0.95%
2018 0.90% 1.40%
2019 1.20% 1.75%
2020 1.50% 2.00%
2021 1.85% 2.00%
2022 2.00% 2.00%

The estimated benefits of this acceleration could not only create a more stable market with a steadier roadmap of SREC prices, but will also extend into the Maryland economy as a whole. Based upon industry information, HB 1187 could create over 10,000 jobs across the Maryland economy by 2018. Industry predictions state that the legislation could incentivize over $3 billion in investment and $144 million in revenue for the State as a result of job creation.

What does this mean for the ratepayer? The legislation was designed with a 1% price impact on the customer. HB 1187 anticipates a residential compliance cost of $0.19 per month and an average commercial electrical bill increase of 0.11%.  However, the proposed RPS will actually create savings for the ratepayer when compared to the costs incurred from the current RPS schedule.

HB 1187 passed the House with unanimous support on March 21, 2012 and is currently proceeding through the Senate. After having initially failed the Senate Finance committee, SB 791 managed to pass through the committee 8-2 upon reconsideration during a vote late March 29, 2012. After a final lobbying effort by stakeholders and advocacy groups, SB 791 passed upon second reading in the Senate on April 2nd and will undergo its third reading tonight, April 4th, when it is likely to become law. Sol Systems will post an update as soon as more information is released on the status of the bill.

Sol Systems currently offers three types of SREC agreements for Maryland solar systems (both photovoltaic and solar thermal): Sol Brokerage, Sol Upfront, and Sol Annuity. Please email info@solsystemscompany.com or contact your solar installer for more specific pricing.

About Sol Systems
Sol Systems is a solar energy finance and development firm that was built on the principle that solar energy should be an economically viable energy solution. With thousands of customers and hundreds of partners throughout the United States, Sol Systems is the largest and oldest SREC aggregator. We provide homeowners, businesses, solar installers, and developers with sophisticated financing solutions that help make solar energy more affordable. Sol Systems also helps energy suppliers and utilities manage and meet their solar RPS requirements efficiently by providing them with access to diverse portfolios of SRECs. For more information, please visit http://www.solsystemscompany.com.

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Sol Systems Announces First Round of Solar Deals Financed on SolMarket

Thursday, March 29th, 2012

Less than six months after the launch of SolMarket, Sol Systems is proud to announce a number of successes driving the growth of its innovative solar financing community.  In the last 60 days over 4 MW of solar projects seeking investment through the SolMarket community have been financed by SolMarket investors and others.  The projects range in size from 100 kW to 1.5 MW.  Additionally, another 9 projects ranging from 200 kW to 5 MW with a combined capacity of 10 MW are either under exclusive negotiation or at term sheet with SolMarket investors.

“The expansion of the SolMarket community is really exciting,” said Yuri Horwitz, Sol Systems’ CEO.  “In the short time since we launched, we have seen over 250 projects utilize SolMarket to secure financing.  And as the reputation of this community grows, so does the scale and quality of the projects we assist.  Leveraging this deal flow with our data driven approach and our diligence and advisory services means that SolMarket investors see more projects they like, and they see them more quickly, ultimately saving both time and money.  It also means that we can quickly connect our developer partners with appropriate and experienced investors in the space.”

The SolMarket investor network also continues to grow.  There are currently 18 investors with aggregate committed funds of$1.9 billion in the network.  These investors include energy suppliers, family funds, private equity, solar funds and larger solar companies with financing arms.  All of the investors have experience with financing commercial solar projects in the U.S. and are actively looking to expand their portfolios over the next 12 months.

About SolMarket

SolMarket is a transaction-driven ecosystem for the solar industry that catalyzes investment in solar energy by transforming how solar projects are financed.  SolMarket provides investors and developers with the tools they need to efficiently originate, evaluate, finance, and construct renewable energy projects.  SolMarket has over $1.9 billion in committed partnership funds seeking qualified solar projects and hundreds of users from the solar community.  SolMarket is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sol Systems, the country’s oldest and largest SREC aggregator.  Sol Systems has facilitated over $100 million in solar development through long term SREC financing.  For more information, please visit www.solmarket.com.

Contact

Andrew Gilligan, Associate, Sol Systems, LLC
andrew@solsystemscompany.com
(202) 588-6457

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Delaware Releases the SREC Pilot Procurement Program

Friday, March 23rd, 2012

Delaware launched a new SREC Pilot Procurement Program aimed at bringing stability and consistency to the Delaware SREC market.  After experiencing and acknowledging the potential for volatility in SREC markets, Delaware designed this SREC pilot procurement program to avoid and adjust for those failures in order to maintain a viable and stable market.  For any Delaware systems that qualify, this procurement program will provide them with a chance to lock into a fixed price for any SRECs their system produces over the course of the 20 year SREC contract.

Submission of Applications

Beginning on Monday, April 2, the program will be open for submissions from all facilities and will subsequently close either when the program is filled or on Friday, April 6 at 5:00pm EST.  All bidders must create an account and submit their applications through the Pilot Procurement Website (www.srecdelaware.com).  Application requirements vary depending on the system size and information on these applications is available here.  Systems that are less than 100kW must have an agent or aggregator as their Owner Representative in order to participate in the pilot procurement.  Systems that are greater than 100kW have the option to use an agent, similar to the smaller systems, but it is not required.

No preference is given to systems based on order of submission; however, if the solicitation is oversupplied, then the winning bidders will be determined based on a lottery with preferences given to systems that have claimed the Delaware Equipment Bonus and/or Delaware Workforce Bonus.

The Delaware Equipment Bonus provides a 10% credit to solar systems that have bought solar panels built by Delaware companies.  In addition, there is a similar 10% credit for systems installed by Delaware workers.

Who Qualifies?

Both existing facilities and proposed facilities are eligible; however, existing facilities must have an “Accepted Completed Solar System Interconnection Application” on or after December 1, 2010.

The program is then broken down into four (4) tiers based on system size, both for qualification and for pricing:

Tier Size (kW) Number of SRECs/year Percentage of Total SRECs
1 <50 2,972 13.4%
2a 50-250 2,000 9.1%
2b 250-500 2,000 9.1%
3 500-2,000 4,500 20.4%
4* >2,000 10,600 48%

*The procurement of Tier 4 SRECs for Compliance Year 2011 were procured in full from the Dover Sun Park project. (www.srecdelaware.com)

Pricing

Pricing for contracts will vary based on system size.  All contracts will be 20 year standardized contracts and contract terms are not negotiable.  Below you will see the pricing for each Tier:

Tier Size (kW) Years 1-10 Years 10-20
1 <50 $260/SREC Base

$235/SREC Alternative

 $50
2a 50-250 $240/SREC Base

$175/SREC Alternative

 $50
2b 250-500 Bid Price $50
3 500-2,000 Bid Price $50

For more information, please check out the SRECDelaware website.  Sol Systems will look to register all of our customers that qualify for this procurement.  Please reach out to the Sol Systems customer service team with any questions (info@solsystemscompany.com or (888) 235-1538).

About Sol Systems
Sol Systems is a solar energy finance and development firm that was built on the principle that solar energy should be an economically viable energy solution. With thousands of customers and hundreds of partners throughout the United States, Sol Systems is the largest and oldest SREC aggregator. We provide homeowners, businesses, solar installers, and developers with sophisticated financing solutions that help make solar energy more affordable. Sol Systems also helps energy suppliers and utilities manage and meet their solar RPS requirements efficiently by providing them with access to diverse portfolios of SRECs. For more information, please visit http://www.solsystemscompany.com.

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Sol Systems Welcomes New Senior Developer

Thursday, March 22nd, 2012

Sol Systems is happy to announce the addition of our newest employee, Sean Stickle. Mr. Stickle is a Senior Developer at Sol Systems, working primarily on our new investment platform, SolMarket, as well as implementing core platform changes on Sol Systems’ website. Welcome to the team, Sean.

Sean Stickle – Senior Developer: Sean Stickle joins Sol Systems as programmer and manager who specializes in systems analysis and process improvement.  Prior to becoming a member of the Sol Systems team, he worked as an IT Director for several national nonprofits and trade associations where he reformed their technical business processes.

Mr. Stickle holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from St. John’s College.

About Sol Systems

Sol Systems is a solar energy finance and development firm that was built on the principle that solar energy should be an economically viable energy solution. With thousands of customers and hundreds of partners throughout the United States, Sol Systems is the largest and oldest SREC aggregator. We provide homeowners, businesses, solar installers, and developers with sophisticated financing solutions that help make solar energy more affordable. Sol Systems also helps energy suppliers and utilities manage and meet their solar RPS requirements efficiently by providing them with access to diverse portfolios of SRECs. For more information, please visit http://www.solsystemscompany.com.

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