Details of Senate bill number 4300 were just released. Here are the details:
(Senator Bob Smith was removed from the bill)
Summary:
All Solar facilities in New Jersey who earn the original legacy SRECs will have a fixed price of $95 each.
Payments will be made through the administrator who is contracted by the State of New Jersey that currently issues SREC II payments.
The $95 rate will start with June 2025 SREC production.
Statement describing the changes to the bill:
STATEMENT 21 22 This bill would eliminate the State's solar renewable energy portfolio standard commencing on June 1, 2025. The bill would direct the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to develop a system to provide solar renewable energy certificate (SREC) incentive payments, in lieu of SRECs. The SREC incentive payments would have a fixed rate of $95 per megawatt hour of solar energy produced. Each owner of a solar electric power generation facility that was properly registered in the SREC registration program established by the BPU pursuant to subsection u. of section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87) would be eligible to receive SREC incentive payments, one for each SREC for which the facility would have been eligible. Finally, the bill would authorize the BPU to adopt rules and regulations to implement the provisions of the bill that would be effective immediately upon filing with the Office of Administrative Law for a period of 18 months.
Text in the bill:
"Solar renewable energy certificate incentive payment" or "SREC incentive payment" means a financial incentive of $95 per megawatt hour of solar energy produced, to be paid to the owner of a solar electric power generation facility under the program developed by the board pursuant to subsection d. of section 38 of 38 P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87).
Commencing in energy year 2026, the issuance of SRECs shall cease and the board shall establish a system by which to distribute SREC incentive payments to each owner of a solar electric power generation facility that was properly registered in the SREC registration program established by the board pursuant to subsection u. of section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 39 (C.48:3-87), in order to provide compensation for the environmental attributes produced by the solar electric power generation facility. An owner of an eligible solar electric power generation facility shall be eligible to receive an SREC incentive payment for each SREC for which the facility would have been eligible prior to the enactment of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill). The SREC incentive payment system may be based on the system established by the board for the distribution of SREC-II payments pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2021, c. 169 (C.48:3-115).