Posted on June 5, 2012

Solar owners in New Jersey who rely on estimates to earn Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) will be required to have a production meter by November 30, 2012 or they WILL NOT earn SRECs starting with December 2012 generation.

Solar owners in New Jersey with arrays that are 10kw and less were given the option to rely on estimates or they could read the actual electric generation off of a meter. The electric production of a solar array is needed to generate SRECs.

Many solar owners that have relied on estimates do not have the required production meter (ANSI) Standard C12.1-2008 compliant productions meter) and will need to have one installed by a licensed electrician. Most meters on the inverters are not acceptable. Also, the net meter provided by the electric distribution companies are not capable of providing gross data for the purposes of generating SRECs.

We recommend that you call your solar installer first to find out if you have a production meter already. In some instances solar owners may void the installer warranty if they have another entity work on the array.

Solar owners who rely on estimates can still sell their SRECs on Flett Exchange or they can subscribe for Flett REC Manager Services. With Flett REC Manager Services our customers send their meter reading to Flett Exchange and we sell the SRECs automatically. It is easy!

Click on Services on the top of this page and select “managed SREC services” or fill out the forms below and email or fax them back to flett exchange.

www.flettexchange.com/pdf/Flett_Exchange_REC_Manager.pdf

www.flettexchange.com/pdf/Schedule_A.pdf

Here is the announcement by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities:

RE, Small Wind and NM/INX List Members:

The Chapter 8 readopted regulations with amendments approved by the Board on May 23, 2012 were published in today’s New Jersey Register.  The readopted portions of the regulations were effective on May 1, 2012 and the amendments, new rules, repealed rules and recodification became effective today with their publication in the New Jersey Register.  As a result, two important provisions of the amendments with transition or grace periods were triggered.

1. SREC Registration Requirements

Within the NJ Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) regulatory amendments, at N.J.A.C. 14:8-2.4 Energy that qualifies for an SREC; registration requirement – under subsection (c) “June 4, 2012” was inserted for the placeholder language in the rule proposal; “effective date for this new rule”.  Likewise, under subsection (c) 1. ii “June 4, 2012” was inserted replacing the “effective date for this new rule” placeholder language and the deadline for submittal of an initial registration package was updated to “July 4, 2012” replacing the placeholder language; “30 days after the effective date of this new rule”.

2. Production Meter Requirements for Solar Electricity to be eligible for SRECs in NJ’s RPS

Within the NJ Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) regulatory amendments, at N.J.A.C. 14:8-2.9 Issuance of RECs and SRECs  - subsection (c) the date “ December 4, 2012” was inserted replacing placeholder language in the rule proposal which previously stated; “six months after the effective date of this amendment”.  The effect of this new rule will be that beginning December 4, 2012 all solar facilities connected to the distribution system in New Jersey seeking eligibility to create SRECs eligible for use in NJ’s RPS must have a production meter capable of measuring generation.

The NJ RPS has historically required solar systems greater than 10 kW to submit metered production data from meters compliant with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Standard C12.1-2008.  And NJ’s SREC Registration Program and its predecessor SREC Only-Pilot Program required all solar systems to have an ANSI compliant production meter installed regardless of system size.  However, the RPS regulations had allowed solar systems less than 10 kW to create SRECs from engineering estimates and the NJCEP rebate programs did not require ANSI compliant production meters to be installed.  The net meter installed by the Electric Distribution Companies are NOT capable of providing gross generation data useful for purposes of SREC creation.

As a result of the regulatory change and a lack of production metering, some solar systems less than 10 kW may require the installation of ANSI Standard C12.1-2008 compliant productions meter.  The practical implications from the new regulation’s effective date of June 4 which triggers the December 4, 2012 commencement of the requirement and the processes for SREC creation at the PJM-EIS GATS tracking system require that solar electric systems lacking production meters must have them installed by November 30, 2012 to ensure that solar electric generation in December 2012 be eligible for SRECs.  Board staff is working with our RE Market Managers and the staff at PJM-EIS GATS to further inform stakeholders of these changes, to provide links to lists of eligible ANSI-compliant SREC production meters, and solar installers or licensed electricians able to install them.

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