BERLIN and NEW HAVEN, Conn. –May 2, 2012– Customers of The Connecticut Light & Power Company (CL&P) and The United Illuminating Company (UI) installing new renewable energy projects ranging from rooftop solar panels to fuel cells now have an opportunity to recoup part of their investment by selling renewable energy certificates (RECs) to the utilities. Under the new program, which was recently approved by the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, qualified bidders can now bid to sell RECs from their zero-emission renewables (ZRECs) such as solar panels, or low-emission renewables (LRECs) such as fuel cells, to CL&P and UI for 15 year periods.
The Companies will select qualified projects based on price, selecting the lowest bids first, up to the annual budget commitments.
“Both companies are now accepting bids in response to a joint Request for Proposal or RFP,” said Christie Bradway, Manager, Renewable Power Contracts, CL&P. “This is a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of a program to promote, fund and expand renewable generation.”
To be eligible, projects must meet criteria established in Connecticut’s 2011 Energy Act. Some of these key requirements are that projects must have begun operation after July 1, 2011, must be located behind customers’ electric meters (in other words, they must be part of customers’ electric systems), and are capped at 1,000 kilowatts for ZRECs, and 2,000 kilowatts for LRECs.
RECs were introduced to New England in 2001 to provide an additional revenue stream for renewable generation to incentivize development and ease financing of new projects. Utilities or third-party competitive suppliers have to buy RECs in order to meet established state Renewable Portfolio Standards.
“This joint RFP is the latest milestone in a huge effort to ensure that the program enacted in Connecticut’s 2011 Energy Act is a success,” said Alan Trotta, Manager, Wholesale Power Contracts, UI. “While the RFP was issued jointly, each company will accept bids only for projects located in its service territory.”
To learn more about ZRECs, LRECs and submit a proposal, please visit www.cl-p.com and go to “Going Green” and then click on “Renewable Energy Credits” or www.uinet.com/powerprocurement and click on “RFP for LRECs and ZRECs.”