Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Rps Procurements topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Industry groups urge procurement reforms, propose index-style REC model to reduce cost volatility
Summary
Renew Northeast and other clean-energy advocates told the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy that procurement design in the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and related solicitations must reduce developer market risk and consumer price volatility, recommending an index renewable energy credit model similar to New York.
Nathan Rake, manager of state and local affairs at Renew Northeast, told the committee the RPS and public procurements are both essential and urged support for elements of the governor's affordability legislation while proposing changes to how offtake arrangements are structured.
"This approach, whereby the offtake arrangement is an attribute only, could raise consumer costs and create financing challenges," Rake said, recommending an index renewable energy credit (REC) model used in New York that links payments to market prices to reduce volatility and financing risk.
Rake said procurements bring new, large-scale resources online, which lowers costs and reduces exposure to fossil-fuel price volatility while supporting reliability for a growing electrified economy. He urged the committee to support reforms that balance continuity of the RPS with procurement design that encourages investor and developer participation through predictable revenue models.
VoteSolar and other advocates also testified during the hearing and pushed related equity and tracking provisions (see separate article on clean energy equity). Renew Northeast recommended that the committee consider procurement language adjustments to avoid putting all market risk on developers.
No procurement decisions were made at the hearing; witnesses offered recommended models and asked the committee to consider alternatives such as indexed RECs to reduce long-term consumer costs and improve project financeability.
