PPL Electric Utilities completed its third and final solicitation for solar renewable energy credits on July 16, 2012, which will help the company provide power from alternative energy sources for residential customers who elect to remain on the utility’s default electric supply.

PPL will purchase 21,000 solar renewable energy credits with supply beginning June 2013 for a period of seven years. The price will be $43.20 per solar renewable credit, down from $149 and $107.83 in the first and second solar REC solicitations, respectively. The company received 25 bids from qualified suppliers.

Renae Yeager, senior manager of Regulatory Operations and Compliance for PPL Electric Utilities, said the utility will purchase about 10 percent of its power supply for PPL Electric Utilities customers from renewable sources. That number will grow in the coming years under the requirements of the state’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act, she said.

“PPL Electric Utilities is strictly a delivery company, so we don’t produce power or own power plants. Instead we purchase power from many different suppliers for customers who don’t choose an alternative supplier, and we pass along the costs without profit,” Yeager said.

One solar renewable energy credit, or SREC, equates to the value of one megawatt-hour of power generated from solar power. The additional income received from selling solar renewable energy credits increases the economic value of a solar investment and assists with financing solar technology.

In conjunction with state and federal incentives, owners of solar power generating systems can recover their investment in solar by selling their credits through spot market sales or long-term sales.

This completed PPL Electric Utilities’ solicitations for long-term contracts for solar renewable energy credits for the current Default Service Procurement Plan.

PPL Electric Utilities will launch its third and final solicitation to procure SRECs from renewable energy credit aggregators with small-scale solar facilities that are 15 kilowatts or less in size.

The Small-Scale Solar Set-Aside Program anticipates acquiring 1,600 SRECs over a seven-year period. The offer day for this program is scheduled for Aug. 28. The price PPL Electric Utilities will pay aggregators for each SREC will be $43.20, based on the price set with the completing of the Long-Term SREC Request for Proposals.

PPL Electric Utilities encourages owners of small-scale solar facilities, typically installed on residential or small businesses, to contact renewable energy credit aggregators who may wish to purchase their credits for this or other SREC RFPs.

A list of certified aggregators is found on the Public Utility Commission website.

8/6/2012