Last Wednesday the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) announced the SREC factors and timeline for the final extension of the program. As covered in our previous blog, the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program was announced in February, and is being finalized with an eye on launching early in 2018. At that time the DOER concurrently announced intentions to extend the SREC-II incentive a final time in an effort to bridge the gap between the two programs. In addition to confirming these intentions, Wednesday’s announcement provides us with the SREC factors that will be available during this final allotment period.
The new deadline for the final projects allowed into the SREC-II program will be March 31, 2018. Per the DOER:
All Solar Carve-out II Renewable Generation Units that currently have a Statement of Qualification and have not yet obtained an extension as of today will have their Statements of Qualification revoked and have their application status changed to “rejected.” Once rejected, these applicants may submit new applications for these facilities and seek extensions for good cause. Any extension obtained shall be effective until March 31, 2018 at the factors listed below. Facilities that can demonstrate that they are mechanically complete or commercially operational by a date later than March 31, 2018, but earlier than the effective date of the SMART program, will continue to have their SREC Factors reduced as prescribed in the SREC Factor Guideline.
Essentially the DOER is hitting reset on the projects currently in the queue for inclusion into the emergency SREC extension from last year, and putting them all under the same umbrella of SREC factors in this final bracket. The new numbers reflect another minor reduction in value versus their predecessor, but remain incredibly beneficial to any system owners whose projects are completed under these parameters. For reference the change in factors is listed below:
| SREC-II Extended 16' | SREC-II Extended 17' | |||
| Market Sector | SREC Factor | Market Sector | SREC Factor | |
| A | 0.8 | A | 0.7 | |
| B | 0.7 | B | 0.6 | |
| C | 0.65 | C | 0.55 | |
| Managed Growth | 0.55 | Managed Growth | 0.5 | |
It is also important to note that the DOER has left the window open for a grace period between the conclusion of the SREC-II program and the official start of the SMART program. The opportunity for projects that are mechanically complete before the start of SMART but after March 31st, 2018, is an important distinction as it ensures no systems will be left in limbo during the transition.
For more information on the previous SREC extension click here, or for more context comparing the SREC program, and the upcoming SMART incentive click here.
