Introduction to Renewable Energy Certificate Tracking Systems

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Introduction to Renewable Energy Tracking Systems May 21, 2014 Webinar Rachael Terada Senior Project Manager

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Outline 1. Tracking System Overview 2. Renewable Energy Certificates 3. Attributes Tracked on Certificates 4. Trading and Retirement 5. Use of Tracking Systems in the Voluntary Market

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Renewable energy is natural, abundant, and clean.

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What is Renewable Energy?

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Wind Solar Geothermal Biomass Low-Impact Hydro not nuclear not “clean” coal not natural gas

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Current Uses Renewable Portfolio Standards Fuel Mix Disclosure Voluntary Market

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Source: DSIRE Compliance Markets: Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPSs)

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renewable energy certificates (RECs)

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Certificates 1 MWh generation = 1 certificate Unique serial numbers Tradable

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Primary Users Generating Facilities Load Serving Entities (LSEs) Marketers State Program Administrators Voluntary Program Administrators

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Example: GATS Generators

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GIS and GATS are “all generation” tracking systems

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Tracking RECs Primary Attributes – Fuel type – Vintage – Facility Location – Direct Emissions Derived Attributes – Avoided emissions • Includes CO2

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Certificates include Fuel Source Vintage Generator Location Direct Emissions State Program & Green-e Eligibility

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Certificates can be Traded Retired Converted to Residual Mix

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Trading Certificates Customer

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Example: GATS REC Retirement Report

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voluntary market

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Consumer protection and certification for voluntary renewable energy purchases

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Green-e Energy certifies approximately 75% of the U.S. voluntary renewable energy market

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Equivalent to powering nearly 1/3 of U.S. households for 1 Month

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Use of Tracking Systems (by MWh) Green-e Energy Certified Retail Sales, RY2012

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Helpful Resources www.etnna.org

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www.renewableenergymarkets.com

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Rachael Terada Senior Project Manager Center for Resource Solutions 415-561-2135 rachael @resource-solutions.org CONTACT

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Center for Resource Solutions Tracking System Webinar Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System, Inc. Overview Amy Fredregill Executive Director

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 Organizational Overview  Functions and comparisons with peers  Midwest RPS overview  Annual stats  REC tracking scope  Data sources and certificates  Stakeholders  Drivers for registry activity  Developments on horizon  Accessing information and getting involved 34 Topics to be covered

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Footprint: 9 states and Manitoba 35 M-RETS operate primarily within the MISO footprint

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 Mission Statement: M-RETS efficiently tracks and verifies renewable energy generation in collaboration with stakeholders, facilitating renewable energy development in the public interest.  Nonprofit - independent, not affiliated with an ISO or agency  Balanced board of directors  3 staff, APX serves as Administrator Organizational Overview 36

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Key M-RETS Functions 37 Verifies production data for participating generators  Generators must register units  Must report 100% of output from registered unit to prevent double counting  No automatic retirements based on age Only track renewable energy, not all generation Not tracking emissions and carbon at this time

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 In M-RETS, a “Whole Certificate” is one where none of the renewable attributes have been separately sold, given, or otherwise transferred to another party by a deliberate act of the Certificate owner. 38 1 MWh Renewable Energy = 1 whole Certificate

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M-RETS Roots and History 39  First REC tracking began in 2007  RPS compliance roots  Quasi-governmental, initially housed at state Commission  Formed initially to ensure states and utilities with compliance obligation had a tool for RPS compliance

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Policy Driven and Position Neutral 40  No advocacy at state legislatures  M-RETS does not determine eligibility for state or voluntary programs  A generating unit is considered "renewable" if the energy generated is considered renewable by jurisdiction  Dynamic software leads to nimble registry - If RPS adopted or amended, work with stakeholders to determine if changes needed

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 State and provincial governments  Electric providers (muni, co-op and IOU)  Environmental Commodities/REC Brokers  Independent Power Producers or other large generators  Distributed generators or aggregators  Qualified Reporting Entities (data reporting)  Nonprofits interested in renewable energy Primary Stakeholders 41

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 ~70% of activity is driven by regulatory compliance  RPS’s in MN, WI, IL are top drivers  May also track anything that the voluntary market deems “renewable”  Growth in the voluntary markets  Offer a bulletin board where buyers and sellers can connect  Not a trading or clearing system, not tracking REC prices 42 Balancing the Needs of Voluntary and Mandatory Stakeholders

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43 Account Holder Activity • 73MM RECs issued in 2013 • 31MM RECs retired in 2013 • 207 Accounts Registered currently • 608 Total Projects currently; 25% are under 1.5MW • 44 New Projects in 2013; most are under 1.5MW

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44 Data Sources

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45 Current RPS, RES, and REO in M-RETS Footprint Standards Goals Iowa 105 MW Illinois 25% by 20125 Indiana 10% by 2025 Minnesota 25% by 2025 1.5% Solar by 2020 Montana 15% by 2015 North Dakota 10% by 2015 Ohio 12.5% by 2024 South Dakota 10% by 2015 Wisconsin ~10 by 2015 Manitoba none

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Topics on the Horizon 46  Distributed generation and aggregation trends  Transfer of RECs between regions  Software enhancements  Ensure no double counting of RECS as other environmental attributes are increasingly being tracked for compliance  Backloading/retroactive RECs

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Public reports available at M-RETS.org 47

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For more information, please visit mrets.org or contact Amy Fredregill, M-RETS Executive Director at [email protected] Subscriber Group Meeting June 12 1:30 Central Conference call info on website All stakeholders welcome

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 Discussion and Hot Topics 49 Q & A

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 72 projects registered as DG – Solar  15 Aggregated PV projects comprised of 775 DG PV units in M-RETS totaling 6.5 MW of capacity  832 Solar generators registered individually or in aggregate 50 How many Solar Aggregation Projects are registered in M-RETS?

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 Data must be from control area settlements from a revenue quality meter  For customer-sited distributed generators, the original source for reporting total energy production must be from revenue-quality metering, adjusted to reflect energy delivered into either transmission or distribution grid at the generator bus bar. Either:  Metering at the AC output of an inverter  In the absence of meter at inverter, measure only hourly positive generation flowing to the distribution system 51 Meter info and data sources

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 1.5% solar requirement means at least 2250 small solar facilities in M-RETS  Learning from other tracking systems’ approaches to registering aggregated DG  Ideas for enhancements under consideration as we communicate with state and wait for any final guidance to optimally serve MN regulators and Account Holders  Stakeholder workgroup 52 M-RETS Preparation for SES

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 M-RETS Goals:  Functional & automated export of RECs from M-RETS to all compatible tracking systems  Growing number of REC exports by M-RETS Account Holders– almost 1/3 increase from 2011 to 2012  Functional & automated import of RECs into M-RETS from other compatible tracking systems  Coordinating with other tracking systems Import/Export of Renewable Energy Certificates Between Registries 53