| customer's ESI ID and consumption as confidential
information. A customer may revoke a notice under this paragraph at
any time prior to the end of a compliance period by filing a letter
in the designated project number and providing notice to ERCOT.
(5) Nomination and award of REC offsets.
(A) A REP, municipally-owned utility, G&T cooperative,
distribution cooperative, or an affiliate of a REP, municipally-owned
utility, or distribution cooperative, may apply offsets to meet all
or a portion of its solar RPS requirement, as calculated in paragraph
(2) of this subsection, only if those offsets were nominated in a
filing with the commission by June 1, 2001.
(B) The program administrator must award offsets consistent
with the commission's actions to verify designations of REC offsets
and with this section.
(C) REC offsets must be equal to the average annual
MWh output of an existing resource for the years 1991-2000 or the
entire life of the existing resource, whichever is less.
(D) REC offsets qualify for use in a compliance period
under paragraph (2) of this subsection only to the extent that:
(i) The resource producing the REC offset has continuously
since September 1, 1999, been owned by or its output has been committed
under contract to a utility, municipally-owned utility, or cooperative
(or successor in interest) nominating the resource under subparagraph
(A) of this paragraph or, if the resource has been committed under
a contract that expired after September 1, 1999, and before January
1, 2002, it was owned by or its output was committed under contract
to a utility, municipally-owned utility, or cooperative on January
1, 2002; and
(ii) The facility producing the REC offsets is operated
and producing energy during the compliance period in a manner consistent
with historic practice.
(E) If the production of energy from a facility that
is eligible for an award of REC offsets ceases for any reason, or
if the power purchase agreement with the facility's owner (or successor
in interest) that is referred to in subparagraph (D)(i) of this paragraph
has lapsed or is no longer in effect, the retail entity must no longer
be awarded REC offsets related to the facility.
(F) REC offsets must not be traded.
(g) Renewable energy credits trading program. The program
administrator must maintain a voluntary banking and accreditation
system to facilitate a voluntary renewable energy credit trading program.
The program administrator must maintain the records, accounts, RECs,
and compliance premiums from the trading program as it existed prior
to August 31, 2023, and prior to the effective date of this section,
as applicable.
(1) RECs may be generated, transferred, and retired
by renewable energy power generators certified under subsection (d)
of this section, retail entities, and other market participants as
set forth in this section. For purposes of this subsection, there
is no distinction between RECs and solar RECs.
(A) A power generating company may participate in the
trading program and may generate RECs and buy or sell RECs as set
forth in subsection (e)(4) of this section.
(B) RECs must be credited on an energy basis as set
forth in subsection (e)(4) of this section.
(C) A municipally-owned utility or distribution cooperative
possessing renewable resources that meet the requirements of subsection
(e)(1)(A) and (e)(2)(A) of this section may sell RECs generated by
such a resource to retail entities as set forth in subsection (e)(4)
of this section.
(2) The program administrator may assign additional
attributes to RECs, such as more precise REC generation timestamps,
to allow buyers to distinguish between RECs.
(h) Responsibilities of the program administrator.
At a minimum, the program administrator must perform the following
functions:
(1) Create and maintain accounts that track RECs, solar
RECs, and compliance premiums for each participant in the trading
program;
(2) Award RECs, solar RECs, or compliance premiums
to certified renewable energy facilities on a quarterly basis based
on verified meter reads;
(3) Award offsets to retail entities on an annual basis
based on a nomination submitted by the retail entity under subsection
(f)(5) of this section;
(4) Annually record the retirement of RECs, solar RECs,
and compliance premiums that each retail entity submits;
(5) Retire RECs, solar RECs, and compliance premiums
at the end of each REC, solar REC, or compliance premium's compliance
life;
(6) Maintain public information on its website that
provides trading program information to interested buyers and sellers
of RECs, solar RECs, or compliance premiums;
(7) Create an exchange procedure where persons may
purchase and sell RECs, solar RECs, or compliance premiums. The exchange
must ensure the anonymity of persons purchasing or selling RECs, solar
RECs, or compliance premiums. The program administrator may delegate
this function to an independent third party, subject to commission
approval;
(8) Make public each month the total energy sales of
retail entities in Texas for the previous month;
(9) Perform audits of generators participating in the
trading program to verify accuracy of metered production data;
(10) Allocate the RPS requirement to each retail entity
in accordance with subsection (f)(2) of this section; and
(11) Submit an annual report to the commission. The
program administrator must submit a report to the commission on or
before May 15 of each calendar year. The report must contain information
pertaining to renewable energy power generators and retail entities.
At a minimum, the report must contain:
(A) the amount of existing and new renewable energy
capacity in MW installed in the state by technology type, the owner/operator
of each facility, the date each facility began to produce energy,
the amount of energy generated in megawatt-hours (MWh) each quarter
for all capacity participating in the trading program or that was
retired from service; and
(B) a listing of all retail entities participating
in the trading program, each retail entity's solar RPS requirement,
the number of offsets used by each retail entity, the number of solar
RECs retired by each retail entity, the number of compliance premiums
retired by each retail entity, a listing of all retail entities that
were in compliance with the solar RPS requirement, a listing of all
retail entities that failed to comply with the solar RPS requirement,
and the deficiency of each retail entity that failed to retire sufficient
solar RECs or compliance premiums to meet its solar RPS requirement.
(i) Settlement process. The 90 days following the compliance
period is the settlement period during which the following actions
will occur:
(1) 30 days after the end of the compliance period,
the program administrator will notify each retail entity of its total
solar RPS requirement for the previous compliance period as determined
under subsection (f)(2) of this section.
(2) 90 days after the end of the compliance period,
each retail entity must submit solar RECs or compliance premiums to
the program administrator from its account equivalent to its solar
RPS requirement for the previous compliance period. If the retail
entity does not submit sufficient solar RECs or compliance premiums
to satisfy its obligation, the retail entity is subject to the penalty
provisions in subsection (j) of this section.
(3) The program administrator may request the commission
to adjust the deadlines set forth in this section if changes to the
ERCOT settlement calendar or other factors affect the availability
of reliable retail sales data.
(j) Penalties and enforcement. If by April 1 of the
year following a compliance period in which the solar RPS was in effect
the program administrator determines that a retail entity has not
retired sufficient solar RECs or compliance premiums to satisfy its
allocation of the solar RPS, the retail entity is subject to an administrative
penalty, under PURA §15.023, of $50 per MWh that is deficient.
(k) Microgenerators and REC aggregators. A REC aggregator
may manage the participation of multiple microgenerators in the trading
program. The program administrator will assign to the REC aggregator
all RECs or solar RECs accrued by the microgenerators who are under
a REC management contract with the REC aggregator.
(1) The microgenerator's units must be installed and
connected to the grid in compliance with commission Substantive Rules,
applicable interconnection standards adopted under the commission
Substantive Rules, and federal rules.
Cont'd... |
