| (C) The program administrator will require that RECs
or solar RECs be adequately identified prior to recording a transfer
and must issue an acknowledgement of the transaction to parties upon
provision of adequate information. At a minimum, the following information
must be provided:
(i) identification of the parties;
(ii) REC or solar REC serial number, REC or solar REC
issue date, and the renewable resource that produced the REC or solar
REC;
(iii) the number of RECs or solar RECs to be transferred;
and
(iv) the transaction date.
(D) A retail entity must surrender RECs or solar RECs
to the program administrator for retirement from the market for a
compliance period. The program administrator will document all REC
and solar REC retirements annually.
(E) On or after each April 1, the program administrator
will retire RECs and solar RECs that have not been retired by retail
entities and have reached the end of their compliance life.
(F) The program administrator may establish a procedure
to ensure that the award, transfer, and retirement of RECs and solar
RECs are accurately recorded.
(G) The issue date of RECs or solar RECs generated
by renewable energy resources will coincide with the compliance period
in which the credits are created. All RECs and solar RECs will have
a compliance life of three compliance periods, after which the program
administrator will retire them from the trading program.
(H) Each REC or solar REC that is not used in the compliance
period in which it was created may be banked and is valid for the
next two compliance periods. For purposes of this subparagraph, calendar
year 2023 counts as a single compliance period.
(f) Solar renewable portfolio standard (solar RPS).
(1) Solar 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 subsection (e)(4) of this section. Solar RECs generated
by renewable energy resources in the calendar year 2025 may be used
by any retail entity toward the solar RPS requirement for the compliance
period beginning January 1, 2025, or on a voluntary basis in the subsequent
years.
(A) The program administrator will allocate a solar
RPS requirement among all retail entities as a percentage of the retail
sales of each retail entity as set forth in paragraph (2) of this
subsection. Each retail entity is responsible for retiring sufficient
solar RECs as set forth in paragraph (2) of this subsection and subsection
(e)(4) of this section for the 2024 and 2025 compliance periods. The
requirement to retire solar RECs to comply with this section becomes
effective on the date a retail entity begins serving retail electric
customers in Texas or, for an electric utility, as specified by law.
(B) Solar RECs will 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)(2)(A) of this section may sell solar RECs generated by such a
resource to retail entities as set forth in subsection (e)(4) of this
section.
(D) Except where specifically stated, the provisions
of this section apply uniformly to all participants in the trading
program.
(E) The solar RPS end on September 1, 2025.
(2) Allocation of solar RPS requirement to retail entities.
The program administrator must allocate solar RPS requirements among
retail entities. The solar RPS terminates September 1, 2025, but is
subject to the settlement period following that termination date.
The program administrator must use the following methodology to determine
the total annual solar RPS requirement for a given year and the final
solar RPS allocation for individual retail entities:
(A) The total statewide solar RPS requirement for each
applicable compliance period must be calculated in terms of MWh and
must be equal to the applicable capacity requirement set forth in
this paragraph multiplied by 8,760 hours for the 2024 compliance period
and 5,840 hours for the 2025 compliance period, multiplied by the
appropriate capacity conversion factor set forth in paragraph (3)
of this subsection. The solar renewable energy capacity requirements
for the compliance periods beginning January 1, 2024, and January
1, 2025, respectively are:
(i) 1,310 MW of resources from New Facilities in the
2024 compliance period; and
(ii) 655 MW of resources from New Facilities in the
2025 compliance period.
(B) The final solar RPS allocation for an individual
retail entity for a compliance period must be calculated as follows:
(i) Prior to the preliminary solar RPS allocation,
each retail entity's total retail energy sales are reduced to exclude
the consumption of customers that opt out in accordance with paragraph
(4) of this subsection. Each retail entity's preliminary solar RPS
allocation is determined by dividing its total retail energy sales
in Texas by the total retail sales in Texas of all retail entities
and multiplying that percentage by the total statewide solar RPS requirement
for that compliance period.
(ii) The adjusted solar RPS allocation for each retail
entity that is entitled to an offset is determined by reducing its
preliminary solar RPS allocation by the offsets to which it qualifies,
as determined under paragraph (5) of this subsection, with the maximum
reduction equal to the retail entity's preliminary solar RPS allocation.
The total reduction for all retail entities is equal to the total
usable offsets for that compliance period.
(iii) Each retail entity's final solar RPS allocation
for a compliance period must be increased to recapture the total usable
offsets calculated under clause (ii) of this subparagraph. The additional
solar RPS allocation must be calculated by dividing the retail entity's
preliminary RPS allocation by the total preliminary solar RPS allocation
of all retail entities. This fraction must be multiplied by the total
usable offsets for that compliance period and this amount must be
added to the retail entity's adjusted solar RPS allocation to produce
the retail entity's final solar RPS allocation for the compliance
period.
(C) Concurrent with determining final individual solar
RPS allocations for the current compliance period in accordance with
this subsection, the program administrator must recalculate the final
solar RPS allocations for the previous compliance periods, taking
into account corrections to retail sales resulting from resettlements.
The difference between a retail entity's corrected final solar RPS
allocation and its original final solar RPS allocation for the previous
compliance periods must be added to or subtracted from the retail
entity's final solar RPS allocation for the current compliance period.
(3) Calculation of capacity conversion factor. The
capacity conversion factor used by the program administrator to allocate
solar RECs to retail entities must be calculated during the first
quarter of the 2024 compliance period and will be utilized through
the end of the solar RPS. The capacity conversion factor must:
(A) Be based on actual generator performance data for
the previous two years for solar renewable resources in the trading
program during that period for which at least 12 months of performance
data are available;
(B) Represent a weighted average of generator performance;
and
(C) Use all actual generator performance data that
is available for each solar renewable resource, excluding data for
testing periods.
(4) Opt-out notice.
(A) A customer receiving electrical service at transmission-level
voltage who submits an opt-out notice to the commission for the applicable
compliance period must have its load excluded from the solar RPS calculation.
Any opt-out notice submitted under the RPS as it existed prior to
the effective date of this section continues to apply to the solar
RPS for the compliance period as specified in this subsection.
(B) An investor-owned utility that is subject to the
solar RPS requirement under this section must not collect costs attributable
to the solar RPS from an eligible customer who has submitted an opt-out
notice. An investor-owned utility whose rates include the cost of
solar RECs must file a tariff to implement this paragraph, not later
than 30 days after the effective date of this section.
(C) A customer opt-out notice must be filed in the
commission-designated project number before the beginning of a compliance
period for the notice to be effective for that period. Each opt-out
notice must include the name of the individual customer opting out,
the customer's ESI IDs, the retail entities serving those ESI IDs,
and the term for which the notice is effective, which may not exceed
two years. The customer opting out must also provide the information
included in the opt-out notice directly to ERCOT and may request that
ERCOT protect the Cont'd... |
