FirstEnergy subsidiary Jersey Central Power & Light’s proposal to help increase the pace of solar energy project development in the state of New Jersey has been approved by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.
Jersey Central Power & Light’s (JCP&L) program will establish long-term agreements to purchase and sell Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) to provide a stable basis for financing solar generation projects in the company’s service area.
The company expects the plan to support the phase-in of approximately 42MW of solar generating capacity over the next three years to meet Renewable Portfolio Standards through 2012. This is enough to power about 32,000 homes, claims the company.
According to the company, it will seek proposals for SREC purchase agreements with terms of 10 to 15 years, and will solicit proposals through a series of requests for proposals (RFPs). JCP&L will work through an independent RFP manager to perform solicitations.
SRECs purchased through the contracts will then be sold to energy suppliers through an auction process, and revenues from the sales will be used to offset program costs. Only projects that have been approved by the Office of Clean Energy as being qualified to receive credit for SREC generation will be eligible to participate, said the company.
