FAQ Archives - Solicitation 1: August 2009

The FAQs on this page are no longer relevant, as they are from past solicitations. These FAQs are posted here only for reference purposes. Do not rely on the information provided on this page for the current solicitation.

All FAQs

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FAQ-33:
The Expression of Interest Form requires the Proponent's NJCEP Application Number, which is a number assigned to the Project under the REIP Program or the SREC Registration Program. Is the NJCEP Application Number obtained when the application is submitted or is it obtained when the application is approved?

You will obtain your NJCEP Application Number once your application under the Renewable Energy Incentive Program or under the SREC Registration Program has been approved.

Additional information on this Initial Application process, including a guidebook and forms, can be found here.

The NJCEP Application Number will be included in your approval letter. Thus, your application with NJCEP must be processed and approved for you to be able to meet the requirements of the Expression of Interest.

If you submit your Expression of Interest without a NJCEP Application Number, your Expression of Interest will be incomplete, and the Solicitation Manager will send you a deficiency notice. You will be given until 5PM (eastern prevailing time) on August 24, 2009 to provide the NJCEP Application Number, as well as any other missing or incomplete information. If you cannot provide the requested information by 5PM on August 24, 2009, you will not be able to submit a Pricing Proposal or participate further in the current solicitation. There will be a further solicitation (and possible two further solicitations) under the ACE and JCP&L SREC-Based Financing Program before June 1, 2010.

08/12/2009 in Requirements for Proposals
FAQ-32:
Can Projects who have a CORE rebate participate in this Program?

Projects that received or will receive a rebate from the Customer On-Site Renewable Energy (“CORE”) Program in force from 2001 to 2008 are not eligible to present a Proposal under this RFP.

08/12/2009 in Requirements for Proposals
FAQ-31:
Can you please send me an email a copy of the slides for the 8/11/09 conference call? I could not find these on the web site during the call.

The presentation slides from the Bidder Information Session on August 11, 2009 were emailed to participants who submitted an RSVP and were posted after the conference call to the Documents page of our web site. The document is entitled "SREC-Based Financing Conference Call Presentation (8/11/2009)".

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-30:
Do you have any interest in solar or wind power sites?

ACE and JCP&L are not seeking solar or wind power sites. Rather, they are contracting to purchase Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (“SRECs”) from new solar projects so as to provide a stable revenue stream to facilitate independent financing through loans or other financing mechanisms for renewable projects’ development and installation.

The Request for Proposal (“RFP”) documents are posted to the Documents page of the web site. If you have not already done so, you may register to a mailing list to receive additional updates.

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-29:
Is a Project that has received or will receive the State rebate from Renewable Energy Incentive Program (“REIP”) eligible to participate in the ACE and JCP&L SREC-Based Financing Program (“Program”)?

Yes. Projects that received or will receive a rebate from the Customer On-Site Renewable Energy (“CORE”) Program in force from 2001 to 2008 are not eligible to present a Proposal under this RFP. However, Projects are not precluded from participating in the Renewable Energy Incentive Program.

08/12/2009 in Requirements for Proposals
FAQ-28:
Do you have programs tailored to special types of entities, such as counties, municipalities, schools, or non-tax paying entities?

The ACE and JCP&L SREC-Based Program applies equally to all entities and there are no provisions tailored specifically to non-tax paying entities. We refer you to the New Jersey Clean Energy Program web site (http://www.njcleanenergy.com/) for additional programs that may apply specifically to non-tax paying entities. Contact information for these programs is available here.

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-27:
What is the minimum and maximum size of a project?

There is a maximum size of 500 kW. There is no minimum size. There will be two (2) segments based on the size of the Projects. The first and smaller segment will include Projects less than or equal to 50 kW. The second and larger segment will include Projects greater than 50 kW but less than or equal to 500 kW. The Board has established an aspirational goal that approximately 25% of the Projects be from the smaller segment. The size of a Project is based on the nameplate DC rating of the solar system.

08/12/2009 in Requirements for Proposals
FAQ-26:
What is the price level of the SRECs paid under the SREC Purchase and Sale Agreement (“SREC PSA”) and the duration of the SREC PSA?

The price level for SRECs is the price that a Proponent submits with its Pricing Proposal. A Proponent whose Proposal is recommended by the Solicitation Manager and approved by the Board is a "Successful Proponent" and the Project is a "Successful Project". An Owner of a Successful Project that signs the standard contract called the SREC Purchase and Sale Agreement ("SREC PSA") is a "Seller". A Seller would receive the Price submitted in the Proposal for each SREC transferred to the EDC under the SREC PSA over the term of the contract, which can be between 10 and 15 years. The Proponent must submit a single Price for a given Project so that the Price obtained for all SRECs transferred is the same. The Pricing Proposals will be ranked according to the net present value ("NPV") of each annually delivered SREC under the SREC PSA.

08/12/2009 in Requirements for Proposals
FAQ-25:
Is the program for commercial systems only or can it be used for residential systems?

The Program can be used for residential systems and for commercial systems.

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-24:
What are the advantages and disadvantages of participating in this Program?

ACE and JCP&L are contracting through their SREC-Based Program (“Program”) to purchase solar Renewable Energy Certificates (“SRECs”) from solar projects. This provides a stable revenue stream to facilitate independent financing through loans or other financing mechanisms for renewable projects' development and installation. ACE and JCP&L will only contract through this RFP for the purchase of SRECs for the term of the SREC Purchase and Sale Agreement (“SREC PSA”), and not for energy or capacity associated with any Project. Before participating in the RFP, each potential participant should make its own independent assessment of the potential value of an award under the Program, and each potential participant is solely responsible for evaluating the benefits, advantages, or disadvantages of the Program for that participant. Materials on the web site and responses to questions posted as FAQs are prepared for the sole purpose of providing general information about the Program. These FAQs are not a recommendation by the EDCs or the Solicitation Manager to participate in the RFP and must not be considered as such. The EDCs and the Solicitation Manager are not responsible for identifying, evaluating, or bringing to the attention of a potential participant information that may bear on the benefits of participating in the Program.

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-23:
One of your requirements is to be registered with the NJ Clean Energy Program. Our application has been submitted is being processed. Can I still submit the Expression of Interest form?

For the Expression of Interest to be complete and compliant with the terms of the RFP, it must include your NJCEP Application Number. You will obtain your NJCEP Application Number once your application under the Renewable Energy Incentive Program or under the SREC Registration Program has been approved. The NJCEP Application Number will be included in your approval letter. Thus, your application with NJCEP must be processed and approved for you to be able to meet the requirements of the Expression of Interest. The Expression of Interest is due by 12PM (noon) eastern prevailing time on August 20, 2009. If you submit your Expression of Interest without a NJCEP Application Number, your Expression of Interest will be incomplete, and the Solicitation Manager will send you a deficiency notice. You will be given until 5PM (eastern prevailing time) on August 24, 2009 to provide the NJCEP Application Number, as well as any other missing or incomplete information. If you cannot provide the requested information by 5PM on August 24, 2009, you will not be able to submit a Pricing Proposal or participate further in the current solicitation. There will be a further solicitation (and possible two further solicitations) under the ACE and JCP&L SREC-Based Financing Program before June 1, 2010.

08/12/2009 in Requirements for Proposals
FAQ-22:
What types of entities are eligible to submit a Proposal under your Program?

Any electric service customer of JCP&L or ACE, whether a private or public company, a commercial or a residential customer, may participate in the SREC-Based Financing Program and may submit a Proposal. To be considered, such a Proposal must meet the requirements of the RFP. The relevant documents are posted on the Documents page of the web site.

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-21:
I want to complete the Expression of Interest form but I do not know whether I have an NJCEP Application or how to find it. Can you help me with this requirement?

You will have a NJCEP Application Number to the extent that you have made a submission to the Initial Application Process of the Renewable Energy Incentive Program ("REIP") or SREC Registration Program and that your submission has been approved. Your submission would have been sent to: New Jersey's Clean Energy Program c/o Conservation Services Group 75 Lincoln Highway Iselin, New Jersey 08830 Phone: 1-866-NJSMART (1-866-657-6278) Your NJCEP application number will be found in the acceptance letter for your submission (it may be called an application number or a registration number).

08/12/2009 in Requirements for Proposals
FAQ-20:
What kind of meter should a customer expect to have installed to comply with the metering requirements under the SREC Purchase and Sale Agreement?

Generally, the customer should expect to need only to have installed a kWh meter (or electro-mechanical meter) capable of metering the kWh output of the solar installation. It is possible that there may be some exceptions and for such exceptions the EDC would work with the customer for alternative arrangements for advanced metering installations (i.e., interval meters or remotely read meters).

08/12/2009 in Purchase and Sale Agreement , General
FAQ-19:
What discount rate is being used to calculate the NPV that is used rank the Pricing Proposals?

The Solicitation Manager uses 6.87% as the discount rate for JCP&L and 6.66% for ACE. Please see Paragraph 5.1.4 of the RFP document for a detailed example.

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-18:
Does the program purchase the stream of SRECs for a lump sum amount?

In this Program, ACE or JCP&L is agreeing to purchase all SRECs from a given Project for a fixed price for the SREC (not a lump sum, for a fixed price for each SREC delivered during the term of the SREC PSA).

08/12/2009 in Purchase and Sale Agreement
FAQ-17:
How is the SREC price determined? What happens if SRECs cover more than the service of the debt?

The Proponent submits a Pricing Proposal, which includes a Price for each SREC and a Duration. A Proponent whose Proposal is recommended by the Solicitation Manager and approved by the Board is a "Successful Proponent" and the Project is a "Successful Project". An Owner of a Successful Project that signs the SREC PSA is a "Seller". A Seller receives the Price submitted for each SREC transferred to the EDC under the SREC PSA. The Proponent must submit a single Price for a given Project so that the Price obtained for all SRECs transferred is the same. The Duration is the number of years during which the Seller would receive the Price for each SREC transferred to the EDC under the SREC PSA. The Duration is a number of years between 10 and 15. If the Project is recommended by the Solicitation Manager and approved by the Board, all SRECs from the Project for the time period specified will be purchased by ACE or JCP&L for the price specified by the Proponent, regardless of the total amount and how it relates to any loan taken for the Project. Please read Article 1 of the main, as well as Article 5, Bid Evaluation and Post-Bid Process.

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-16:
Must a project be located in ACE or JCP&L territories in order to qualify for the Program?

Yes.

08/12/2009 in General
FAQ-15:
What factors could make an SREC project ineligible for the ACE-JCP&L SREC-Based Financing Program?

Please see the RFP Document available here for all eligibility requirements. Your project would NOT be eligible if any of the following applies to you:
- If you have received or will receive a rebate from the Customer On-Site Renewable Energy (“CORE”) Program in force from 2001 to 2008; or
- If your project is greater than 500 kW; or
- if your project is currently interconnected or if you request an interconnection prior to Board approval of the results of the solicitation.
08/04/2009 in General
FAQ-14:
Will ACE and JCP&L be purchasing SRECs from existing projects or only from new solar projects that are under development?

To be eligible for participation in the ACE and JCP&L SREC-Based Financing Program, a Project:
1. must have completed the Initial Application process under the Renewable Energy Incentive Program (“REIP”) or the SREC Registration Program administered by the Board of Public Utilities; and
2. must not yet be interconnected and the Proponent must not request interconnection prior to the Board Order on the results of the solicitation. Existing projects that are interconnected are not eligible. For further information on eligibility of Projects, please consult the ACE-JCP&L RFP Documents posted to the Documents page of our Web site.
08/04/2009 in General

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