Another milestone reached

After more than three years since the passage NH SB-218, another major milestone has been reached. This week, Revolution Energy and Knollwood Energy teamed up to sell the first block of Class I Thermal RECs generated from geothermal heat pump systems in New Hampshire.

The block for calendar year 2014 was very small and represents a partial year data for just a handful of residential installations. However, even with the small number of RECs, the aggregators were able to get $20 each, just shy of the Alternative Compliance Payment (ACP) of $25 per REC. As more RECs are added to the block, from both residential and commercial installations, the aggregators will have greater leverage to negotiate prices closer to the ACP.

Renewable Energy Credits in a nutshell

The REC process is confusing (very confusing!), so we have put together this simple flowchart showing how homeowners producing renewable energy can get paid for the production. While seemingly complicated, Ground Energy Support assists owners of geothermal systems in getting their geothermal system metered, their applications completed, and monthly data reported to the NEPOOL GIS.

Outlook for Geothermal RECs

The market for Geothermal RECs should stay strong for years to come. The New Hampshire Renewable Portfolio Standard obligates New Hampshire utilities to produce or acquire an increasing percentage of their total energy in the form of renewable thermal energy. For 2014, the obligation was approximately 43,000 MegaWatt hours (1 MWh = 1 REC). In 2015, the obligation increases to 64,000 and then, in 2016, more than doubles to over 140,000. While it is expected that biomass will be the dominant technology, biomass was able to meet less than 25% of the total demand in 2014.

To learn more about Geothermal RECs in New Hampshire, see our What You Need to Know post or contact us by email.