Summary of the 2nd Supplemental Photovoltaic Procurement
Under the IPA (Illinois Power Agency) Supplemental Photovoltaic Procurement Plan , the IPA will purchase up to $30,000,000 of solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) from new photovoltaic systems through contracts of five years in length in accordance with Section 1-56(i) of the IPA Act. This is the 2nd of 3 and potentially 4 procurement events that has been planned by the IPA. This procurement has a budget of $10,000,000 dollars to purchase SRECs from new solar systems under 2MW.
This procurement allows for two types bids: there are “Identified Systems” which must be identified via a signed letter of intent or a contract, and there are “Speculative Systems” which are bid in as a SREC quantity with no specific systems attached to them. Winning speculative bidders have 6 months to identify systems via a contract that will generate the SRECs. Only systems under 25kW may be bid in speculatively. All systems over 25kW must be identified via a letter of intent by October 23rd to participate in this event.
The IPA will purchase SRECs from identified and speculative systems for 5 years at a fixed price. In order to be eligible for this procurement systems must have been, will be energized after January 21st, 2015. All identified systems must be energized within 12 months of the November 12th bid deadline. Forecasted systems must be identified via a letter of intent or contract within 6 months of the of the bid date and energized within 1 year of the signing of the letter of intent. The energized date marks the beginning of the 5 year period to sell all SRECs to the IPA.
Systems will be categorized by system size and bid separately within their respective categories. The system size tiers are the following:
| Procurement Date | Funds | System Size Targets |
| June 2015 | $5M | 50% – under 25kW
50% – 25- 500kW |
|
November 2015 |
$10M |
50%- under 25kW
15% – 25-500kW 35% 500-2000kW |
|
March 2016 |
$15M |
50%- under 25kW
TDB- 25-500kW TBD 500-2000kW |
SREC Pricing
The Illinois Power Agency (IPA) procurement is a confidential bidding process to purchase RECS installations located in Illinois. Bidders must bundle individual systems into large blocks which will allow for limited flexibility in individual bid pricing. The procurement uses a closed bidding process, the highest clearing price will remain confidential. However, due to their insight into the market, Carbon Solutions Group has strong indications on what the final prices will be.
The IPA will categorize bids into the three size categories. They will then select winning bids by ranking them from the lowest price to the highest until the budget has been spent. The IPA has a goal of purchasing at least 50% of SRECs from systems in the <25kW category as available, so will potentially reward higher average winning prices to smaller systems. A benchmark ceiling will be set by the IPA on the highest allowable bid price, and therefore lower bids will have a more likely chance of being selected than higher ones. If your bid is not selected, the IPA will not purchase SRECs from your system during this procurement event. CSG intends to offer and bid a price that balances the chance to win the procurement and that adds meaningful value to system owners.
In the first procurement event the average price was $143/SREC. This however does not necessarily indicate that pricing will remain the same for the second and third rounds and could change significantly.
CSG will manage all administrative paperwork for bidding your system as well as assume the fees associated with submitting your bid. If your system receives a winning bid, CSG will register your system with the appropriate tracking system so you can begin generating SRECs. Once your system is registered CSG will handle all of the generation, transfers, and invoicing with the IPA.
Important Dates
| October 22nd | Speculative bids and Letters of Intent due to CSG |
| November 4th | Bonding Money due to CSG (contact CSG for details) |
| November 12th | Bids Submitted to IPA |
| November 18th | Winning Bids Announced by the ICC |
| April 2016 | All Speculative Systems Must be Identified |
| November 2016 | All Identified Systems Must be Energized |
| April 2016 | All Speculative Systems Must be Energized |
Please contact CSG directly if you have any questions or concerns.