Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Energy Company Can't Meet States Solar Mandate

Akron, Ohio utility FirstEnergy Corp. is asking the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to declare a market shortage of solar energy after determining it can't meet state standards for the generation source, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports.

The company originally planned to meet state-mandated levels of solar-generated power by buying credits from other companies that churn it out. But First Energy says it can't hit the mark – 0.5 percent of all power sold in Ohio by 2024 - even using that method.

The Plain Dealer notes American Electric Power Company Inc. (NYSE:AEP), unlike FirstEnergy, has mounted in-state solar projects in an attempt to hit the mark. If FirstEnergy gets the PUCO declaration, it will avoid paying fines.

SOURCE: http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/morning_call/2011/01/firstenergy-no-way-to-meet-states.html

1 comment:

CarterL said...

I have a lot of trouble believing that FirstEnergy can't find enough SRECs out there to meet its requirements. I am a Washington DC resident and active in the solar community here and the DC SREC market is currently facing the issue of a flood of SRECs since our requirement allows the inclusion of SRECs from anywhere in the PJM distribution area to count towards reaching out solar carve out in the RPS

I believe FirstEnergy is part of the PJM interconnect (it goes from North Carolina out to Chicago), so if the PUCO decides to loosen the requirements for an SREC, FirstEnergy should have no problem reaching their goal.

-Carter Lavin
carter.lavin@gmail.com