Minnesota Compliance Training
NOTICE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY CERTIFICATE (REC) RETIREMENT FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY STANDARDS, GREEN PRICING PROGRAM, AND SOLAR ENERGY STANDARD REC RETIREMENT
Issued: April 2, 2020
In the Matter of Commission Consideration and Determination of Compliance with Renewable Energy Standards for Year 2020
In the Matter of Commission Consideration and Determination of Compliance with Renewable Energy Standards (RES)
In the Matter of the Green Pricing Verification Filing Process
PUC Docket Number(s):
E-999/PR-21-12
E-999/PR-02-1240
All utilities subject to Minn. Stat. §216B.1691, as well as those with Green Pricing Programs, must retire Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and file annual verification reports for the Renewable Energy Standards (RES), Solar Energy Standards, and Green Pricing Programs. These may be addressed by completing the information requested in the spreadsheet and filing it no later than June 1, 2021. The spreadsheet may be found here:
For the 2020 compliance year, RECs must be retired by May 1, 2021.
PLEASE NOTE: Utilities should have received an invitation to retire RECs in the M-RETS dashboard under the program titled ‘Minnesota RPS 2020 Compliance.’ For questions regarding the platform or invitations, please contact systemadmin@mrets.org.
In accordance with the Commission’s March 19, 2010 Order (Docket No. E-999/CI-03-869), all entities covered under Minn. Stat. §216B.1691, except Xcel Energy, must retire RECs representing 20 percent of annual retail sales for calendar year 2020. Xcel Energy is required to retire RECs representing 30 percent of annual retail sales for calendar year 2020.
This is the initial year compliance will be reviewed for Minnesota’s Solar Energy Standard under Minn. Stat. § 216B.1691, subd. 2f, which requires a public utility to generate or procure enough solar energy to supply at least 1.5% of its retail electric sales in Minnesota with solar energy by the end of 2020. Of the 1.5% solar, at least 10% must come from solar photovoltaic devices with 40-kilowatt (kW) capacity or less. Public utilities with 50,000 to 200,000 retail electric customers may count individual customers’ community-solar garden subscriptions of 40 kW or less toward the 10% small-scale carveout.
Compliance is measured on a calendar year basis. Utilities must retire a sufficient number of RECs to meet the 2020 RES and the 2020 SES for certain utilities, as well as retire a sufficient number of RECs to meet the green pricing sales for the applicable calendar year. These retirements must be completed by May 1 of the year following the compliance year. For example, RECs for compliance (calendar) year 2020 must be transferred and retired by May 1, 2021.
Solar Energy Standard (SES): Please note Tab 4 of the spreadsheet addresses the filing requirements for the SES reporting obligation per the January 29, 2021 Order and Attachment 1 in Docket No. E-999/M-20-464. Only utilities subject to this subdivision need to report.
Eligible energy facilities: RECs must originate from eligible energy technology as defined by Minn. Stat. §216B.1691, subd. 1.
REC shelf life: Only RECs retired before the end of their Commission-designated shelf life (the year of generation plus four years) will be counted towards either the RES requirement or a utility’s Green Pricing Program.
M-RETS REC retirement platform and instruction document: Utilities should have been invited to the Minnesota RPS 2020 Compliance program and, for the public utilities, Small Solar program via M-RETS account holders.
An instruction document on REC retirement and report creation for Minnesota RES compliance and Green Pricing Programs is available in the training section of the M-RETS website.
Questions regarding the online retirement process or the generation of M-RETS reports may be directed to: Sean Darling, Technical Program Coordinator at (651) 900-7891 or systemadmin@mrets.org or Ben Gerber, M-RETS President and CEO at (651) 789-3338 or ben@mrets.org.
Filing requirements: Utilities,telecommunications carriers, official parties, and state agenciesare required to file documents using the Commission’s electronic filing system (eFiling). All parties, participantsand interested persons are encouraged to use eFiling: mn.gov/puc, select eFiling, and follow the prompts.
Subscribe to receive email notification when new documents are filed in this docket at mn.gov/puc, select Subscribe, or click HERE and follow the prompts.
Questions about this docket? Contact Commission staff:
Kelly Martone, at kelly.martone@state.mn.us or (651) 201-2245.
Questions about the Green Pricing section of the reporting form may be directed to Lise Trudeau, Minnesota Department of Commerce, Division of Energy Resources staff, at Clean.Energy@state.mn.us or (651) 539-1861.
To request this document in another format such as large print or audio, call (651) 296-0406 (voice). Persons with a hearing or speech impairment may call using their preferred Telecommunications Relay Service or email consumer.puc@state.mn.us for assistance.