N.J. Admin. Code § 14:8-11.10

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024

Section 14:8-11.10 - Competitive solar incentive solicitation design

(a) The Board shall conduct one CSI solicitation per year. The timing of the solicitation shall be subject to review and revision at the discretion of the Board.

(b) The Board shall allocate megawatt blocks for targeted procurement capacity to the following market tranches for solar projects in the CSI Program:

1. Tranche 1: Basic Grid Supply--grid supply projects that do not qualify for Tranche 2 or 3 and are connected to the distribution or transmission system owned or operated by a New Jersey public utility or local government unit.

2. Tranche 2: Grid Supply on the Built Environment--grid supply projects for which all solar panels are installed on rooftops, raised carports over parking lots or decks, or similar installations on the built environment, and are connected to the distribution or transmission system owned or operated by a New Jersey public utility or local government unit.

3. Tranche 3: Grid Supply on Contaminated Sites and Landfills--grid supply projects for which the solar panels are fully installed on contaminated sites or landfills, where the associated disturbed areas constitute a maximum of 10 percent of the total area dedicated to solar development. Projects proposed on land in agricultural use are excluded from participation in Tranche 3.

4. Tranche 4: Net Metered Non-Residential Projects Above Five Megawatts--these net metered projects must meet the requirements of their New Jersey utility to qualify as net metered projects serving non-residential customers.

5. Tranche 5: Storage Paired with Grid Supply Solar--a storage facility that is planned to be located contiguous to, and to be electrically connected to, associated solar facilities: grid supply solar bidding into Tranche 1, 2, or 3.

(c) To participate in the solicitation, projects shall meet the following requirements:

1. If, subject to the PJM interconnection process, a published PJM feasibility study, a PJM Phase I study, or such equivalent successor PJM study, as the Board shall identify through Board Order, for one or more queue positions that will allow for generation interconnection of the proposed solar and/or storage facility(ies);

2. If not subject to the PJM Interconnection process, written authorization from the EDC providing conditional approval to construct; and

3. Payment of a non-refundable bid fee, the value of which shall be established by the Board, for solar projects bidding into Tranche 1, 2, 3, or 4. Projects serving public entities shall be exempt from the bid fee.

(d) For pre-qualification to participate in a solicitation, a project shall submit to the Board, or its designee, the following information:

1. Designation of tranche into which the project intends to bid;

2. Solar project capacity in megawatts or storage facility capacity in megawatt-hours;

3. A site plan certified by a licensed professional engineer;

4. Evidence of qualification for the tranche for which the project is intending to bid, including, but not limited to: GIS coordinates, address, project address, and number of acres proposed for development; and

5. Evidence of compliance with relevant Board-approved siting criteria.

i. Link(s) to one or more PJM feasibility studies, PJM Phase I studies, equivalent successor PJM studies, or written authorization from the EDC providing conditional approval to construct;

ii. For projects with a proposed installation density greater than 300 kW per acre, a statement from a licensed professional engineer confirming feasibility of the installation density based on proposed design parameters, such as module quantity, size and efficiency, tilt, azimuth, and interrow spacing;

iii. For projects on contaminated sites and landfills, estimated size of the area designated as "contaminated site" or "properly closed sanitary landfill" and an NJDEP permit readiness checklist; and

iv. For storage paired with grid supply solar, description of the storage facility technology, and reference to the associated solar facility.

(e) Projects shall bid a proposed price per SREC-II for evaluation as follows:

1. Solar shall be bid as a price in dollars per megawatt-hour of solar production.

2. Storage facilities shall be bid as a normalized storage bid, which represents the adder to the SREC-II, expressed in dollars per megawatt-hour of electricity generated by the associated solar facility, for a storage facility with a discharge capacity in megawatt-hours equal to four times the capacity in megawatts of the associated solar facility.

(f) Eligibility to participate in the Tranche 5 solicitation for the storage incentive shall be restricted to storage facilities with associated solar facilities that have received an SREC-II award in Tranche 1, Tranche 2, or Tranche 3 in the same solicitation.

(g) Eligibility for a storage incentive is limited to a storage facility's discharge capacity in megawatt-hours equal to or less than four times the total electricity generation capacity in megawatts of the associated solar facility.

(h) Winning bids will be determined by ranking the offers on proposed price per SREC-II for Tranches 1, 2, 3, and 4, and on normalized storage bids for Tranche 5, and selecting the lowest-priced offers.

(i) Subject to (j) below, awards will continue through the last project that does not exceed the procurement target for a given tranche.

1. If the total combined acreage of proposed solar development exceeds any of the limits for solar on certain agricultural land specified at N.J.S.A. 48:3-119.d(1) and f, awards will continue, but no project that would cause a limit to be exceeded will be awarded. Instead, the next lowest priced project that would not cause any limit for solar on agricultural land to be exceeded will be selected.

2. If two projects are bid with the same price and either can be awarded without exceeding the procurement target but awarding both would exceed the procurement target, the Board shall exercise its discretion in making the award.

3. If a final award cannot be made that will exactly meet a procurement target, the Board shall exercise its discretion in deciding whether to exceed the target if, in the Board's judgment, the incremental project or projects will benefit New Jersey.

(j) (Reserved.)

(k) All projects in Tranches 1, 2, and 3 shall compete against each other initially. Those projects that are eligible for Tranche 2 and Tranche 3 and which are not selected initially shall then compete in Tranches 2 and 3. Tranche 5 shall be evaluated after projects have been selected in Tranches 1, 2, and 3.

(l) The Board may adjust the tranches or create new tranches through a Board Order to reflect changes in the solar market. In considering an adjustment, the Board shall include consideration of whether increased or decreased differentiation between tranches is necessary in light of the costs and revenues of different project types, administrative complexity, or the emergence of new technologies.

N.J. Admin. Code § 14:8-11.10

Adopted by 55 N.J.R. 2555(a), effective 12/18/2023