Coordinated Competitive Renewable Power Procurement
Status Update

April 1, 2013 – On March 28, 2013, the New England States Committee on Electricity (NESCOE) provided an update on Coordinated Competitive Renewable Power Procurement at the Northeast Energy & Commerce Association Renewable Energy Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. NESCOE’s presentation is available at this web address: http://www.nescoe.com/uploads/NECA_NESCOE_March_2013.pdf

Through this Status Update, NESCOE provides the same information to other interested market participants. The region’s work on this matter is in furtherance of the New England Governors’ July 2012 Resolution, which directed NESCOE to implement a coordinated competitive renewable power procurement Work Plan and set a goal to release a solicitation by the end of December 2013.

The Procurement Team, which includes representatives of each New England state, NESCOE and some Electric Distribution Companies, has progressed to a near-final draft Request for Proposal, Scoring Criteria and illustrative Power Purchase Agreement. The Legal Sub-team, which includes lawyers from each New England state with procurement experience and state statutory expertise and NESCOE, has also worked through most details of coordinating mechanics to inform the Procurement Team’s direction. The steps remaining prior to release of a solicitation include final Legal Sub-team review of solicitation-related documents and stakeholder input opportunity. The six New England states currently plan to issue a solicitation for clean power project proposals in the late summer or early fall of 2013.

An intervening issue that occurred after the New England Governors’ July 2012 Resolution and after the Procurement Team began its work was the federal government’s extension of federal tax credits for wind resources, with current expiration set at the end of 2013. In light of the substantial value of federal tax credits, one or more states may also elect to move rapidly with near-term solicitations pursuant to established state processes in order to maximize the potential to capture the value of such tax credits for consumers.

Future updates and notices of any stakeholder input opportunities will be available at www.nescoe.com under “2013 Solicitation”.