The Illinois Power Agency (IPA) is conducting a competitive procurement for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from Low-Income Community Solar Pilot Projects under 15-year contracts. This procurement is authorized under Public Act 99-0906 and was included in the IPA's Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan as approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission. Rather than utilizing administratively determined REC prices as used in other Illinois Solar for All sub-programs, this pilot will use a competitive bidding process to determine $/REC pricing. REC payments will be made over the first 10 years of the 15-year contract term.
Projects must be located in Illinois and include a partnership with at least one community-based organization. The Project must be a "new" facility with final interconnection approval occurring on or after June 1, 2017. Projects must result in economic benefits for community members and must ensure that ongoing subscriber payments do not exceed 50% of the expected net metering value. At least 50% of the project's nameplate capacity must be subscribed by eligible subscribers (low-income residential customers or eligible community-based organizations) for the project to be considered energized.
Key dates include a bidder information webcast on October 23, 2019, Part 1 Proposal deadline of 12 PM (noon) CPT on November 6, 2019, Part 2 Proposal deadline of 12 PM (noon) CPT on December 4, 2019, and a Bid Date in December 2019. The ICC Commission decision is expected on Thursday, December 19, 2019. Sellers with approved projects have 3 business days to execute the REC Contract and 30 business days to post Performance Assurance.
The procurement event features a total budget of $20,000,000 over the 15-year contract term. Individual projects cannot exceed $20,000,000 in total cost. The evaluation process will rank cost-effective projects by price per REC while ensuring that funding is not distributed solely to utilities and that at least one project at least 50% owned by subscribers is selected if available. A Bid Participation Fee of $500 is required with Part 1 Proposals and is non-refundable.