The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities will consider changes to the solar renewable portfolio standard at its Feb. 27 meeting. The board issued a straw proposal last December to phase out the current Solar Renewable Energy Certificate, or SREC, Program following legislation enacted in May 2018, which closes the program when 5.1 percent of electricity sold in the state comes from distributed solar, and transitions to a new system.

The board staff proposed to divide the solar credits into legacy SRECs for projects that come online before the transition point, pipeline SRECs for projects that have not started operations until that point, and SREC successor program for projects that seek registration after the 5.1 percent threshold. The proposal put forth a series of stakeholder questions to provide input on the transition and successor program.

Last year, the board adopted a rule initiating the process of transitioning to a new model that will build upon the state’s current solar process. New Jersey recently completed 100,000 installations, a landmark in the state’s thriving solar industry which has benefitted from net metering, a renewable portfolio standard, and the solar credit market.