Direct Investment, Synthetic PPA s ABC Member Bulk Procurement. Garrett Sprague, A Better City

Transcription

1 Direct Investment, Synthetic PPA s ABC Member Bulk Procurement Garrett Sprague, A Better City

2 Barriers to Investing in Renewables 1. Many large institutions not aware of the opportunity. 2. Inertia of the status quo 3. Opacity of the market 4. Lack of standardization 5. Diverse expertise required 6. Lack of internal processes 7. Accounting/Financial pitfalls. 8. Sustainability not part of core mission

3 Direct Investment- Ownership On-Site: Institution finances project upfront with cash or debt or through a tax equity investment. Recoups Investment Through: 30% Investment Tax Credit/Production Tax Credit 5-Year Accelerated Depreciation Tax Incentive Electricity Savings Sale of REC s or SREC s Solar Panel Warranty: 25 Years Inverter Warranty: 10 years (Max life= 15 years) Off-Site: Tax equity investment recouped as project earns money from sale of electricity and (S)REC s

4 Sample Financials: 1MW Solar Project Assumptions Install Cost ($/W) $2.50 System Size (kw) 1000 (1MW) Financial Summary Install Cost/W: $2.50 System Size (kw): 1000 (1MW) Production kwh 1,138,000 Install Cost: ($2,500,000.00) ITC 30% $750, Estimated Annual Production (kwh) 1,138,000 Production Degradation Rate (%) 0.5% Electricity Rate ($/kwh) $0.12 Electricity Escalation Rate (%) 3.0% SREC Value ($/MWh) $ MACRS Total $2,125,000 Electricity Savings $136, SREC Revenue $159,320 Year 1 After incentives ($1,222,427.50) System Payback: 4 Years Net Present Value $1,075, Estimated Return on Equity 21% Simple Solar Financial Model from DOER *Slightly Outdated based on SREC II Program

5 On-site or Off-site No up front costs O&M covered by project owner Fixed Price $/kwh or Escalator (1-2%) year agreement (developers prefer longer term) REC s: Retain/Retire or Sell Direct Investment- Power Purchase Agreements Institution can sign a PPA where electricity is virtually net metered to electric bill provided the installation is located in the same ISO-NE Load Zone. Boston

6 Green Power Partnership Top 5 On-Site Generation Source: Green Power Partnership, 2015

7 Massachusetts Net Metering Policy Total amount of net metering capped at 12% of each utilities historic maximum demand. o 6% Public (Municipalities) & 6% Private o Public cap in NGRID territory is FULL Encourages the development of small projects o < 1MW (Class I & II) offsets nearly entire retail cost of electricity o > 1MW (Class III) does not offset distribution half of bill Promotes projects on rooftops, brownfields or parking lots Projects must be <6MW to qualify for SREC s Favors public offtakers rather than private offtakers

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9 We use a lot of electricity and the net metering program encourages small projects. We would like to receive net metering credits from a project but there is limited space to develop projects at scale in NEMA territory. As an organization, we want to be able to say we helped develop a renewable energy project rather than we purchased green electricity. We live, work and play in New England- we would like our investment to positively impact our region.

10 Synthetic Power Purchase Agreement Hedge Against Volatility THIS IS STRICTLY A FINANCIAL TRANSACTION! 1. Renewable Energy project sells power into the open market. 2. Project Owner enters into contract with third party institution that ensures a price floor on the market. 3. Institution and Project Owner agree on a benchmark price. 4. If the market price falls below the benchmark, Institution pays the difference to Project Owner 5. If the market price rises above the benchmark, Project Owner pays the difference to the Institution

11 THIS IS STRICTLY A FINANCIAL TRANSACTION! Electricity Market $0.15/kWh* *Massachusetts Commercial rate as of April 2015 Bank Institution hedges investment in project with bank Institution Agrees to benchmark price of $0.12/kWh for electricity and REC s $0.18/kWh Owner pays Institution ($0.06/kWh) o Typically year agreements (Owners prefer longer term) Transferrable to new building owner or throughout the portfolio Institution pays Owner ($0.04/kWh) $0.08/kWh o Project can be located anywhere o No limit on scale Project Owner o Institution receives revenue & REC s o Used by Google, Mars (100% of E from Texas wind farm), Kaiser Permanente and Microsoft

12 Direct Access Tariff Negotiate own supply contract with existing utility where (new) corporate energy load is served directly by (new) renewables projects. Experts suggest scale necessary would be million kwh consumption Must be near customer site No limit on scale Customer receives power & REC s Example: Facebook agreed to buy energy from 138MW Wind project in Iowa to supply a new Iowa data center. Mid-American Energy (utility) owns and operates wind farm. Source: Facebook Press Release

13 Three Requirements for a Renewable Project to be Built 1. Cash to build the project. 2. An offtaker for the power 3. An offtaker for the REC s Renewable energy projects traditionally attract financing only after securing a long-term contract to sell the electricity to a creditworthy offtaker at a relatively fixed price. Source: Chadbourne & Park LLP- Synthetic Power Contracts, April 2013

14 Goal: ABC assists its members in coordinating a bulk procurement of renewable energy 1. Collectively guide ABC members in making strategic choices 1. Utilize the ABC network to remove market barriers, aggregate demand and scale purchasing power to reduce costs ABC Member Bulk Procurement Source: Purchasing Power: Best Practices Guide to Collaborative Solar Procurement A Better City

15 Benefits Reduce and stabilize energy costs long term Green power vs Brown power Shovel-ready projects in pipeline looking for offtakers Expiration of the ITC/PTC creates sense of urgency for all parties to execute a deal Reduce risk perception & transaction costs. It is estimated that corporations alone could DOUBLE US demand for renewable energy through aggressive procurement (RMI-BRC Presentation, 2015)

16 What if we were all in it together? Share resources and experiences Establish best practices Aggregate demand = Increase purchase power 10-15% reduction of energy cost* Transaction and Administrative time reduced by 75%* Highly competitive contract terms (buyout options, performance guarantees, transferability to creditworthy new owner, termination options)* *Compared to individual projects of similar scale and complexity Source: Purchasing Power: Best Practices Guide to Collaborative Solar Procurement

17 Source: Purchasing Power: Best Practices Guide to Collaborative Solar Procurement

18 Collaborative Procurement Examples o Orlando Utilities Commission Solar Aggregations Program to assist 9 large commercial customers in procuring solar Issued RFP for demand which totaled 1.2MW of PV and 77kW solar thermal. PPA agreement with each customer. o Silicon Valley Collaborative Renewable Energy Procurement Project Partnership between City of Santa Clara, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and Public Sector Climate Task force Installed 14.4MW on 70 different sites for 9 public agencies Follow up project for 31 MW at 186 different sites for 19 agencies Aggregate Power Purchase Agreement of $0.09/kWh This is the largest collaborative procurement project at this time.

19 Collaborative Procurement Examples o Clean Energy Collaborative Procurement Initiative USEPA launched program in 2010 for the Washington DC Metro area 170 sites at 20 Organizations evaluated 36 Sites at 4 organizations slated for install Construction Underway o Business Renewables Center- Rocky Mountain Institute Founded in February 2015 Founding corporate buyers include: Beckton, Dickinson, and Co., Bloomberg, ebay, GM, HP, Kaiser Permanente, Nestle Waters North America, Owens Corning, Salesforce, Spring and VF Corporation The collaborative effort of the BRC will make it easier for corporations to enter the renewables market. Instead of having hundreds of corporations reinvent the wheel, each member can get immediate access to the cumulative knowledge and wisdom of the industry. Each problem only needs to get solved once. Rob Threlkeld, GM

20 ABC Collaborative Purchase Potential ABC Members collectively use over 500,000,000 kwh of electricity annually. Estimated $75,000,000 collective annual electricity expenditure. Assumed potential for minimum 10% reduction in electric cost= $7.5M annual savings to ABC members. ABC members also get to keep the REC s and make claims that they helped develop a renewable energy project. ABC Members hedge against future volatility in electric market.

21 Next Steps 1. Determine the goal of the procurement Reduce energy costs Procure renewable energy Support local projects, on-site, out-of state 2. Determine what resources and stakeholders are needed to manage project See Ben Meyers slide #45 3. Determine how many kwh s to be purchased 4. Choose procurement pathway.

22 Interested? Follow-up conversation by the end of July To participate in the follow up conversation please We send a brief survey to those interested early next week. Thanks!