The Supplemental Photovoltaic Procurement Plan developed by the IPA and approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission allows for a possible fourth procurement event in Spring 2017, called the Supplemental Photovoltaic Contingency Procurement. The Agency has determined that it is not necessary to conduct a Supplemental Photovoltaic Contingency Procurement.

The following renewable energy procurement events for 2017 are planned and tentative schedules have been released:

• Two procurements for distributed renewable generation resources on behalf of Ameren Illinois, ComEd, and MidAmerican pursuant to the Agency’s 2017 Procurement Plan. The first of these procurement events is planned for this Spring and the schedule is available here:

   https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/calendar/

• Once Public Act 99-0906 becomes effective on June 1, 2017, the IPA expects to conduct an initial forward procurement event for Wind/Solar in summer 2017. The expected schedule, which is provided here:

   https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Documents/2017-Schedule-Announcement.pdf

   has bidder registration beginning June 22, 2017 and a Bid Date of August 10, 2017.

Additional forward solar procurement events will be scheduled at a later date. All such schedules will be posted to the Calendar page of the procurement website.

If you have not already done so, we suggest that you complete the form to Register to receive updates and information regarding the RFPs. These updates will include announcements of upcoming procurement events.

Illinois does not have a state process for certification of renewable energy facilities.

Separately the IPA has developed standards for the metering requirements of renewable energy PV facilities that are bid in to the IPA’s procurement events. The standards are found here:

https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Documents/IPA-metering-accuracy-standard-5-14-15.pdf

For information on generating and tracking of RECs, please contact M-RETS or GATS:

M-RETS Registry
Contact: Bryan Gower, M-RETS Administrator
Email: mrets@apx.com
Phone: 408-899-3340

gatsadmin@pjm-eis.com
(877) 750-GATS (4287)

For additional information on procurement events planned for 2017, as well for the change in definition of distributed renewable energy generation device pursuant to Public Act 99-0906 (which becomes effective on June 1, 2017), please consult:

https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Pages/News.aspx

https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Pages/Renewable_Resources.aspx

It is expected that the procurement events under the Utility DG RFP will allow participation from both new and existing systems (please consult the Utility DG RFP when it is release for full eligibility criteria).

With respect to the Supplier Fee, the IPA’s 2017 Procurement Plan (https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Documents/2017ProcurementPlan/ICCFiling/2017%20IPA%20Procurement%20Plan%20for%20ICC%20Filing%20%28Final%209-27-16%29.pdf)

states that “an estimated Supplier Fee per REC  will be announced prior to the opening of bidder registration, and the final Supplier Fee per REC will be announced after bidder registration is completed but prior to the bid due date.”  Typically the estimated Supplier Fee is provided during the webcast held prior to the opening of bidder registration, scheduled for March 27.  It is not feasible to provide an estimate of the Supplier Fee on February 28.  In response to your request, we will endeavour to provide an estimated Supplier Fee by March 3.  This estimate will be such that the actual Supplier Fee that will be announced once registration is completed but prior to the bid due date will be NO HIGHER than the previously announced estimated Supplier Fee.

With respect to the capacity factors, the final capacity factors were expected to be made available when the final RFP Rules are released, which is scheduled for March 27, 2017.  It is not feasible to provide final capacity factors by February 28.  Please take note of the capacity factors that were used in prior DG procurement events, available on p.6 of this document:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/?wpfb_dl=901

In response to your request, we will endeavour to provide any updates to these capacity factors by March 3 as well.  Such updates will provide to bidders the final capacity factors and these capacity factors will not be subject to further change when the final RFP Rules are released.

Yes.

The “host” for a system is the individual or entity that owns or controls the site where the system will be installed.  In the case you present, the host is a different individual or company from the owner of the system (the individual or company that will have title to the RECs produced by the system).

Systems for which the owner and the host are different individuals or companies are eligible for participation in the DG RFP.  However, such systems are typically required to submit additional documentation in the form of a “Host Acknowledgment”.  A Host Acknowledgment is a statement from the host that the host knows about the planned system and agrees to the system being installed.  A sample of the Host Acknowledgment from a prior procurement event is provided here:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/2016-renewable-energy-resources-section/

(click on Appendix 5 under Spring 2016 Distributed Generation FINAL RFP Documents).

The Supplier Fee for the Spring 2016 Utility DG RFP was $11.25 per REC for the quantity of RECs associated with winning Bids across all Delivery Years.

The Supplier Fee is paid only by suppliers whose bids are approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission.

The Bidder (the company that will be presenting a proposal under the Utility Distributed Generation Request for Proposal, the “DG RFP”) will be required to present a Letter of Credit to support its bids with the Illinois Power Agency (“IPA”) as beneficiary. The terms of this Letter of Credit have been released and are available here:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/final-materials/

Should the Bidder have Bids that are approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission, the Letter of Credit would still be held during the term of the supplier contract. Please see Section V.2.3. of the DG RFP Rules for information on the reduction and return of the Letter of Credit.

Please note that the Bidder and the system owner may or may not be the same person/company. The requirement to provide a Letter of Credit applies to the Bidder.

You seem to be referring to documents appended to the contract forms that were used in the procurement events under the Supplemental Photovoltaic Procurement Plan (“SPV”). Please note that the procurement event under the Utility DG RFP to be held this Spring uses an entirely different contract form and the requirements for the submission of a Proposal will be different from the requirements in the SPV procurement events.

Please see the draft contract form here (comments are due March 9):

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/

Please also note that, to assist bidders who may preparing to participate in the DG RFP, the Procurement Administrator has made an early release of information and documents, including a Sample Host Acknowledgment. This Host Acknowledgment is included in the “Sample Documents” posted to this page:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/final-materials/

While the DG RFP Rules have not been released, it is anticipated that the Host Acknowledgment will be required for a system presented as part of your Proposal if: (i) the system is new (i.e., energized on or after June 1, 2017); and (ii) the System Owner and the Host are different entities or individuals.

No, the IPA will not accept cash to meet collateral requirements for the Utility DG RFP. All bidders must submit a Letter of Credit with their Part 2 Proposal.  This Letter of Credit stays in place at the start of the supply period to the extent that some of the systems presented in the Proposal have not begun accumulating metered deliveries or to the extent that some systems in the Small Size Class have not yet been identified.

All suppliers that are considering participation in the Utility DG RFP should begin at the earliest opportunity to work with their financial institutions to issue the Letter of Credit. The Letter of Credit has been posted here:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/final-materials/

If the financial institution of the bidder would like to propose modifications to the Letter of Credit, such modifications can be presented by the Bidder to the Procurement Administrator prior to the Part 1 Date (the date at which Part 1 Proposals are due).

The IPA Utility DG procurement events are targeted more to aggregators (rather than individual system owners) to SELL (rather than buy) renewable energy credits.

The Illinois Solar Energy Association has information for homeowners generally and with respect to the IPA procurement events in particular:

http://www.illinoissolar.org/Procurement

The results of previous procurement events also provide the list of aggregators. These aggregators have been winning suppliers in the IPA’s procurement events:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/?wpfb_dl=918

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/?wpfb_dl=832

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/?wpfb_dl=611

There is no certification or formalized process to become an aggregator. An aggregator refers to an entity that presents renewable energy systems that it does not own but for which it has ownership of RECs or the contractual right to legally transfer or assign the RECs to the utility.

Under the Utility DG RFP (“DG RGP”), the Bidder is expected to serve as the counterparty under the applicable supplier contract with the utility for the delivery of RECs.   There is a minimum 1 MW bid. While the Bidder can be a system owner or an aggregator, if smaller systems are presented, it would be expected that the bidder is an aggregator.

In the presentation of the proposal, an aggregator must demonstrate that it has ownership or the contractual right to legally transfer or assign RECs through executed Letters of Intent for each system that it does not own.

While the RFP Rules have yet to be finalized, we expect that a first limitation will be that the Bidder can, for the Large Size Class (systems 25 kW or above), present systems that together produce an annual quantity of RECs up to and including the overall Target (across all three utilities). Similarly, for the Small Size Class (systems below 25 kW), we expect that the limitation will be that the Bidder can present systems and a forecast quantity that together produce an annual quantity of RECs up to and including the overall Target (across all three utilities).

A second limitation is that any Individual system presented as part of a proposal for the Spring Utility DG RFP (“DG RGP”) is limited in size to 2,000 MW nameplate capacity (DC rating).

A third limitation is that a Bidder can submit a single proposal in response to the DG RFP.

Components of the first 1 MW Block presented by a Bidder may be of different technologies, may be from different Size Classes, and, for the Small Size Class, may be from identified systems or may include a forecast quantity.   To the extent that the first 1 MW Block features RECs from both the Large and the Small Size Classes, the Bidder must provide two Bid prices, a Bid price for each Size Class. Each price is a blend to the extent that the price applies potentially to several systems.

Under the applicable supplier contract with a given utility, there is a single blended price for each Size Class, which is calculated as the weighted average of the winning bid prices of the RECs that have been selected for award under the RFP process for that contract.

No. While the contracts for the Distributed Generation RFP (“DG RFP”) are not yet finalized, under the terms of the current draft contracts, there is no allowance for substitution (adding a system in place of a system identified as part of a winning bid). In the case that an identified system does not materialize or accumulate metered deliveries by May 31, 2018, the Bidder would forfeit the collateral associated with the RECs from such system. Furthermore, the project would be removed from the applicable supplier contract with a utility and the maximum quantity of RECs to be delivered under the contract would be reduced accordingly.

No. Please review the DG contracts, which are on a portfolio basis and are not structured on a system by system basis. As part of the Proposal, a Bidder will be required to both identify the size of a system and to certify that the systems’ characteristics, including size, are true and accurate to the best of the Bidder’s knowledge and belief. The applicable supplier contract will specify a Maximum Annual Quantity to be delivered under the contract, which can be supplied from any of the systems identified as part of the bid (or identified subsequently if the winning bid initially specified a forecast quantity).

For the Spring Utility DG RFP, Bidders may include in their proposal both: 1) identified systems; or 2) a forecast quantity, a quantity of RECs that are not associated with identified systems in the Small Size Class. Identified systems must begin accumulating metered deliveries by the end of the 2017-18 year (on or prior to May 31, 2018).

For a forecast quantity, the Bidder must identify the systems no later than nine months after the start of the delivery year (i.e., by February 28, 2018) and such systems must begin accumulating metered deliveries by February 28, 2019.

The RFP Rules and final materials are not yet available. These are scheduled to be posted to the Final Materials page of the Spring Utility DG section of the procurement website on March 27, 2017. Should draft documents become available, they will be posted to the Draft Documents page and an announcement will be sent to registrants and posted to the procurement website.

Please also note that, to assist bidders who may be preparing to participate in the DG RFP, the Procurement Administrator has made an early release of some information and documents, including a Sample Host Acknowledgment.  This information is posted here:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/final-materials/

Samples of the Letter of Intent can be found in the document titled ‘Sample Documents (March 3, 2017)’ that is posted here: https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/final-materials/.

Bids that meet or beat the benchmarks are selected in price order until the Target quantity of RECs is met on an annual basis or until the Budget is exhausted, whichever comes first.

A winning bidder receives the average of the bidder’s own winning bids (and not a market-clearing price).

The Supplier Fee will be announced no later than the Part 2 Date. This Supplier Fee will not exceed $3.00/REC (the final Supplier Fee may be lower but will in no event be higher than $3.00/REC).

The first consequence is that the quantities for which you can get paid under the contract will be reduced by the RECs associated with the systems that you fail to identify or by the RECs associated with the systems that fail to accumulate metered deliveries by the deadline. The second consequence is that the IPA will make a draw upon the letter of credit in an amount of $4 for each REC that was included in the winning Bids but that is deducted from the quantities for which you can get paid under the contract.

The amount of collateral to be posted is $4/REC based on the number of RECs across the term of the contract associated with your winning bids as specified in the 2017 Procurement Plan. This amount will be further explained in the RFP Rules when these become available. This amount of collateral is to be posted as a Letter of Credit with the IPA as beneficiary. The collateral is not posted with the utility as a term of the applicable supplier contract with the utility.

Please see the Letter of Credit here.  The conditions for drawing on the letter of credit are provided in Paragraph 2 to the Letter of Credit.

No, it is not an event of default under the applicable supplier contract for a utility if you do not deliver up to the Maximum Annual Quantity provided that you meet the following conditions. If you do not meet the Maximum Annual Quantity, you must provide all of the RECs from the systems associated with the applicable supplier contract with the utility; you must not be withholding RECs from the utility or selling RECs from such systems to another party.

A winning bidder will have seven (7) business days after the Illinois Commerce Commission’s approval of the procurement event to pay the supplier fee associated with the winning bids. The supplier fee is not returned or refundable.

With its Part 2 Proposal, a Bidder must provide a Letter of Credit in an amount of $4 times the number of RECs that the Bidder can win across all systems and any forecast quantity for the five (5) Delivery Years under the applicable supplier contracts. This Letter of Credit stays in place, reduced on a prorated basis based upon the winning Bids, at the start of the supply period to the extent that some of the systems presented in the Proposal have not begun accumulating metered deliveries or to the extent that some systems in the Small Size Class have not yet been identified.

In the case that a system fails to be built or energized, the Bidder would forfeit the collateral associated with the RECs from such system. Furthermore, the project would be removed from the applicable supplier contract with a utility and the maximum quantity of RECs to be delivered under the contract would be reduced accordingly.

In the event that an identified system in your proposal delivers RECs under the contract, but is not able to deliver the intended number of RECs designated in the contract, there is no penalty.

A Bidder must submit an original executed Letter of Credit to support its bids with its Part 2 Proposal. The Part 2 Proposal, including the Letter of Credit, must be submitted by 12 PM (noon) Thursday, April 20, 2017.

The Letter of Credit is available in final form here: https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/final-materials/. Should your financial institution have requests for alternate language, you may submit comments on the Letter of Credit to the Procurement Administrator by the time Part 1 Proposals are due, which is 12 PM (noon) CPT on April 5, 2017.

As long as the system has been registered with PJM GATS or M-RETS and the initial meter read date of such system occurs by the deadline in the applicable supplier contract with the utility, then there are no specific quantities of RECs that such system is required to deliver. Under the applicable supplier contract, delivery of RECs is on a portfolio basis to meet the Maximum Annual Quantity in each Delivery Year and not on a system-by-system basis. Furthermore, there are no penalties associated with delivering less of than the Maximum Annual Quantity provided, however, that you are not withholding RECs from the systems identified in the applicable supplier contract. If you do not meet the Maximum Annual Quantity, you must provide all of the RECs from the systems associated with the applicable supplier contract with the utility; you must not be withholding RECs from the utility or selling RECs from such systems to another party.

No. There is no allowance for transferring a winning bid to a new system in the case that the system identified in your proposal does not materialize. In this situation, under the contract, the Bidder would forfeit the collateral associated with the RECs from such system and the project would be removed from the contract.

The requirements for participation in the Utility Distributed Generation request for proposals (“DG RFP”), including required documentation, will be stated in the RFP Rules which will be posted March 27, 2017 to the ‘Final Materials’ section of the Spring Utility DG page of the procurement website. The qualification form is used for you to provide the required information and upload required documents. You can register for an account to receive login credentials to use the qualification form by completing the Qualification Registration Form and selecting the “Spring Utility DG” category. Login credentials are issued the day before the Part 1 Window opens, which is March 28, 2017.

Highlights of the requirements under the DG RFP include:

• Each system presented in the proposal must be a distributed renewable energy generation device, i.e., it must be limited in nameplate capacity to 2,000 kW, behind the customer meter, and interconnected at the distribution level of an electric utility, alternative retail electric supplier, municipal utility, or a rural electric cooperative in Illinois.
• The Bidder must be either the system owner or an aggregator that has ownership of the RECs of the systems or the contractual right to legally transfer or assign RECs from the systems.
• Each bidder must provide a letter of credit in an amount of $4/REC.
• The minimum bid size is 1 MW.
• If Bids for a Bidder are approved by the Commission, the Bidder will deliver RECs to a utility under its applicable supplier contract at a single blended average price per REC for each Product (i.e., an average price for systems below 25 kW and another average price for systems between 25 and 2,000 kW). The single blended average price per REC for a Product will be calculated on the basis of the Bidder’s Bids for the RECs of that Product under contract with that utility.
• To the extent possible, 50% of RECs procured will come from systems below 25 kW.

Please also note that, to assist bidders preparing to participate in the DG RFP, the Procurement Administrator has made an early release of information and documents, including samples of documentation required in certain cases. Please consult the Final Materials page of the Spring Utility DG section of the procurement website (https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/final-materials/). You may also view materials of prior DG RFPs using the “Previous RFPs” link of the procurement website (https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/previous-rfps/).

You can include existing systems in your Proposal. The DG RFP is not limited to new systems. For purposes of the DG RFP, an existing system means a system that has been energized as of March 28, 2017.

No, all systems that are identified pursuant to an award of a Forecast Quantity must be from the Small Size Class.

There is no requirement for systems identified to replace Forecast Quantities to be energized only after January 28, 2018.  Such a system that is energized on October 1, 2017 may be included in the contract.  However, the IPA will amend the list of systems in the contract to include any such systems only once after January 28, 2018.  RECs from such systems may only be transferred for payment after they have been confirmed by the IPA for inclusion in the applicable supplier contracts, which will occur after January 28, 2018 and by February 28, 2018.

Any request to extend the deadline for an identified system to become energized must be made in writing to the IPA by the deadlines specified in the applicable supplier contract. Such extension may be granted at the IPA’s sole discretion but only for limited circumstances such as demonstrated delays in a utility approving interconnection of a system, or failure by the PJMGATS or M-RETS to process registration in a timely manner.  Any such extension will not exceed six months and may be shorter depending on the circumstances.  Please also note that no similar extension can be granted if a bidder fails to identify a system to replace a forecast quantity.

We invite you to review the available documentation for the two programs to understand fully the differences. We highlight a few of these differences below:

The DG systems that are eligible are different:

• The Supplemental PV RFP procured RECs produced by new distributed renewable energy devices that are of solar photovoltaic technology.
• The Spring Utility DG RFP procures RECs produced by new or existing distributed renewable energy devices that may be from different technologies and are not limited to only solar photovoltaic.

The contract structure is different:

• The SPV RFP featured a structure where there was one contract associated with each system and the counterparty to the contract was the Illinois Power Agency.
• In the Utility DG RFP, there is a contract for a portfolio of systems and a winning bidder may have one or more contract with a utility (AIC, ComEd and/or MEC).

We also note that the Utility DG RFP has a minimum bid size of 1 MW and that, to the extent possible, the RFP seeks to procure 50% of RECs from systems below 25 kW.

Please request those instructions from the Procurement Administrator at Illinois-RFP@nera.com.

Login credentials for the Spring Utility DG RFP have been issued. If you did not receive these credentials, please contact us at Illinois-RFP@nera.com.

This is correct. In the IPA Letter of Credit, the Applicant may be different from the Bidder that is indicated in Paragraph 12 of the IPA Letter of Credit. The Bidder indicated in the IPA Letter of Credit must be the Seller that will sign the applicable supplier contracts should the bids in the proposal submitted to the Procurement Event be approved.

It is correct that use of PJM EIS GATS or M-RETS is required for the transfer of RECs under the applicable supplier contracts. Beyond that, the cover sheet does not require that the GATS or M-RETS account you are using for the transfer is specifically linked to the Seller name.

You are correct. You determine where payment is to be sent under the applicable supplier contracts and you may indicate the information of your bank in the coversheet of the applicable supplier contracts.

Such a structure is likely inconsistent with the requirements of the RFP.  We strongly encourage you, before having multiple subsidiaries submit a proposal, to review the requirements of the Proposal under the Utility DG RFP. For instance, as a requirement of the Proposal, a Bidder is required to make a number of certifications, including:

• The Bidder has no material information relating to the Proposal of another party;
• Other than such discussions necessary for the preparation of the Proposal, the Bidder has not disclosed, publicly or to any other party, any material information relating to the Proposal, including the systems presented as part of the Proposal; the Bids for such systems; or the Products for which Bids are presented.

We note that the fact that you are asking whether multiple subsidiaries can all bid in the same procurement event under the Utility DG RFP implies that you have knowledge of each subsidiary’s  intention to submit a Proposal.  It thus would appear that you would not be able to make the certifications above (and potentially other certifications required by the Proposal).

The Overall Target of 27,702 RECs is an annual number of RECs so that 138,510 RECs (i.e., 27,702 RECs x 5 years) could be delivered under the applicable supplier contracts.  The Overall Target is a total across both the Spring 2017 and Fall 2017 procurement events.

Yes.  All systems must be in Illinois and must be interconnected to the distribution system of Ameren Illinois Company, Commonwealth Edison Company, MidAmerican Energy Company, Mt. Carmel Public Utility Co., or a “municipal utility” as defined in Section 3-105 of the Illinois Public Utilities Act, or a “rural electric cooperative” as defined in Section 3-119 of the Illinois Public Utilities Act.

Yes, the final system size may be different from the planned system size indicated in your Proposal as long as the new system size does not result in a change in the Size Class of the system (e.g., from Small to Large, or vice versa). However, note that if the system size changes for one or more of your systems, this will NOT lead to a change in the maximum number of RECs that can be delivered under the applicable supplier contracts.

The overall target can only be converted to a specific MW measure by assuming a capacity factor.  However, projects of different technologies, which are all eligible for inclusion in your Proposal under the Utility DG RFP, have different capacity factors.  Thus such a conversion is not straightforward; to make your own calculations, please see the capacity factors that will be used in this RFP, available in Table 1 of the RFP Rules:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/?wpfb_dl=1175

The applicable supplier contracts do not have a deadline for delivery of the first REC.  Rather, the requirement for a system that is part of your winning bids is for the initial meter read date of such system to occur by May 31, 2018.

The Bid Participation Fee of $500 is to be paid once per bidder for all procurement events in 2017 regardless of the number of procurement events in which you participate and regardless of the number of systems you may identify in your Proposal for the Spring 2017 procurement event under the Utility DG RFP.

There is no automatic extension under the terms of the applicable supplier contracts.  A Seller must request an extension in writing and such extension may be granted at the IPA’s sole discretion.  However, one of the circumstances specifically mentioned in the applicable supplier contracts as being a circumstance that could lead to an extension being granted is one where the Seller can demonstrate that there is a delay in the utility approving interconnection of a system.  Another such circumstance is the failure by the PJMGATS or M-RETS to process registration in a timely manner.

The Part 1 Proposal, including the Bid Participation Fee at the IPA’s office, is due at 12PM (CPT) on April 5.

The webcast presentation is posted to the Final Materials page of the Spring Utility DG Section of the procurement website.  These documents are dated March 27, 2017.

No.  A condition of eligibility of a system is that it be interconnected at the distribution level of an electric utility, alternative retail electric supplier, municipal utility, or a rural electric cooperative in Illinois and thus the system must be located in Illinois.

REC deliveries under the applicable supplier contracts are on a portfolio basis, which means that there is an overall maximum quantity to be delivered from all the systems under that contract but there is no specific quantity maximum quantity associated to a single system.  As a consequence, there is no quantity to “make up” from a particular, single system.

The applicable supplier contracts define the end date of the contract for several different circumstances; please review, for example, Paragraph 2 on page 1 of the AIC REC Master Agreement.  Generally, the expiration of the contract is five years after the date of the first REC delivery by the last system in the portfolio. In your example, if the first REC delivery of this single system occurs on January 1, 2018, the contract expires on December 31, 2022.

Section 1-75(c) of the IPA Act also requires the utilities to acquire RECs from distributed generation (“DG”) devices amounting to at least 1% of each utility’s total RECs target.  Please see the 2017 IPA Procurement Plan for further details on the intent of the procurement events approved under this Procurement Plan (https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Pages/2017-Procurement-Plan.aspx).

The Procurement Monitor recommended that bidders be allowed to offer “speculative RECs” in order to improve bidder response.  This recommendation was incorporated into this procurement event as bidders presenting a proposal may include a Forecast Quantity of RECs to be delivered by systems that they have yet to identify.

It is expected that there will be a new rebate for smart inverters for photovoltaic projects as a consequence of Public Act 99-0906 .  The rebate would be provided by an electric utility that serves more than 200,000 customers in Illinois.

Please refer to the document titled “Acceptable Modifications to the IPA LC (March 27, 2017)” posted to the Final Materials page of the Spring Utility DG section of the procurement website for all modifications to the Letter of Credit found acceptable by the IPA.  The modification you have indicated above appears to be modification 14.1 found on page 21.

That is generally correct.  We would add the following.  First, the first block may be larger than 1 MW (it must at least 1 MW).  Second, this first block may include systems of both Size Classes (and RECs for the Small Size Product may also be from a Forecast Quantity).  If the first block does include RECs from both Products, then you must provide two (2) separate bid prices, i.e., one for each Product.  Third, each additional block must be for only one Product (i.e., all systems must be from the Large Size Class or all systems from the Small Size Class plus any Forecast Quantity).  Fourth, the bid price for an additional block for a Product (Small or Large) must be greater than the bid price for that Product in the first block.

In this cell of the Worksheet Insert, please enter the customer’s account number with the electric distribution utility.

Please note that additional time is only provided for new systems (energized after March 28, 2017) and additional time is provided only for some (and not all) of the required items and documents (please refer to the RFP Rules, Paragraphs IV.3.3 and IV.3.4 for details).  All information required of existing systems must be provided with the Part 1 Proposal.  For new systems, some items, such as the tracking system from which RECs would be transferred, can be provided by the Part 2 Date (by noon CPT on April 20).

Specific Targets and Budgets for the Spring procurement event are set at: (i) 70% of the Overall Targets and Overall Budget for ComEd as well as for AIC; and (ii) 100% for MEC.

The “Spring Targets” for AIC, ComEd, and MEC in the Spring DG RFP are:  4,928 RECs, 14,097 RECs, and 524 RECs respectively.  The “Spring Overall Target”, which is the sum of the Spring Targets across all three (3) Companies in this Spring 2017 DG RFP, is 19,549 RECs. These figures are per year.

The preliminary “Spring Budgets” for AIC, ComEd, and MEC in the Spring DG RFP are:  $10,010,028, $20,486,892, and $2,971,090 respectively.  The preliminary “Spring Overall Budget”, which is the sum of the preliminary Spring Budgets across all three (3) Companies in this Spring 2017 DG RFP, is $33,468,010.  These figures are for all years of the applicable supplier contracts.

Final Spring Budgets will be announced no later than three (3) business days prior to Bids being due.  Please see Paragraph I.2.5 through I.2.8 of the RFP Rules for more details.

As part of your Proposal, you will be required to represent that: “A revenue quality meter has been or will be installed to measure the output of the system, compliant with the determination made by the Illinois Power Agency in its document “Revenue-Quality Metering Accuracy Standard and Acceptable Technologies”.  The relevant document is posted here: https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Documents/IPA-metering-accuracy-standard-5-14-15.pdf.

For systems 25 kW and above registered with GATS, the requirement is that such systems utilize a meter that meets ANSI C.12 standards.  For systems 25 kW and above registered with M‐RETS, the requirement is that such systems utilize an ANSI C.12 certified revenue quality meter, as may be further specified by the M-RETS operating procedures.  The standard is not stated solely in terms of accuracy and does not state that all meters accurate to plus or minus 5% are acceptable.  It is the responsibility of the bidder to ensure that any system presented satisfies the applicable metering standards so that the bidder can make all representations of the Proposal.

You do not need to build the system first.  However, please note that it is the bidder’s responsibility to evaluate whether the bidder can provide all the information required by the DG RFP for a system that is not yet built and it is the bidder’s responsibility to evaluate whether the timeframes for completing development, registering the system in GATS or M-RETS and having the first meter read date for the system in the applicable supplier contracts are sufficient for the bidder’s particular circumstances.

For a system that is planned but not yet built, you may present such a system as a “new” system in your Proposal.  You will be required to provide information regarding the characteristics of the system. In particular, you will be required the following information regarding the system: a) system size; b) system location; c) system owner; and d) system host. (To see all information required, please refer to Paragraph IV.3.4 in the RFP Rules or see the Worksheet Insert #P1-2).  You may also be asked for supporting documentation in specific circumstances.  For instance, if the Owner (the owner of the system) and Host of the system (the owner of the premises where the system will be built) are not the same individual or company, you will be required to provide documentation showing that the Host agrees to the system’s installation.  If this system becomes part of your winning bids, you will have to show that the system has accumulated metered deliveries by May 31, 2018 (i.e., the system has been registered in GATS or M-RETS and the initial meter read date occurs on or before May 31, 2018).

For a system that is not yet identified (in particular, you cannot provide all the information required for presenting the system as new in your Proposal), and for a system in the Small Size Class (below 25 kW), and for such a system in that Size Class only, you may present a Forecast Quantity of RECs in your Proposal. A Forecast Quantity is a quantity of RECs that you are committing to sell and that will be generated from systems that cannot yet be fully identified.  If a Forecast Quantity is part of your winning bids, you will be required to fully identify the systems by January 28, 2018 and such systems must begin accumulating metered deliveries by February 28, 2019.  Please note that no payment for RECs from a Forecast Quantity can be made prior to February 28, 2018.

You may provide comments from your bank or propose modifications to the Standard IPA Letter of Credit.  Please provide such comments and or propose such modifications by submitting a redline of the Standard IPA Letter of Credit in Microsoft Word format.  You may provide this document by email or by upload to the space provided in Section 5 of the online Part 1 Form.  Any one of your comments or proposed modifications to the Standard IPA Letter of Credit that is found to be acceptable will be added to the list of modifications to the Standard IPA Letter of Credit approved by the IPA for use by all Bidders on an optional basis.

The webcast presentation and recording are posted to the Final Materials page of the Spring Utility DG Section of the procurement website and dated March 27, 2017.

Not necessarily.  The GATS/M-RETS system registration application and approval letter is sufficient to show that the system is existing (although other documentation may be provided to confirm that the system is existing).  However, there may be other documentation required based on the particular characteristics of the system. For instance, a Bidder must provide a Bidder-Owner Agreement for any system (new or existing) for which the Bidder and Owner are not the same individual or entity. More details regarding the documentation requirements can be found in Paragraph IV.3.4 of the RFP Rules.  Furthermore, you can use the Documentation Insert #P1-3 as a guide to the documentation needed for your particular systems.

A Bidder including an existing system in its Proposal must provide one of the following documents to support the qualification for each existing system:

1. Interconnection Agreement;
2. Net metering application approval letter;
3. Final system inspection confirmation;
4. GATS/M-RETS system registration application and approval letter;
5. permission to operate letter; or:
6. other relevant documentation clearly showing the date at which the system was energized or began operation.

Email copies of the GATS/M-RETS system registration application and approval letter should be uploaded in PDF format to the spaces provided in the online form or emailed to the Procurement Administrator at Illinois-RFP@nera.com.

A single Host Acknowledgment that covers all sites is acceptable.   Please make sure the single Host Acknowledgment refers to all systems that it covers.

The Procurement Administrator cannot provide guidance to bidders on valuations for RECs. We invite you to review the results of past procurement events under the Utility DG RFP or the SPV RFP. Results are posted to the top of each archived RFP page here:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/previous-rfps/

Please note that these procurement events are for distributed generation.

The $3/REC mentioned during the webcast is the maximum amount of the supplier fee. Winning bidders pay the supplier fee within seven business days of the Commission decision on the procurement event.

In providing the size of the system, the bidder must provide the nameplate DC output rating of the system, expressed in kilowatts. Such size will be rounded to two (2) decimals.

Noting your comment that “the customer wants to go as large as possible”, please be aware that in presenting a system in a Proposal under the Utility Distributed Generation RFP, the system must qualify as “distributed generation”. The 2,000 kW maximum is one, but only one of the criteria for the system to qualify as distributed generation. The other criteria are:

• The system is located, or will be located when installed, on the customer side of a customer’s electric meter;
• The system is, or will be, primarily used to offset that customer’s electricity load;
• The system is or will be interconnected to the distribution system of an interconnecting distribution company in Illinois (an electric utility, alternative retail electric supplier, municipal utility, or rural electric cooperative located in Illinois).

Thus, in particular, a system that is not sized to the customer’s load and used primarily to offset that customer’s load is not eligible for the Utility DG RFP. This criterion places a second limit on the size of the system.

For the Utility DG RFP, each system must be a distributed renewable generation device, which means that the system is:

(1) powered by wind, solar thermal energy, photovoltaic cells and panels, biodiesel, crops and untreated and unadulterated organic waste biomass, tree waste, and hydropower that does not involve new construction or significant expansion of hydropower dams;

(2) interconnected at the distribution system level of either an electric utility, an alternative retail electric supplier, a municipal utility, or a rural electric cooperative;

(3) located on the customer side of the customer’s electric meter and primarily used to offset that customer’s electricity load; and

(4) limited in nameplate capacity to no more than 2,000 kilowatts.

Two systems that are co-located at the same site would not necessarily be disqualified from being bid separately into different procurement events. For example, if each system had its own Revenue Quality Meter and each system was behind the customer’s meter with each system with a separate utility account, then this would be acceptable.

M-RETS and GATS are tracking systems for RECs. Please find more information at the following websites:

http://www.mrets.org/

https://www.pjm-eis.com/

Bidders with bids approved by the Commission will be required to demonstrate that each one of their systems has been registered in M-RETS or GATS and that each system has begun accumulating metered deliveries tracked by GATS or M-RETS by specific deadlines. RECs procured through this RFP will be transferred from the Supplier’s account in GATS or in M-RETS to the account of the applicable Company in the relevant tracking system. In its Worksheet Insert (#P1-2), a Bidder must identify GATS or M-RETS as the tracking system from which RECs from the system would be transferred to the Company under the applicable supplier contract.

Please note that a Host Acknowledgement is required in the case of a new system (i.e., not energized as of March 28, 2017).

For the systems to which you refer in your question, if the System Owner and the Host are the same, but the Bidder is not the owner, you, the Bidder, will be required to provide i) a signed contract between the Bidder and the System Owner; or (ii) a letter of intent between the Bidder and the System Owner in which the System Owner agrees that it intends to give the Bidder unconditioned title to the RECs from the systems or the right to legally transfer or assign such RECs to a Company under the term of the applicable supplier contract.

All information provided and certifications made in the Part 1 Proposal, including the identity of the owner of the system, must remain valid and in full force until seventeen (17) business days after the Bid Date. During the Proposal process, once a system is marked as done, and the Bidder is notified of that fact, the Bidder may not change the information or documentation with respect to that system. If the information or documents for the system are no longer valid, the system must be withdrawn from the Proposal.

If the systems to which you refer in your question are part of bids that are approved by the Commission, and after the seventeen (17) days after the Bid Date there is a change in ownership of the system, no further documentation will be required at that time.

You may provide any such document by email to the Procurement Administrator. The Procurement Administrator endeavors to provide such courtesy review but cannot guarantee that such review will be completed before you submit your Part 1 Proposal. We may provide such courtesy review by phone with an email confirmation, saying that the documents that you provided and that we reviewed are/are not in an acceptable format.

Please note, after a courtesy review of your documents, the Procurement Administrator may nevertheless request further information regarding these documents if any aspect of these documents is not consistent with information otherwise provided in your proposal.

The applicable supplier contracts provide for the purchase of RECs from the Seller’s portfolio of systems, which include “Initial Systems” and/or “Subsequent Systems”.

Initial Systems refer to those systems that were included in the Proposal, for which information regarding system characteristics was provided, for which appropriate documentation was provided in the proposal submission process, and that were part of the bidder’s approved bids. For Initial Systems, you may deliver RECs and start receiving payment at any point after such systems have been registered in GATS or M-RETS and have an initial meter read date.  (Please note that the initial meter read date must be on or prior to May 31, 2018 for each such system, otherwise the system is removed from the portfolio of eligible systems for which you may deliver RECs under the applicable supplier contract. This is discussed in Section 4(c) of the (AIC DG) REC Contract and the (MEC DG) REC Contract, and in Section 2.10(c) of the ComEd Master (DG) Agreement.)  Thus, you could potentially receive payment for an invoice in July that could include, for example, RECs delivered from existing systems presented in your Proposal.

Subsequent Systems refer to those systems that are identified to replace a Forecast Quantity that was part of the bidder’s approved bids. These systems are not presented in the bidder’s Proposal and are only identified subsequent to the execution of the applicable supplier contracts. You must submit to the IPA the documents required to identify the characteristics of such systems by January 28, 2018.  The IPA must confirm the addition of such systems to the portfolio of eligible systems under the applicable supplier contracts. The IPA will make one such confirmation, for all systems that are to be added to the portfolio.  Such confirmation is expected to occur between January 28, 2018 and February 28, 2018.  (This process is discussed in Section 4(b) of the (AIC DG) REC Contract and the (MEC DG) REC Contract, and in Section 2.10(b) of the ComEd Master (DG) Agreement.)  Only once such systems are confirmed by the IPA can you deliver RECs from these systems for payment.  Thus, no payment for RECs from such systems would occur prior to February 28, 2018.

If you include this system in your Proposal, and the system becomes part of bids approved by the Commission, you will be required to complete the registration of the system in GATS or M-RETS and for the initial meter read date as recorded in GATS and M-RETS to occur by May 31, 2018. If you include this system in your Proposal, it would be considered a “new” system.

The Bidder identified in the Part 1 Proposal must match the Bidder defined in Paragraph 12 of the Letter of Credit. However, the Applicant in the Letter of Credit may or may not be the Bidder.

No, as part of its Proposal, a Bidder will be required to agree to the terms of the applicable supplier contracts and to demonstrate that it has ownership of the RECs for such system or that it has the contractual right to legally transfer or assign RECs from such system to a Company. The Bidder will be the counterparty under the applicable supplier contracts for the delivery of RECs.

Paragraph 1 of the Letter of Credit states:

“It is a condition of this Letter of Credit that it shall be deemed automatically extended, without amendment, for additional period(s) of 364 days from the expiration date hereof, or any future expiration date”

By proposing to add the condition to Paragraph 9 of the Letter of Credit that the Letter of Credit will expire on “the Stated Expiry Date”, you directly contradict the terms in Paragraph 1. The Letter of Credit cannot both be: (i) automatically renewing for an additional year and (ii) terminate on the stated expiration date, which will be one year from issuance. As such, this proposed modification, and any modification similar in concept, is unacceptable.

No, this does not mean that the Letter of Credit would remain valid in perpetuity; it just means that the exact termination date is subject to uncertainty because it depends on the Bidder’s exact circumstances. These circumstances are detailed in the RFP Rules and summarized here for your convenience, with approximate dates.

If you do not have bids that are approved by the Commission, the Letter of Credit will be returned as soon as practicable after the Commission decision (expected May 3, 2017). If you have bids approved by the Commission, the amount of the Letter of Credit is reduced to match the number of RECs in your winning bids as soon as the Supplier Fees are paid (7 business days after the Commission decision, expected May 12, 2017).   The Letter of Credit is then further reduced as you show that your systems are producing RECs. Specifically:

• If all your systems are existing and you are not bidding Forecast Quantities, one would expect that all your systems will demonstrate that they have accumulated metered deliveries by the end of the first quarter under the contract, at which point the Letter of Credit would be returned (approximately July 31, 2017).
• If some of your systems are new but you are not bidding Forecast Quantities, the new systems must be registered in GATS or M-RETS and have the initial meter read date recorded in GATS and M-RETS by May 31, 2018. In that case, the Letter of Credit would be returned by the end of the next quarter, approximately July 31, 2018.
• If you are bidding Forecast Quantities, the Letter of Credit expires and is returned when all systems must be identified and all such systems must be registered in GATS or M-RETS and have had their initial meter read date by February 28, 2019. In that case, the Letter of Credit would be returned by the end of the next quarter, approximately March 31, 2019.

Note that, under the terms of the applicable supplier contracts, a bidder may ask for an extension for a system to become energized. This could lead to a later return of the Letter of Credit. However, such an extension, if it is granted, will not exceed six months.

Systems that are co-located can be considered to be separate systems for purposes of bidding in the procurement event as long as each system has its own separate revenue quality meter and has its own identifier in the applicable tracking system (GATS or M-RETS).

Such systems must also meet the interconnection conditions of the applicable utility and, as a distributed renewable generation device, must be located on the customer side of the customer’s electric meter and be primarily used to offset that customer’s electricity load.

No. This Insert only applies if you wish to include Forecast Quantities in your Proposal.

The Forecast Quantity is a quantity of RECs that you expect to be produced by systems that you have not yet identified during a single year.

You should calculate the number of RECs that you expect the systems that you have not yet identified to produce annually. For a given system, you can calculate the number of RECs as follows:

(size of system in MW) x (capacity factor for specific technology) x 8760

For example, if you have not yet identified but anticipate a 100 kW photovoltaic system (fixed mount), this would be:

(0.1) x (0.1438) x 8760 = 126 (rounded from 125.97)

If you provide a Forecast Quantity, the Procurement Administrator uses a capacity factor of 14.38% to calculate the associated capacity for purposes of verifying that you meet the 1 MW minimum bid. For example, if you have not identified but anticipate a 100 kW tracking photovoltaic system, the annual RECs would be:

(0.1) x (0.1700) x 8760 = 149 (rounded from 148.92)

The capacity that the Procurement Administrator will associate with a Forecast Quantity of 149 will be:

149 / (0.1438 x 8760) = .11828 MW or 118.28 kW

No. Systems that are under contract, either with the IPA pursuant to a procurement event under the SPV RFP, or with a utility pursuant to a procurement event under the DG RFP, cannot be presented as part of your Proposal in the Spring 2017 Utility DG RFP.

Yes. The Procurement Administrator will continue to process comments or proposed modifications for all submissions received by 12 PM (noon) CPT on April 12, 2017.

The GATS approval Excel file will be accepted as the approval letter in your particular circumstances.

The IPA has reviewed this proposed modification and found it not to be acceptable.

Your bank may want to consider acceptable modification 1.4, provided below for your convenience.

We, ______________(the “Issuing Bank”), hereby establish this Irrevocable Standby Letter of Credit (this “Letter of Credit”) in your favor in the amount of USD $________________, effective immediately and available to you at sight upon demand at our counters at ________________[designate Issuing Bank’s location for presentments]. This Letter of Credit shall expire 364 days from date of issuance, unless terminated earlier in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 9 hereof, or otherwise extended. It is a condition of this Letter of Credit that it shall be deemed automatically extended, without amendment, for up to two additional period(s) of 364 days from the expiration date hereof, or any future expiration date, unless at least ninety (90) days before its current expiration date, we send notice to you in writing by registered mail or overnight courier at the address above, and we send notice to the Applicant, that we do not intend to extend this Letter of Credit.

Information regarding the Fall 2017 Distributed Generation RFP has not yet been released. As guidance you may review the Spring 2017 Distributed Generation RFP documents, which are available here:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/spring-utility-dg/final-materials/

Please note that some aspects of the RFP may change for the Fall procurement event.

An Agency Agreement is a contractual relationship whereby one entity (the “agent”) acts on behalf of one or more other entities (the “principals”) in regards to the specific business specified in the agreement.

With a single GATS account, this should be considered to be one system.

A Bidder must, with its Part 2 Proposal, submit an executed Letter of Credit in the amount of $4 times the number of RECs that the Bidder can win across all systems and the total Forecast Quantity across all delivery years under the applicable supplier contracts. Please note that Attachment 5 to the Part 1 Notification, which was re-issued to all bidders with a correction, includes the required amount of the Letter of Credit assuming you intend to bid on all identified systems and the total Forecast Quantity that you presented in your Part 1 Proposal.

We provide two examples of the calculations for the required amount for the Letter of Credit, strictly for illustrative purposes.

Example 1. A Bidder presents no identified systems and a total Forecast Quantity of 2,000 RECs. Since this is an annual quantity of RECs, to support the bids, the Letter of Credit must be in an amount of at least:

2,000 RECs x 5 contract years x $4 = $40,000.

Example 2. A Bidder presents a 1 MW solar photovoltaic system (fixed mount) in its Part 1 Proposal. The annual quantity of RECs associated with this system is:

Annual quantity of RECs = 1 MW x 0.1438 capacity factor x 8,760 hours/yr = 1,259.688 RECs

The result is rounded to the nearest REC, i.e., 1,260 RECs, and it represents an annual quantity of RECs. If the Bidder has multiple systems, the Bidder would calculate the number of RECs for each system and round the result for each system separately.

Since this is an annual quantity of RECs, to support the bids, the Letter of Credit must be in an amount of at least:

Required Letter of Credit amount = 1,260 RECs x 5 contract years x $4 = $25,200.

Yes. With respect to signing the applicable supplier contracts, the entity named as the Bidder in the Part 1 Proposal must be the party that executes the applicable supplier contracts if the Bidder has bids approved by the Commission.

No. With respect to the Letter of Credit, the entity named as the Bidder in the Part 1 Proposal must be identified as such in Paragraph 12 of the Letter of Credit. However, the Applicant, and the entity named in Paragraph 1 of the Letter of Credit, may or may not be the Bidder.

Any information or documentation that is still required of you to support identified systems is listed in your Part 1 Complete Notice. If, for a given system, the Bidder and System Owner are not the same individual or entity and you have not yet provided a Letter of Intent or other supporting document to show that the Bidder has ownership of the RECs, you will be required to do so by the Part 2 Date, April 20, 2017 at 12 pm (noon) CPT.

All information provided and certifications made in the Proposal, including the identity of the owner of the system, must remain valid and in full force until seventeen (17) business days after the Bid Date. If the systems to which you refer in your question are part of bids that are approved by the Commission, and after the seventeen (17) days after the Bid Date there is a change in ownership of the system, no further documentation will be required at that time.

The IPA will not accept cash or a check to meet collateral requirements for the Utility DG RFP. All bidders must submit a Letter of Credit with their Part 2 Proposal either in the form of the Standard IPA Letter of Credit or using only modifications acceptable to the IPA and posted to the procurement website.

If your original Letter of Credit is not received by the IPA by the Part 2 Date of 12 PM (noon) CPT on April 20, 2017, you will be given two business days (until 6 PM CPT on April 24) to cure this deficiency. If you do not provide any response by the deadline provided to you, your Part 2 Proposal will be rejected.

The bidder in the Part 2 Proposal must be the same as the entity identified as the bidder in the Part 1 Proposal.

You must wait to receive an invoice from the IPA with the exact amount of the supplier fees as well as full payment instructions before submitting payment.  Supplier fees cannot be paid at this time.

Please contact GATS directly regarding meter-read verification procedures:

gatsadmin@pjm-eis.com

(877) 750-GATS (4287)

Under the applicable supplier contracts, payments are based on RECs delivered (so, the production of all the systems under contract, subject to the Maximum Annual Quantity in each Delivery Year). The applicable supplier contracts are structured on a portfolio basis and are not structured on a system-by-system basis. The applicable supplier contract will specify a Maximum Annual Quantity to be delivered, which can be supplied from any of the systems identified as part of the approved bids (or identified subsequently if the approved bids initially specified a forecast quantity) and allocated to the applicable supplier contract with the utility.

If it is an extremely cloudy year and all of your systems produce less than expected, there are two consequences. First, REC payments will be based only on the RECs that you deliver, so that these payments may be lower than those associated with the Maximum Annual Quantity.   Second, if you do not deliver up to the Maximum Annual Quantity, you must provide all of the RECs produced by the systems associated with the applicable supplier contract with the utility; you must not be withholding RECs from the utility or selling RECs from such systems to another party. Such action would be a condition of default under the applicable supplier contracts.

The IPA does not accept payment via wire transfer but does accept payment by check. Supplier fees are paid only by suppliers with bids approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission (“ICC”).  The ICC is expected to render a decision on the results of the procurement event on May 3, 2017.  Instructions for payment of the supplier fees will be sent to suppliers with approved bids at that time.

The supplier fee is $3 per REC for the quantity of RECs associated with winning Bids across all Delivery Years.  The supplier fee per REC was announced on April 25, 2017 within the deadline provided by the RFP Rules.

If your First Block includes RECs from both Size Classes, you are required to submit two Bid prices, one for each Product (i.e., one for RECs from the Small Size Class and one for RECs from the Large Size Class). These Bid prices will be evaluated separately.  It is not the case that the entire block is evaluated on a blended price basis.  Thus, it is possible for the evaluation of Bids to select the portion of your First Block for one Size Class and not the portion from the other Size Class.

The final system size may be different from the planned system size indicated in your Proposal as long as the new system size does not result in a change in the Size Class of the system (e.g., from Small to Large, or vice versa).  This does not in itself lead to a draw on the Letter of Credit (although if you fail to identify sufficient capacity to correspond to the forecast quantity you bid, this could lead to a draw on the Letter of Credit).

Please note that if the system size is reduced for one or more of your systems, this will NOT lead to a reduction in the Maximum Annual Quantity, which is the number of RECs expected to be delivered under the applicable supplier contracts. If you do not deliver the Maximum Annual Quantity, there is no penalty under the applicable supplier contracts as long as you provide all of the RECs from the systems associated with the applicable supplier contract with the utility.  You must not be withholding RECs from the utility or selling RECs from such systems to another party (such action would be a condition of default under the applicable supplier contract).

The Utility Distributed Generation RFP (“DG RFP”) solicits suppliers to deliver RECs generated from distributed generation systems to AIC, to ComEd, or to MEC (each a “Company”) or to any combination of these three (3) Companies. Such device may be powered by wind, solar thermal energy, photovoltaic cells and panels, biodiesel, crops and untreated and unadulterated organic waste biomass, tree waste, and hydropower that does not involve new construction or significant expansion of hydropower dams.

The deadlines for the Spring 2017 DG RFP have passed. There will be a second procurement event in the Fall.  While the specifics of the requirements may change at that time, please consult the RFP Rules posted to the Final Materials page of the Spring Utility DG section of the procurement website for details regarding the qualification process and requirements for participation.

If the wind projects to which you are referring are not distributed generation devices, please review information regarding the Initial Forward Procurement as it becomes available. That procurement event has an expected bid date of August 10, 2017 (which would place the start of activities under this procurement event in June).

It is unclear to us the procurement event to which you refer.  Any such requirements would be representations under the applicable supplier contracts regarding the party’s ability to perform.  Please review the supplier contracts applicable to the procurement event to which you are referring for additional information.

The RFP Rules specify that in no case will the allocation of approved Bids result in the RECs from a given system being delivered to more than one Company.  To the extent possible, the allocation of approved Bids will avoid RECs from a given block being delivered to more than one Company.  However, if required to satisfy the Target for MEC, it is possible that such a situation could occur.

The Procurement Administrator expects to provide draft documents or a release of parameters for the Fall Utility DG RFP in August 2017. Please check back at that time for additional information about this upcoming RFP.

The results of the Spring 2017 Utility Distributed Generation RFP (“DG RFP”) have been archived here: https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/2017-distributed-generation-rfp/

You are likely clicking on the results page for the Fall 2017 DG RFP, which will be populated only when those results become available.

The DG procurement events for 2017 (both Spring and Fall) had a preliminary Overall Budget of $46,538,119 which spans the five years of the contract. The DG procurement events had a preliminary Overall Target of 27,702 RECs on an annual basis. Of the overall Target of 27,702 RECs, a Spring Target of 19,549 RECs was established, all of which were procured in the Spring Utility DG procurement event.

The number of RECs procured in the Spring DG procurement event and the budget associated with these RECs will be subtracted from the Overall Target and Budget. However, the Overall Target and Budget are subject to revision.  The Target and Budget applicable to the Fall Utility DG procurement event will be announced in the coming weeks.  If you have not done so already, please register to receive our announcements.

Thank you for your comment, which we will incorporate as we finalize the Fall 2017 DG RFP. A Bidder that already holds a letter of credit with the IPA that was submitted under the Spring Utility DG RFP will be able to use this same letter of credit for purposes of providing the financial guarantees required by the Part 2 Proposal under the Fall Utility DG RFP.  Such Bidder will be required to provide an amendment to increase the value of the letter of credit and to change the expiration date.  Detailed instructions will be available from the Procurement Administrator prior to the Part 2 Window.

The Early Information Release for the DG RFP was posted on July 28, 2017 to the Draft Documents page of the procurement website.

Any individual system presented as part of a Proposal for the Utility DG RFP (“DG RGP”) is limited in size to 2,000 kW nameplate capacity (AC rating).  An individual system is defined by its own separate revenue quality meter and its own identifier in the applicable tracking system (GATS or M-RETS).  Thus, it is possible to present multiple systems that are in close proximity as long as each system has its own revenue quality meter and is separately identified in the applicable tracking system.  Furthermore, any system in this procurement event must also meet the interconnection conditions of the applicable utility and, as a distributed renewable generation device, must be located on the customer side of the customer’s electric meter and be primarily used to offset that customer’s electricity load.

The list of winning suppliers for the Spring 2017 Utility DG procurement event is as follows:  Ameresco Inc.; Carbon Solutions Group LLC; IL-Solar, Inc; SoCore Installation Services LLC; Solar Star Illinois I, LLC; and SRECTrade, Inc.

Generally, the list of winning suppliers is provided as part of an information release following the Commission decision on the procurement event.  To access these information releases, please go to the procurement website, https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/, click on “Previous RFPs” in the left-hand navigation bar, then click on the procurement event that interests you.  There were some distributed generation RFPs prior to 2017.  Once on the page of the procurement event of interest, there will be an “RFP Results” heading under which you can find the information release.

No, systems 25 kW or over can be presented in Proposals for the DG RFP. The limit on the size of a system is a nameplate capacity of 2,000 kW (AC rating).

There are references to systems under 25 kW because there are two (2) “Products” in the DG RFP, each defined by the “Size Class” of the system that generates the RECs. Systems in the “Small Size Class” are systems under 25 kW in nameplate capacity (AC rating). The “Small Size Product” consists of RECs generated from systems in the Small Size Class.  Systems in the “Large Size Class” are systems of at least 25 kW but no more than 2,000 kW in nameplate capacity (AC rating).  The “Large Size Product” consists of RECs generated from systems in the Large Size Class.

To the extent possible, 50% of RECs procured will come from the Small Size Product.

Yes. There is an “Overall Target” for the procurement event of 8,153 RECs (annually). This “Overall Target” is the sum of a Target for AIC of 1,614 RECs and a Target for ComEd of 6,539 RECs. A Bidder can, for the Large Size Class (systems 25 kW or above), present systems that together produce an annual quantity of RECs up to and including the Overall Target. Similarly, for the Small Size Class (systems below 25 kW), a Bidder can present systems and a forecast quantity that together produce an annual quantity of RECs up to and including the Overall Target. (A Bidder can bid both up to the Overall Target for the Large Size Class and for the Small Size Class).

The Illinois Power Agency expects to release a draft Long-Term Renewable Resources Procurement Plan in September 2017, which will be subject to review by the Illinois Commerce Commission. Information about future procurement events under the DG RFP will become available after such review has concluded.

The final capacity factors are available in the Parameter and Process Information Release posted to the Final Materials page of the Fall Utility DG section of the procurement website.

The Procurement Administrator has released early an estimate of the Supplier Fee, which is $7/REC. The Procurement Administrator does not expect to be able to provide an update to this estimate prior to the submission of the Part 1 Proposals. The exact amount of the Supplier Fee per REC will be announced no later than two (2) business days before the Bid Date.

The amount of the Letter of Credit is completely unrelated to the supplier fees. Each Bidder will be required to submit a Letter of Credit in an amount of $4 times the number of RECs that the Bidder can win across all systems and the total Forecast Quantity across all delivery years under the applicable supplier contracts. A Bidder that already holds a letter of credit with the IPA will have the option to provide an amendment to this letter of credit to increase the value of the letter of credit and to change the expiration date instead of having a new letter of credit issued for purposes of providing the financial guarantees required by the Part 2 Proposal.  The final Letter of Credit and initial list of acceptable modifications were posted to the procurement website on August 15, 2017.

The formula is described in the Parameter and Process Information Release posted to the Final Materials page of the Fall Utility DG section of the procurement website on August 15, 2017.

The Annual Quantity is calculated as the product of (a) the planned installed size of the system in kW divided by 1,000; and (b) the capacity factor associated with the technology of the system; and (c) 8760 hours. The result is rounded to the nearest REC. Thus, rounding occurs in the calculation of the Annual Quantity for a particular system.  The overall Maximum Contract Quantity over the entire term of the applicable supplier contract for a system is obtained by multiplying the Annual Quantity (already rounded to the nearest REC) by five (5) years.

The calculation is described in the Parameter and Process Information Release posted to the Final Materials page of the Fall Utility DG section of the procurement website on August 15, 2017. The nameplate capacity (AC rating) for a system is measured by summing the nameplate AC ratings of the project’s inverters.

The Host Acknowledgement is required only for the new systems and it is due by the Part 1 Date. If the document is not available at that time, the Bidder must justify this omission in the Part 1 Proposal. The Bidder will then be given more time to provide the document within the Part 2 Window. However, in no event will a Bidder be allowed to submit the Host Acknowledgment or to complete any other missing information regarding its systems after 12 PM (noon) CPT on the third business day prior to the Bid Date.

The annual target for the upcoming procurement event under the Fall 2017 DG RFP is 8,153 RECs. The total number of RECs to be procured over the five (5) year contract term is 40,765 RECs.

The target for the upcoming procurement event is an overall target for all technologies allowed under the DG RFP (solar thermal energy, photovoltaic cells and panels, wind, biodiesel, crops and untreated and unadulterated organic waste biomass, tree waste, and hydropower that does not involve new construction or significant expansion of hydropower dams). There is no separate target for solar renewable energy credits.

Details regarding the adjustable block program are not available at this time. The adjustable block program will be first proposed in the Illinois Power Agency’s long-term renewable resources procurement plan (due to be released within 120 days of June 1, 2017) with the Illinois Commerce Commission having final approval of the details of the program.

There is a procurement event planned for this Fall under the Distributed Generation RFP. However, there is a minimum bid size requirement of 1 MW. Small systems can participate through an aggregator.  The list of winning suppliers for the Spring 2017 Utility DG procurement event was:  Ameresco Inc.; Carbon Solutions Group LLC; IL-Solar, Inc; SoCore Installation Services LLC; Solar Star Illinois I, LLC; and SRECTrade, Inc. Generally, the list of winning suppliers is provided as part of an information release following the Commission decision on the procurement event.  To access these information releases, please go to the procurement website, https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/, click on “Previous RFPs” in the left-hand navigation bar, then click on the procurement event that interests you.  There were some distributed generation RFPs prior to 2017.  Once on the page of the procurement event of interest, there will be an “RFP Results” heading under which you can find the information release.

The purpose of this website is to provide information to suppliers participating in the IPA’s procurement event. The Illinois Solar Energy Association has information for homeowners generally: http://www.illinoissolar.org/Procurement.

Yes, this is the correct document.

There is a minimum bid size requirement of 1 MW and thus small systems participate in the Utility DG RFP through an aggregator. A distributed generation system must be interconnected at the distribution level of an electric utility, a municipal utility that owns or operates electric distribution facilities, or a rural electric cooperative as defined in the Public Utilities Act.

We would like to clarify that while you will not have to provide information on the system characteristics anew or to resubmit documents regarding a system presented in the Spring 2017 DG RFP to the extent that all such information remains valid, you will still be required to present a Part 1 Proposal and a Part 2 Proposal that satisfy all the requirements of the Utility DG RFP, including presenting at least 1 MW of systems, making all certifications required, and presenting your bids in accordance with the instructions provided by the Procurement Administrator.  Full requirements will be available when the RFP is issued on September 7, 2017.

Each Bidder submits a single Proposal in the DG RFP and through this Proposal the Bidder provides information about all of its Projects. There is a minimum bid size requirement: the Proposal must include systems that together are the equivalent to at least 1 MW (AC rating) in size.

Generally Bidders are issued different login credentials to access the online forms for each RFP. If you participated in another RFP in 2017, please request new credentials for access to the online forms for the DG RFP.

In the Part 1 Proposal, you are asked to provide all necessary documentation regarding the characteristics of a Project. To the extent that the following documentation is not available during the Part 1 Window:

• Documentation to demonstrate that the Bidder has ownership or title to the RECs, such as Letters of Intent, for new and existing systems for which the Bidder is not the System Owner;
• Documentation to demonstrate that the system was energized and registered in GATS or M-RETS as of September 18, 2017 for existing systems;
• Documentation by which the Host acknowledges installation of the system on the Host’s premises for new systems for which the System Owner is not the Host.

Then the Bidder will be required to provide such documentation by the Part 2 Date.

The Procurement Administrator acknowledges that the system size provided on GATS documentation provided with the Part 1 Proposal is based on nameplate capacity (DC rating) and will not be identical to the system size based on size (AC rating) in the Worksheet Insert (#P1-2). The Procurement Administrator does not require the Bidder to explain the difference between the DC rating and the AC rating.  However, the Procurement Administrator may ask for additional information if the DC and AC ratings do not appear consistent with each other, for example because the ratio of the DC to AC ratings is not consistent with industry norms, which may indicate an error in the AC rating or the documentation provided.

The Overall Target for the Fall 2017 DG RFP is 8,153 RECs. This represents approximately 5.5 MW using the capacity factor for solar photovoltaic cells and panels (fixed mount), of which approximately 4.4 MW is for ComEd’s portfolio, and the rest for AIC’s . However, the actual capacity procured may differ from these figures as the Targets can be met by procuring RECs from various resources, with varying capacity factors.

The term “qualified person” is defined by subsection (i) of Section 1-56 of the Illinois Power Act. It is the responsibility of the Bidder to review the requirements for the installation by qualified person in the Act.

The required minimum bid size is 1 MW (AC rating).

The size of the system (AC rating) is used in all calculations and references in the DG RFP.

The Bid Participation Fee and the Supplier Fees are used to cover the costs of the procurement event. All Bidders must pay a Bid Participation Fee once during the year to participate in the IPA procurement events. The Supplier Fees are levied only on Bidders that have Bids approved by the ICC. Each Bidder is required to post a Letter of Credit with the Part 2 Proposal. This Letter of Credit serves as bid assurance collateral and also remains in place during the term of the applicable supplier contracts until all Forecast Quantities are converted into identified systems and all identified systems have delivered at least one REC.

During and after the term of the applicable supplier contract, the Owner of the systems owns the RECs from the system. During the term of the applicable supplier contract, the Seller delivers and transfers the RECs to the Company or Companies in quantities sufficient to satisfy its obligations. After the term of the contract ends, the Owner of the system is free to avail itself of other opportunities to sell the RECs from the systems.

A Bidder that successfully completed the Part 1 Proposal for a prior procurement event under a Distributed Generation RFP is said to have “previously qualified”. A previously qualified Bidder must review the contact information for the Bidder and the representative of the Bidder and must update this information accordingly. All Bidders, whether previously qualified or not, will need to provide the Representative Insert (#P1-1) if such Bidder wishes to designate additional Representatives to be copied on all communications from the Procurement Administrator.

The expiration date specified in the amendment should be 364 days or one year from the date of the issuance of the amendment.

We understand that the language in an existing Letter of Credit may be different across Bidders, as some Bidders may have elected to use an acceptable modification in the prior procurement event. Bidders can contact the Procurement Administrator for instructions related to the specific language of their Letter of Credit.

The bid assurance collateral must be in the form of a Letter of Credit with the IPA as beneficiary. Bid assurance collateral is NOT sent to the Companies that are purchasing through this procurement event. It is correct that AIC and ComEd but not MEC are purchasing RECs through this procurement event.

Yes, it is possible that a winning bid that is identified and approved by the ICC is for just a fraction or portion of the RECs bid in a Block. If this does happen, a Bidder will be asked to select the systems that will be part of the applicable supplier contract to the extent that the Bidder chooses to accept the partial award.

No, there is no opportunity to make up deliveries if the systems fail to deliver the contracted quantities. Please review the terms under each applicable supplier contract posted to the Final Materials page of the Fall Utility DG section of the IPA procurement website for additional information regarding consequences of being unable to deliver the annual quantity of RECs under each contract.

The Fall 2017 DG RFP relates to the IPA’s Procurement Plan filed on September 27, 2016 and approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission in Docket No. 16-0453. Additional information regarding the long-term renewable plan will be posted to the IPA’s website as it becomes available. Please see:

https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Pages/Plans-Under-Development.aspx

19,549 RECs were procured in the Spring 2017 DG RFP. The complete results are available here:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/2017-distributed-generation-rfp/

The information for the IPA’s procurement plans under development is posted here:

https://www.illinois.gov/sites/ipa/Pages/Plans-Under-Development.aspx

Correct. The Fall 2017 DG RFP seeks to procure RECs for AIC and ComEd; RECs will not be procured for MEC in this procurement event.

In the DG RFP, bid assurance collateral is provided to the IPA in the form of a Letter of Credit. Please refer to Article V of the RFP Rules.

The capacity factor is used to convert the size of the system in MW to the expected REC production. The capacity factor would only be 100% if a system were to produce at full capacity in every hour of the year.

No. No late proposals are considered for the DG RFP.

Yes.  A requirement of the Part 2 Proposal, which is due by noon (central) on Wednesday, October 4, 2017 (except for your bids), is to provide an original executed Letter of Credit in an amount sufficient to support your Bids.  If the Letter of Credit is not received by that time, your Part 2 Proposal will be automatically deficient. You will receive a deficiency notice from the Procurement Administrator that will include a deadline for curing such deficiency.  If such notice is your first deficiency notice regarding your Part 2 Proposal, you will have generally two (2) business days to provide the Letter of Credit.  Additional deficiency notices generally provide less time for providing additional information or curing deficiencies.

If a Bidder has no Bids that are approved by the Commission, the Letter of Credit will be cancelled as soon as practicable after the Commission decision on the results of the procurement event. The ICC is expected to decide whether to accept or reject the results of the procurement event within four (4) business days of the Bid Date.  This response assumes that that Bidder is providing a new Letter of Credit for purposes of this procurement event and not an amendment to a Letter of Credit currently held by the IPA.

No.  The Letter of Credit must be at least in an amount equal to $4 times the number of RECs that the Bidder can win across all systems and the total Forecast Quantity across all delivery years under the applicable supplier contracts. The Letter of Credit does not need to be in an amount sufficient to support all of the RECs from the systems qualified in the Part 1 Proposal, but it must support at least 1 MW worth of RECs.

If a Bidder has Bids that are identified as winning Bids, the Letter of Credit issued during the Part 2 Window stays in place at the start of the supply period to the extent that some of the systems presented in the Proposal have not begun accumulating metered deliveries or to the extent that the Bidder has a winning bid on a Forecast Quantity so that some systems in the Small Size Class have not yet been identified.  After the Bidder pays the Supplier Fees, the Letter of Credit will be reduced on a prorated basis based upon the number of RECs in the winning Bids as soon as practicable.  During the supply period, at the end of each quarter, the Letter of Credit is further reduced as systems demonstrate that they have accumulated metered deliveries of renewable energy.  The Letter of Credit will be returned once its amount is reduced or drawn down to zero.

If a system that was identified does not begin accumulating deliveries by the required deadline and it is clear that the system will not be built, the Bidder will forfeit the collateral ($4 x the number of RECs associated with this system x 5 years) associated with the RECs from such system.  Furthermore, the maximum quantity of RECs that can be delivered under the contract will be reduced by the quantity of RECs associated with the project and the project will be removed from the contract.

The details of how budgets for future DG procurement event will be set are not yet available.  Please note that under the terms of the contract, if a system does not begin accumulating metered deliveries by the required deadline, an extension may be granted at the IPA’s sole discretion for limited circumstances such as demonstrated delays in a utility approving interconnection of a system, or failure by the PJM EIS GATS or M-RETS to process registration in a timely manner.

The data provided by the Procurement Administrator is the only data available regarding the results of the Spring DG procurement event.

Under the applicable supplier contract with a given utility, there is a single blended price for each Size Class, which is calculated as the weighted average of the winning bid prices of the RECs that have been selected for award under the RFP process for that contract.  As you identify systems from your Forecast Quantities, the RECs associated with such systems become eligible for delivery under the applicable supplier contract.

An original hardcopy of the executed amendment is required. The amendment should be sent via overnight delivery service to the same address where the original Letter of Credit was sent. We appreciate but do not require that you provide a tracking number by email to Illinois-RFP@nera.com.

The Letter of Credit is unrelated to the supplier fees.  If the ICC approves some or all of the Bidder’s Bids, the Bidder will have seven (7) business days after ICC approval to pay to the IPA the Supplier Fees associated with those winning Bids. The ICC decision is expected on Thursday, October 19, 2017.

The Supplier Fee for the Fall 2017 DG RFP is $7 per REC for the quantity of RECs associated with winning Bids across all Delivery Years. The Supplier Fee of $7 per REC is applicable to RECs associated with identified systems and forecast quantities.

The final budgets for the Spring 2017 DG RFP are available on the Announcements Page of the procurement website here:

https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/2017/04/25/dg-rfp-announcement-final-spring-budgets-for-dg-rfp/

The payment for the RECs under contract would be 372 RECs/year * $200/REC * 5 years = $372,000. The amount of the Letter of Credit would be 372 RECs/ year * $4/REC * 5 years = $7,440.  The amount of the Supplier Fees would be 372 RECs/year * $7/REC * 5 years = $13,020.