We cannot respond to this question generally and we can only address whether self-installation or the size of a residential system could preclude you from selling SRECs in the procurement events under the procurement plans of the Illinois Power Agency (“IPA”).
There are various procurement events as approved in the IPA’s procurement plans through which Solar Renewable Energy Credits (“SRECs”) are sold and purchased. To be eligible to be presented as part of the Proposal in the Supplemental Photovoltaic RFP (“SPV RFP”), a system must be “installed” by a “qualified person” as described in and required by Section 1-56(i) of the Illinois Power Agency Act (20 ILCS 3855/1-56(i)). The Act defines a “qualified person” as a person who performs installations of photovoltaics, including, but not limited to, distributed photovoltaic generation, and who:
(A) has completed an apprenticeship as a journeyman electrician from a United States Department of Labor registered electrical apprenticeship and training program and received a certification of satisfactory completion; or
(B) does not currently meet the criteria under clause (A) of this paragraph (1), but is enrolled in a United States Department of Labor registered electrical apprenticeship program, provided that the person is directly supervised by a person who meets the criteria of (A) above; or
(C) has obtained one of the following credentials in addition to attesting to satisfactory completion of at least 5 years or 8,000 hours of documented hands-on electrical experience: (i) a North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP) Installer Certificate for Solar PV; (ii) an Underwriters Laboratories (UL) PV Systems Installer Certificate; (iii) an Electronics Technicians Association, International (ETAI) Level 3 PV Installer Certificate; or (iv) an Associate in Applied Science degree from an Illinois Community College Board approved community college program in renewable energy or a distributed generation technology.
In addition, there is a minimum bid of 500 RECs (or approximately 79.39 kW) for the SPV RFP.
While installation by a qualified person is not a requirement under the Utility Distributed Generation RFP (“DG RFP”), a bidder must present systems that together are at least 1 MW.
There are various criteria for participation in the Renewable Energy Resources RFP (“REC RFP”). You may see these criteria from last year’s RFP here: https://www.ipa-energyrfp.com/2015-renewable-energy-resources-section/. These include agreeing to the terms of the applicable supplier contracts with the utilities and the submission of a letter of credit to support the bids.