White Papers RPS and RECs – Managing an Increasing Regulations | Page 5

RPS and RECs – Managing an Increasing Regulatory Burden

A ComTech Advisory Whitepaper

Solutions, Inc., in April 2008, to help them meet their energy efficiency and renewable energy goals and obligation
under the new regulations.
Today, GreenCo Solutions helps the electric cooperatives develop energy efficiency programs, evaluate renewable
energy projects, and meet regulatory and compliance obligation and milestones, including the purchasing and
management of RECs for each of its current 22 member cooperatives.
Like many of the other electric suppliers operating in states with RPS, GreenCo Solutions is faced with managing a
complex array of tasks and issues, from helping the electric cooperatives develop energy efficiency programs to
evaluating renewable energy projects and meeting regulatory and compliance milestones, including the purchasing
and management of the RECs that are vital in ensuring each member cooperative can meet their REPS mandates.
Unlike the larger utilities operating in the state, GreenCo faced some unique challenges in managing their business.
The largest of these was the requirement to manage their operations at two separate levels:
1. the purchase of RECs for the whole of GreenCo’s membership and then the management, tracking and
valuation of that inventory on an aggregated basis, and
2. the need to disaggregate and allocate that portfolio of RECs to each member based on their needs, ensuring
that each individual member is sufficiently covered and positioned to meet their state obligations.
Beyond many large long-term purchases of RECs for GreenCo’s full membership, the firm is also occasionally tasked
with purchasing certificates at the request of its individual members, necessitating the tracking of those individual
purchases, including the specific assignment of the RECs to member companies within their respective aggregated
portfolios. Further, once allocated to those members, the certificates must be managed as part of the combined
portfolio for retirement in the state’s tracking system and in reporting to the Utilities Commission.
According to Jay Nemeth, director of business operations for GreenCo Solutions, when the company first began
operations, they were utilizing spreadsheet to track the acquisition, accounting and allocation of certificates to the
member cooperatives. However, within a couple of years, the company knew it would inevitably outgrow the ability
to use those spreadsheets to manage the complex tasks and analysis involved in their business. In order to address
the company’s needs, they began a market search for a vendor supplied and supported REC portfolio management
solution.
After undertaking an extended search for a solution, the company discovered that most of the energy trading a