White Papers RPS and RECs – Managing an Increasing Regulations | Page 6

RPS and RECs – Managing an Increasing Regulatory Burden

A ComTech Advisory Whitepaper

Mr. Nemeth described the process of selecting Pioneer as follows, “They demonstrated a system that allowed
customization to capture the deal and the intent….it allowed us to take the aggregated deal apart for allocation to
our member companies and then re-aggregate the RECs for reporting and retirement purposes. Pioneer’s REC
Tracker system, once fully implemented, allowed us to not only capture and manage the processes involved in
working with 22 member companies, it also allowed us to optimize our portfolio and ensure we were best able to
meet our obligations to those members.”
The implementation of REC Tracker was started in late March 2013, and once live on Sept 1, 2013, “the system did
what it needed to do,” according to Mr. Nemeth. “The implementation went well. Pioneer developed the detailed
specs prior to building out new capabilities or trying to populate data. The company consistently provided quick
responses to issues or questions that arose, ensuring the project stayed on plan.” In addition to deploying and
implementing the software, the team of GreenCo and Pioneer also worked to develop and implement a
programmatic interface from RECTracker to the NC-RETS system, the first such interface to that system that allowed
the automated sending and receiving of REC data to an external solution.
In highlighting additional advantages they found in using the RECTracker system, Mr. Nemeth points to the ability
for users to produce ad hoc reports, giving those users and the company’s leadership deep access to the data and
information contained within the system.

Summary
State level Renewable Portfolio Standards do serve a positive social function, helping to support the growth of
renewable energy and reducing the US’s dependency on finite hydrocarbon fuels for power generation. However,
these standards are not without a cost either for the power consumers or the utilities that service those consumers.
While the use of Renewable Energy Certificates, or RECs is an effective method of allocating those costs across the
breadth of the market, the tracking and administration of those certificates places a significant burden on power
suppliers, particularly the smaller utilities such as municipals and cooperatives. As these standards increase in scope
and amount of renewables mandated, the burdens increase proportionally, leaving many of these companies unable
to effectively manage their business and their regulatory requirements on spreadsheets. Even for those with an
effective and modern ETRM solution, the unique nature of emissions programs and renewables standards are
extremely difficult to model and generally require additional capabilities outside of those core systems. Fortunately
for these companies, there are a limited number of providers, such as Pioneer Solutions, that have focused on these
issues and can deploy a system that will address the unique needs of this market.

Copyright 2014, Commodity Technology Advisory LLC

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