The umbrella company of 10 electric distribution companies in the US, FirstEnergy Corp. has launched a solicitation drive seeking 570,000 Renewable Energy Credits (REC), including solar RECs.
It will purchase these RECs for its Ohio-based subsidiaries, namely Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison to help meet their 2023 renewable energy targets under Ohio's alternative energy law.
Every REC represents the environmental attributes of 1 MWh of generation from a renewable energy generation facility qualified by Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO). These should be eligible for compliance with the companies' 2023 renewable energy obligations.
FirstEnergy specifies that these attributes should have been generated between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2023, deliverable through PJM Environmental Information System Generate Attribute Tracking System (EIS GATS).
It won't purchase any energy or generation capacity under this request for proposals (RFP). On the basis of responses received, the Ohio utilities will enter into purchase agreement with the winning suppliers to buy requisite quantity.
Launched on October 16, 2023, the RFP will be open for proposals till November 16, 2023. Details are available on FirstEnergy's RFP website.
A year ago, in October 2022, FirstEnergy launched an RFP to seek long-term solar power purchase agreements (PPA) for up to 20 MW capacity for energy and Solar Photovoltaic Alternative Energy Credits (SPAEC) (see US Utility Seeking Solar Power Purchase Agreements).