Solar Home Tour July 11th-News from Power Trip Energy

What is a "green tag?" A green tag or "carbon credit" is the value attached to solar electricity because carbon dioxide was not emitted to generate the electricity. A "green tag" is not the value of the electricity itself, rather a value of the "green-ness" of the electricity. A "green tag" can be sold on the market to an entity that wants to buy the carbon credits or carbon offsets. The buyer in our area is the NW Solar Coop, a nonprofit that purchases green tags from small grid tied PV systems in Washington and Oregon. The NW Solar Coop in turn sells these carbon credits to other entities that want to buy the credits to offset some of their carbon dioxide emissions. These purchasers are responsibly minded entities (businesses, schools, cities, non-profits, utilities, etc.) doing the right thing by voluntarily offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions. Until recently, the owner of a new grid tied PV system, could sign a contract to sell their green tags to the NW Solar Coop at a value of 2 cents per kWh.

Earlier this month we were notified by the NW Solar Coop that all new applicants for green tag sales are being placed on a waiting list. What does this mean? It means that if you installed a PV system since May 2009 you have probably received a letter or email saying your application is on a waiting list and assigning you a number. If your system was installed before this date and you have been accepted into the program or already received green tag payments in past years, the waiting list for new applicants does not affect your current status.

The waiting list also means that we need more buyers of green tags. One way to create more demand for green tags or carbon credits is to establish a carbon cap and trade system in our country to set mandatory carbon caps and require carbon emitters (such as coal fired electrical plants) to offset their impacts by buying carbon credits and/or reduce their emissions. Right now there aren't enough buyers to guarantee that the owners of new solar PV systems have a market for their renewable energy credits.

Oh, wait a minute! Didn't the House of Representatives just pass a carbon cap and trade bill to address climate change?! Yes, that's right! Will there be more buyers for our solar PV green tags because of this bill? We don't know, so stay tuned and contact your Senators with your concerns and support.

For the time being, we are still filing applications with the NW Solar Coop for all of our new clients. These applications go on a waiting list and quarterly the NW Solar Coop accepts new members from the list. When we know more about the average wait time, etc., we'll let you know. If you are on the waiting list be sure to write down your monthly production numbers so that when you are accepted you have a chance to sell your pre-existing renewable energy credits.

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