The role of renewable energy certificates in developing new renewable energy projects

In this paper, the authors focus on the role of renewable energy certificates (RECs) in helping new projects reach economic feasibility. Do they contribute to new project development, or is REC revenue too small or uncertain to make a difference in project development decisions? To answer this question, Section 2 describes the role of RECs in markets. Section 3 addresses the challenges to RECs playing a strong role in project finance. Section 4 provides perspectives gained from interviews conducted with market participants and data collected by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) Renewable Energy Finance Tracking Initiative (REFTI) and the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Green Power Partnership. Section 5 identifies and assesses options that could be pursued to strengthen the role of RECs in supporting new project development. Finally, Section 6 offers conclusions.