MORRISTOWN, N.J., Sept. 30 NJ-JCP&L-files-prop
MORRISTOWN, N.J., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Jersey Central Power
& Light (JCP&L) today filed with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities
(BPU) a proposal designed to help increase the pace of solar project
development in the state.
Under the proposal, JCP&L would enter into long-term agreements to
purchase and sell Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SREC) to provide a
stable basis for financing solar generation projects.
An SREC represents the solar renewable energy attributes of
one megawatt-hour of generation from a solar generation facility that has been
certified by the BPU Office of Clean Energy. The BPU has asked all the
state's electric delivery companies to submit SREC-based financing plans with
the goal of providing a predictable cash flow for solar generation projects.
Under its proposal, JCP&L would solicit SRECs to satisfy approximately 60
percent of the incremental SREC purchases needed in its service territory to
meet the Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) through the end of 2010. SRECs
would equal 50 percent of the incremental purchases to meet the RPS in 2011,
and 40 percent in 2012. In total, JCP&L expects the plan to support the
phase-in of approximately 30 megawatts of solar projects through May 31, 2012.
JCP&L will seek proposals for SREC purchase agreements with terms of 10 to
15 years and will solicit proposals on a semi-annual basis through a series of
requests for proposal (RFP). JCP&L will work through an independent RFP
manager to perform solicitations. SRECs purchased through the contracts will
then be sold to energy suppliers through an auction process and revenues from
the sales will be used to offset program costs.
Only projects that have been approved by the Office of Clean Energy as
being qualified to receive credit for SREC generation will be eligible to
participate. Solar electric generation projects that received or will receive
a rebate from the Customer On-Site Renewable Energy (CORE) Program in 2001
through 2008 will not be eligible to enter into SREC purchase agreements.
"This proposal demonstrates our continuing efforts to support
cost-effective solutions for New Jersey's energy future," said Steve Morgan,
president, JCP&L. "Solar energy and distributed energy solutions will play a
key role in providing affordable, reliable energy."
JCP&L, a subsidiary of Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE),
serves 1.1 million customers in 13 New Jersey counties.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking
statements based on information currently available to management. Such
statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. These statements
include declarations regarding our, or our management's, intents, beliefs and
current expectations. These statements typically contain, but are not limited
to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," "expect," "believe," "estimate" and
similar words. Forward-looking statements involve estimates, assumptions,
known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our
actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from
any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially due to the
speed and nature of increased competition in the electric utility industry and
legislative and regulatory changes affecting how generation rates will be
determined following the expiration of existing rate plans in Ohio and
Pennsylvania, the impact of the PUCO's rulemaking process on our Ohio utility
subsidiaries' Electric Security Plan and Market Rate Offer filings, economic
or weather conditions affecting future sales and margins, changes in markets
for energy services, changing energy and commodity market prices and
availability, replacement power costs being higher than anticipated or
inadequately hedged, the continued ability of FirstEnergy's regulated
utilities to collect transition and other charges or to recover increased
transmission costs, maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, other
legislative and regulatory changes including revised environmental
requirements and possible greenhouse gas emissions regulation, the impact of
the U.S. Court of Appeals' July 11, 2008 decision to vacate the CAIR rules and
the scope of any laws, rules or regulations that may ultimately take their
place, the uncertainty of the timing and amounts of the capital expenditures
needed to, among other things, implement the Air Quality Compliance Plan
(including that such amounts could be higher than anticipated) or levels of
emission reductions related to the Consent Decree resolving the New Source
Review litigation or other potential regulatory initiatives, adverse
regulatory or legal decisions and outcomes (including, but not limited to, the
revocation of necessary licenses or operating permits and oversight by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission including, but not limited to, the Demand for
Information issued to FENOC on May 14, 2007) as disclosed in our SEC filings,
the timing and outcome of various proceedings before the PUCO (including, but
not limited to, the Distribution Rate Cases and the generation supply plan
filing for the Ohio Companies and the successful resolution of the issues
remanded to the PUCO by the Supreme Court of Ohio regarding the Rate
Stabilization Plan and the Rate Certainty Plan, including the deferral of fuel
costs) and Met-Ed and Penelec's transmission service charge filings with the
PPUC (as well as the resolution of the Petitions for Review filed with the
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania with respect to the transition rate plan
for Met-Ed and Penelec), the continuing availability of generating units and
their ability to continue to operate at or near full capacity, the ability to
comply with applicable state and federal reliability standards, the ability to
accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals (including
employee workforce initiatives), the ability to improve electric commodity
margins and to experience growth in the distribution business, changing market
conditions that could affect the value of assets held in our nuclear
decommissioning trust fund, pension fund and other trust funds, the ability to
access the public securities and other capital markets and the cost of such
capital, the risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our SEC
filings, and other similar factors. The foregoing review of factors should
not be construed as exhaustive. New factors emerge from time to time, and it
is not possible for us to predict all such factors, nor can we assess the
impact of any such factor on our business or the extent to which any factor,
or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those
contained in any forward-looking statements. We expressly disclaim any
current intention to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as
a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.
