US firm launches renewable energy registry

An environmental markets infrastructure provider launched a registry for renewable energy credits.

APX announced Monday that its North American Renewables Registry is operational and ready for registration and project use.

The new registry aims to “provide complete coverage across North American voluntary and compliance markets” to track renewable energy certificates (RECs).

In the US, RECs represent 1MWh of electricity generated by renewable energy sources.

They are used and traded as either voluntary credits or for compliance with state-level renewable portfolio standards (RPS).

Nearly 30 US states have in place some form of RPS with varying degrees of stringency and differing definitions of what constitutes renewable energy.

Environmental market participants are bracing for overlapping US carbon and renewable energy legislation.

For example, the Waxman-Markey bill, which cleared a House energy committee vote last month and will face consideration by the full House floor later this summer, would create mandatory carbon market and RPS.

Under that bill, 15 per cent of energy generated in the US would have to come from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The Senate will markup an energy bill this week, which would require sellers of electricity to get 12 per cent of their electricity from renewable energy sources or energy efficiency improvements by 2020.

Until a national RPS is enacted, the APX REC registry will cover RPS programs in regions like Texas and the northeast, as well as for regions like the southeast that do not have an RPS in place.

“With the North American Renewables Registry, all participants in the renewable energy markets - regardless of location - are now able to take advantage of a trusted infrastructure to help manage their role in the market,” said Brian Storms, APX CEO.