Voluntary Renewable Electricity Program
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The Voluntary Renewable Electricity (VRE) Program allows purchasers of eligible voluntary renewable electricity to request retirement of allowances on their behalf under the Cap-and-Trade Program. The VRE Program supports purchases of renewable electricity and renewable energy credits (RECs) that are not mandated by the Renewables Portfolio Standard and provides a mechanism for the recognition of voluntary purchases of renewable electricity or RECs in the Cap-and-Trade Program. The Cap-and-Trade Regulation specifies a percentage of vintage 2013-2020 allowances to be set aside each year into a Voluntary Renewable Electricity Reserve Account for the VRE Program.
CARB retires allowances each year for eligible voluntary renewable electricity generated in the previous year. The Cap-and-Trade Regulation places 0.5 percent of the annual allowance budget for the budget years in the first compliance period (2013-2014) and 0.25 percent for the budget years in the second and third compliance periods (2015-2020) into the Voluntary Renewable Electricity Reserve Account, from which allowances may be retired. The total eligible and approved generation in 2023 exceeded the amount of allowances available for retirement in the VRE Reserve Account. The VRE Reserve Account has been exhausted.
VRE Allowances Reserved Per Budget Year
Budget Year | Allowances Set Aside to the VRE Reserve Account |
---|---|
2013 | 814,000 |
2014 | 798,500 |
2015 | 986,250 |
2016 | 956,000 |
2017 | 926,000 |
2018 | 895,750 |
2019 | 865,750 |
2020 | 835,500 |
Total | 7,077,750 |
VRE Program Use by Year
Year of Generation | Allowances Retired from the VRE Reserve Account |
---|---|
2013 | 84,252 |
2014 | 124,614 |
2015 | 185,141 |
2016 | 345,940 |
2017 | 312,579 |
2018 | 608,337 |
2019 | 696,234 |
2020 | 1,754,854 |
2021 | 1,083,058 |
2022 | 973,179 |
2023* | 909,562 |
Total | 7,077,750 |
* A total of 1,095,768 allowances were requested to be retired from the VRE Reserve Account for eligible and approved generation in 2023. Only 909,562 allowances were available for retirement in the VRE Reserve Account.
VRE Program Participants
The number of VRE Program allowances retired on behalf of each applicant is available in this spreadsheet.
Generation Year | Voluntary Renewable Electricity Program Participants |
---|---|
2013 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3Phases Renewables, LLC City of Palo Alto Utility Constellation New Energy Green Mountain Energy Company Puget Sound Energy Sacramento Municipal Utility District |
2014 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3Phases Renewables, LLC Green Mountain Energy Company Kaiser Foundation Hospitals Noble Americas Energy Solutions, LLC Origin Climate Inc. Puget Sound Energy Sacramento Municipal Utility District |
2015 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. Kaiser Permanente Marin Clean Energy Sacramento Municipal Utility District |
2016 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. CleanPowerSF Marin Clean Energy Pacific Gas and Electric Company Sacramento Municipal Utility District San Diego Gas and Electric Company Southern California Edison |
2017 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. City of Palo Alto Utilities CleanPowerSF Marin Clean Energy Puget Sound Energy Pacific Gas and Electric Company Sacramento Municipal Utility District San Diego Gas and Electric Company Southern California Edison |
2018 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. City of Palo Alto Utilities CleanPowerSF East Bay Community Energy Authority Marin Clean Energy Pacific Gas and Electric Company Peninsula Clean Energy Authority Sacramento Municipal Utility District San Diego Gas and Electric Company Southern California Edison Silicon Valley Clean Energy |
2019 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. CleanPowerSF East Bay Community Energy Authority Marin Clean Energy Pacific Gas and Electric Company Peninsula Clean Energy Authority Sacramento Municipal Utility District San Diego Gas and Electric Company Southern California Edison Silicon Valley Clean Energy |
2020 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. City of Palo Alto Utilities Clean Power Alliance of Southern California CleanPowerSF East Bay Community Energy Authority Pacific Gas and Electric Company Peninsula Clean Energy Authority Sacramento Municipal Utility District San Diego Gas and Electric Company San Jose Clean Energy Silicon Valley Clean Energy Southern California Edison |
2021 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. City of Palo Alto Utilities Clean Power Alliance of Southern California CleanPowerSF East Bay Community Energy Authority Marin Clean Energy Pacific Gas and Electric Company Peninsula Clean Energy Authority Sacramento Municipal Utility District San Diego Gas and Electric Company San Jose Clean Energy Silicon Valley Clean Energy Southern California Edison TruRoots, LLC. |
2022 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. Bonneville Environmental Foundation Clean Power Alliance of Southern California CleanPowerSF East Bay Community Energy Authority Marin Clean Energy Pacific Gas and Electric Company Peninsula Clean Energy Authority Sacramento Municipal Utility District San Diego Gas and Electric Company Schneider-Electric Silicon Valley Clean Energy Southern California Edison |
2023 | 3Degrees Group, Inc. 3 Phases Renewables Inc. Ava Community Energy Clean Power Alliance of Southern California CleanPowerSF Karbone Energy LLC Marin Clean Energy Pacific Gas and Electric Company Peninsula Clean Energy Authority Sacramento Municipal Utility District San Jose Clean Energy Silicon Valley Clean Energy Southern California Edison |