The Public Service Commission of Maryland (Commission, PSC) is issuing this Request for Proposals (RFP) to hire a qualified consultant to develop a Renewable Energy Certification (REC) Web Portal. The new system will provide an online experience that facilitates the registration process for qualified renewable energy facilities. The database is expected to be cloud-based. A user interface currently exists for applicants to file their applications electronically1. The applications are then reviewed by Commission staff for completeness and a weekly report is generated and sent to PJM Environmental Information Services (PJM-EIS), also known as GATS (Generator Attribute Tracking System). Data flow and decision trees can be found in the appendix to this document. The Commission received an average of approximately 830 PV Solar (SREC) applications per month in 2023. The majority of these are residential rooftop systems. This initial contract will be for the development of the PV Solar portal. A subsequent procurement process will be executed to incorporate the existing database of 80,000 PV solar certificates and to broaden the scope to include other Tier2 1 renewables such as Solar Hot Water (STH), Geothermal Heating and Cooling (GTH), and others. The subsequent permanent contract will also include processing the applications. The formal approved application database exists at GATS. The operational system exists on servers at the PSC offices at 6 St. Paul St. in Baltimore. In 2024, the Maryland Legislature enacted SB783 (Brighter Tomorrow Act). This legislation further modifies the SREC process to allow for application fees and other processes that will be included in the new portal for the first time. The new portal is also expected to include new inter-active data fields such as those required separately for utility scale systems3. The contracts are not expected to include the annual RPS compliance report which will continue to be prepared by Commission staff. SB783 also increases the banking duration of certificates from 3 years to 5 years.
