Can the REC Market Self-Regulate and Remain Credible?
First it was a missed filing deadline last June, then a series of stalls and unsuccessful requests for extensions. Finally, in late September 2007, the Green-e team got the message: Clean & Green (C&G), a Boulder, Colorado-based renewable energy marketer, wasn’t going to come up with records for 2006 that would show its purchase of renewable energy certifications (RECs) matched its sales. So in November, Green-e, a consumer protection and REC certification program run by San Francisco-based Center for Resource Solutions, took a step it had managed to avoid over ten years in the REC marketplace: it revoked C&G’s certification , and is pursuing criminal charges against the company’s principles. For its part, C&G has closed up shop, and former C&G CEO Gerry Dameron, now with Patriot Wind, has told the Rocky Mountain News that his company voluntary withdrew from the Green-e program because it couldn’t afford the auditing process that Green-e requires. “We called Green-e and said, ‘Look, we
