Complying with the New Hampshire RPS has its challenges, including:

Limited Availability of Renewable Energy

New Hampshire, like the rest of New England, does not have a large renewable energy infrastructure. New England is not well-suited for large scale production of solar electricity and its most promising wind energy sites are usually located far away from the nearest interconnection with the regional power grid. As a result, New Hampshire currently has a rated renewable energy generation capacity of 14% of total electricity. Actual generation is more like 8-10%, depending on how much electricity is exported to neighboring states. The RPS is projected to increase that generation by about 15% in the next 18 years.

Additionally, renewable generation located in New Hampshire, such as many of the older biomass facilities, also qualify as renewable resources for other New England states. Often it is to their financial advantage to export their Renewable Energy Certificates to those states.

Lack of a Robust Market

Because of the relative scarcity of renewable energy producers, the demand for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) in some categories exceeds the available supply. As a result, the market price for RECs (which are necessary to comply with the RPS) can increase to the point where Alternate Compliance Payments are less costly.