resPolicy.xml¶

The resPolicy.xml file defines a renewable energy standard policy for the electricity sector. (Support for other sectors is coming.)

XML elements¶

The elements that comprise the resPolicy.xml file are described below.

<portfolio-standards>¶

This is the outermost element, which takes no attributes and contains one or more <portfolio-standard> elements. It may also contain <comment> elements.

<portfolio-standard>¶

Defines a single portfolio standard, for a given set of regions. This element takes no attributes and contains one or more <certificate> elements, and zero or more <comment> elements.

<certificate>¶

The <certificate> element defines a single renewable energy certificate, or REC, that is generated by electricity producers that are incentivized by the policy, and consumed by technologies deemed regulated by the policy.

The <certificate> element takes a single required attribute, name, which is the name of the traded REC.

Attribute	Required	Default	Values
name	yes	(none)	text

A <certificate> element must include exactly one of each of the following sub-elements: <targets>, <producers>, and <consumers>, and may contain any number of <comment> elements.

<targets>¶

The <targets> element takes no attributes and must contain one or more <target> elements, and any number of <comment> elements.

<target>¶

The <target> element defines the required fraction of total output that must be covered by RECs, by year. That is, for a 20% RPS in 2020, each regulated electricity provider would have a target of <target year="2020" fraction="0.2"/>.

Attribute	Required	Default	Values
year	yes	(none)	text
fraction	yes	(none)	float

<producers> and <consumers>¶

The <producers> defines technologies deemed to produce RECs, i.e., the renewable technologies incentivized by the policy. The <consumers> element defines those technologies which must acquire credits at the level described in the <targets>.

The <producers> and <consumers> take no attributes, and must each contain one or more <tech> elements, can have and any number of <comment> elements.

<tech>¶

The <tech> element identifies a single technology or set of technologies. It takes 3 attributes: The (required) sector attribute identifies a sector containing some number of technologies. This can be an exact match for a technology (in the global-technology-database) or a regular expression matching multiple sectors. The other two attributes, subsector and technology are optional; if not specified all technologies matching the sector and subsector (if subsector is provided) or sector (if subsector is absent) are matched. As with sector, subsector and technology can be exact matches or regular expressions.

Attribute	Required	Default	Values
sector	yes	(none)	text
subsector	no	(none)	text
technology	no	(none)	text

Example¶

<portfolio-standards xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="RES-schema.xsd">

   <portfolio-standard market="Brazil" regions="Brazil">

       <certificate name="Brazil-REC">
           <targets>
               <target years="2020" fraction="0.15"/>
               <target years="2025" fraction="0.175"/>
               <target years="2030" fraction="0.20"/>
               <target years="2035" fraction="0.225"/>
               <target years="2040" fraction="0.25"/>
               <target years="2045" fraction="0.275"/>
               <target years="2050" fraction="0.30"/>
           </targets>
           <producers>
               <!-- incentivized sectors and technologies produce certificates -->
               <tech sector="elect_td_bld" subsector="rooftop_pv"/>
               <tech sector="electricity" subsector="^solar|wind|hydro$"/>
               <tech sector="^elec_(?:biomass|geothermal).*"/>
           </producers>
           <consumers>
               <!-- regulated sectors and technologies consume certificates -->
               <tech sector="elect_td_bld" subsector="rooftop_pv"/>
               <tech sector="electricity" subsector="^solar|wind|hydro$"/>
               <tech sector="^elec_.*"/>
           </consumers>
       </certificate>
   </portfolio-standard>

   <portfolio-standard market="China" regions="China">
       <certificate name="China-REC">
           <targets>
               <target years="2020" fraction="0.20"/>
               <target years="2025" fraction="0.25"/>
               <target years="2030" fraction="0.30"/>
               <target years="2035" fraction="0.35"/>
               <target years="2040" fraction="0.40"/>
               <target years="2045" fraction="0.45"/>
               <target years="2050" fraction="0.50"/>
           </targets>
           <producers>
               <!-- incentivized sectors and technologies produce certificates -->
               <tech sector="electricity" subsector="^solar|wind|hydro$"/>
               <tech sector="^elec_(?:biomass|geothermal).*"/>
               <tech sector="elec_CSP"/>
           </producers>
           <consumers>
               <!-- regulated sectors and technologies consume certificates -->
               <tech sector="electricity" subsector="^solar|wind|hydro$"/>
               <tech sector="^elec_.*"/>
           </consumers>
       </certificate>
   </portfolio-standard>
</portfolio-standards>