Office of Policy and Economic Analysis

Renewable Portfolio Standard

New Jersey’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) is one of the most aggressive in the U.S.  The RPS requires each electricity supplier serving retail electricity customers in the State to procure 22.5% of the electricity it sells in New Jersey from qualified renewable energy resources by 2021. New Jersey established the RPS to drive the market deployment of new clean energy technologies, recognizing that expansion of renewable energy generation would provide significant economic development and environmental benefits, thereby advancing New Jersey’s air quality and greenhouse gas reduction goals. Included in New Jersey’s overall RPS’s is a solar specific goal which states that 4.1% of electricity sales by 2028 must be from qualifying solar electric generation facilities. This provision has helped the solar industry thrive, making New Jersey one of the top states in the US in installed capacity.