Ascend Chosen by Three California CCAs to Support 2020 Clean Energy RFOs

October 15, 2020

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News

Ascend Analytics is pleased to announce new contracts with three California Community Choice Aggregators(CCAs) for support and valuation of their 2020 Clean Energy RFOs. Ascend will be offering energy resource procurement administration and valuation services to Clean Power Alliance (CPA) as well as Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) in partnership with San Jose Clean Energy (SJCE). CPA decided to work with Ascend again following our successful administration of their 2019 Clean Energy and Reliability RFOs.

PCE is San Mateo County’s Community Choice electricity provider, serving over 300,000 customer accounts with 3,600 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean electricity annually. SJCE is San José’s Community Choice electricity provider serving more than 328,000 customers and a peak load of almost 1 GW. SJCE is responsible for purchasing over 5,000 GWh of electricity annually and has an annual operating budget of over $300 million. CPA is a Joint Powers Authority made up of 32 local agencies across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, serving over 11,500 GWh of electricity annually to more than 3 million customers in the region.

SJCE and PCE 2020 RFO for Long-Term Renewable Energy + Storage

In August 2020, the joint CCAs of San José Clean Energy (SJCE) and Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) issued a request soliciting proposals for the purchase of long-term (≥10 years) renewable energy and storage power purchase agreements (PPAs). The joint CCAs are targeting procurement of 1,000 GWh of clean energy per year, helping them reach the Climate Smart San José goals and 100% carbon-free energy target by 2025. The Joint CCAs’ website can be found at https://www.peninsulacleanenergy.com/rfo-long-term-renewable/.

Clean Power Alliance 2020 Clean Energy RFO

Clean Power Alliance of Southern California (CPA) is soliciting competitive proposals for the purchase of 15-year renewable energy and storage contracts to fulfill CPA’s future energy needs and meet its 70% renewable portfolio standard and 90% GHG-free targets by 2030. CPA’s RFO website is at https://www.ascendanalytics.com/cpa-cleanenergy-rfo.

Ascend Resource Procurement and Energy Valuation Consulting Services

Ascend uses a highly automated process bidder in our proprietary power purchase agreement (PPA) valuation software (PowerSIMM™).Using software innovation, Ascend has taken a process that commonly takes utility in-house staff months and reduced this to a matter of weeks.

PowerSIMM captures the new dynamics of high renewables electricity markets, including fundamental changes such as “duck” price shapes, increasing price volatility, as well as basis and curtailment risk. PowerSIMM simulates locational marginal prices while accounting for changes in regional fundamentals over time. Ascend calculates PPA energy market value from Day-ahead and Real-time markets, ancillary services market values, and resource adequacy (RA) value. Ascend captures project value and risk through stochastic studies that capture meaningful uncertainty in future energy prices. Ascend uses its in-house fundamental forecast of future energy conditions to support valuation over 15- and 20-year time horizons. Ascend also provides our CCA partners with on-demand analysis to support contract negotiations.

Read more about Ascend’s energy resource procurement services or contact David Millar, Director of Resource Planning Consulting, for more information.