Clean Power Alliance of Southern California (CPA), the fourth largest energy provider in California, the largest Community Choice Aggregator in California and recipient of an investment grade credit rating of A from S&P Global Ratings, is soliciting competitive proposals to meet its portfolio needs.
Similar to the 2025 Clean Energy and Reliability RFO, the 2026 Clean Energy and Reliability RFO includes product categories for Energy‑Only Resources as well as Thermal Energy Resources with cleaner operations. Additionally, CPA has implemented a number of changes to the RFO. CPA will continue to limit eligibility to projects located within CAISO Queue Cluster 14 or earlier and will require an earliest Contract Term Start Date (CTSD) of January 1, 2029, across all product categories. However, projects may operate on a merchant basis prior to the CTSD, if needed. Please note that for resources located outside of the CAISO grid, CPA will only accept offers that deliver at interties specified in section 3.C of the protocol document.
Eligible Products
All offers must have a Contract Term Start Date (CTSD) no earlier than January 1, 2029, and no later than December 31, 2033 (no later than June 1, 2032 for CPUC Decision D.26-02-057 eligible resources). CPA's 2026 Clean Energy and Reliability RFO seeks offers from the following product categories:
- Renewable Generation Only:
- CPUC Decision D.26-02-057 Eligible Baseload/Firm Renewable Energy: Zero emissions generation capacity or capacity that is eligible under the requirements of California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) program and has an expected annual capacity factor of at least 80%. The resources must not be use-limited or weather-dependent and must meet all requirements for Baseload/Firm renewable energy under the CPUC Decision D.26-02-057. Projects in this category should have a generation size of 15 MW to 150 MW and a CTSD between January 1, 2029 and June 1, 2032, Contract tenor must be between 10 and 20 years.
- Regular RPS Resources: RPS-eligible generation (e.g. solar, wind, geothermal), 15 MW – 150 MW1 in size. Projects in this category must have a CTSD between January 1, 2029 and December 31, 2033. Contract tenor must be between 10 and 20 years.
- Renewable Generation Plus Storage:
- RPS-eligible generation (15 MW – 150 MW) paired with storage projects (15 MW – 150 MW). The storage duration must be at least 4 hours, and the storage capacity cannot exceed 100% of the generation nameplate capacity. Contract tenor must be between 10 and 20 years.
- Renewable Generation can be paired with CPUC Decision D.26-02-057 Eligible LDES with a storage capacity of 15 MW – 100 MW. The storage duration must be at least 8 hours, and the capacity cannot exceed 100% of the generation nameplate capacity. Projects in this category should have a CTSD between January 1, 2029, and June 1, 2032, Contract tenor must be between 10 and 20 years.
- Renewable Generation or Storage Paired with Existing CPA Resource: a Renewable Generation Plus Storage contract where one component is an existing CPA resource. The offered component size will be limited by the existing resource and/or interconnection capacity constraints. Contract tenor must be between 10 and 20 years.
- Standalone Storage:
- Standalone storage projects with a storage capacity of 15 MW – 150 MW. The storage duration must be at least 4 hours. Projects in this category must have a CTSD between January 1, 2029, and December 31, 2033. Contract tenor must be between 10 and 20 years.
- CPUC Decision D.26-02-057 Eligible LDES: Standalone storage with a capacity of 15 MW – 100 MW1 and a duration of at least 8 hours. Projects in this category should have a CTSD between January 1, 2029 and June 1, 2032. Contract tenor must be between 10 and 20 years.
- RA Only Contracts: RA capacity offers from storage, thermals, or other qualifying resources with a capacity between 15 MW – 150 MW. Contract tenor must be between 5 and 15 years.
- PCC1 Energy Only (Fixed Price or Index Plus) Contracts: RPS-eligible generation (e.g. solar, wind, geothermal), 15 MW – 150 MW in size, offered as PCC1 Energy Only Fixed Price or Index Plus contracts. Projects in this category are for renewable energy and REC (without RA) and must have a CTSD between January 1, 2029, and December 31, 2033. Contract tenor must be between 5 and 20 years.
- Dispatchable Thermal Energy with RA Contracts:
- Existing Dispatchable Gas projects (with RA) paired with storage: These may include gas fired generation resources such as CC, CT, RICE, CHP, or ST projects that are paired with storage (minimum 1 hour) in order to reduce greenhouse gas and emissions that impact local air quality. The project size must be at least 10 MW with a CTSD between January 1, 2029, and December 31, 2033. The Contract tolling tenor must be between 2 and 10 years.
- Existing Dispatchable Gas projects (with RA) running on blended fuels: These may include gas fired generation resources such as CC, CT, RICE, CHP, or ST projects that use a green hydrogen or renewable biogas blend in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The project size must be at least 10 MW with a CTSD between January 1, 2029, and December 31, 2033. The Contract tolling tenor must be between 2 and 10 years.
Projects will be evaluated on a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors that include economic value, development risk, workforce development, environmental stewardship, benefits to Disadvantaged Communities, and project location.
