Clean Power Alliance of Southern California (CPA) is soliciting competitive proposals for resources needed to achieve compliance with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) decision requiring procurement to address mid-term reliability. Issued on June 24, 2021, the “Decision” orders load serving entities (LSEs), including CPA, to procure 11,500 MW of new capacity statewide between 2023 and 2026. A portion of the new capacity procured must be in the form of Long-Lead Time (LLT) resources, defined in the Decision as long-duration energy storage or firm, zero-emitting generation. This is CPA’s second Midterm Reliability RFO and Bidders are strongly encouraged to submit offers for projects with long-duration storage capabilities (able to deliver at maximum capacity for at least eight hours from a single resource) and/or Baseload/Firm Renewable Energy Contracts if possible. 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.
RFO Opens
August 1, 2022
Webinar to discuss the RFO process
August 10, 2022
Deadline to submit questions
August 19, 2022
Q&A responses posted
August 31, 2022
RFO closes - Submissions due
September 9, 2022
Bidders notified of shortlist status
Mid/Late November 2022
Contract negotiations under exclusivity and award
November 2022 - February 2023
CPA’s 2022 Midterm Reliability RFO seeks offers from the following product categories:
Baseload/Firm Renewable Energy: Zero emissions generation capacity or capacity that is eligible under the requirements of the RPS program and has an expected annual capacity factor of at least 80%. The resources must not be use limited or weather dependent. No storage projects shall qualify under this product category. Projects in this category should have a generation size of 5 MW –100MW and a commercial operation date no later than June 1, 2026.
Long-Duration Storage (8+ hours):
Stand-alone storage or RPS-eligible generation paired with storage projects (40 MWh – 800MWh in storage capacity). The storage duration must be at least 8 hours. If the storage is paired with RPS-eligible generation, then the storage capacity cannot exceed 40% of the generation nameplate capacity. Projects in this category must have a commercial operation date no later than June 1, 2026.
4-Hour Storage: Stand-alone storage or RPS-eligible generation paired with storage projects (40 MWh – 800 MWh in storage capacity). The storage duration must be 4 hours. If the storage is paired with RPS-eligible generation, then the storage capacity cannot exceed 80% of the generation nameplate capacity. Projects in this category must have a commercial operation date no later than June 1, 2025. CPA has a preference for projects with an earlier COD.
Mandatory data templates will be supplied to bidders for submission of project information. 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.
A bidder's webinar was held on August 10, 2022 to discuss the RFO Process. Bidders that missed the webinar can access the recording using the below link. The webinar presentation is also available to provide additional guidance.
Full submission instructions are included in the RFO material. To bid on this RFO, you must register using the form below:
Clean Power Alliance