Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) Issues Renewable Energy and Energy Storage RFP

The Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) recently announced a Request for Proposals for Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Projects. In the RFP, SCPPA seeks proposals for — in addition to customary renewable energy products — “Permanent Load Shifting (PLS), including energy storage and permanent load-shifting technologies” and “energy storage solutions (ESS) for both distribution and grid levels.” According to the announcement, respondents may propose (i) project ownership by SCPPA, (ii) a power purchase agreement (or, for storage, an “equivalent commercial agreement”) with an ownership option, or (iii) a power purchase agreement (or, for storage, an “equivalent commercial agreement”) without an ownership option.

SCPPA notes that “since this is a ‘rolling RFP,’ proposals may be submitted at any time during calendar year 2014.” The RFP document cautions that “SCPPA members seek tangible and timely opportunities to add renewable technologies to their generation portfolios and/or add storage facilities to their operations and thus will not entertain research or speculative proposals.”

This RFP is one of several recent California procurements that seek to acquire energy storage in addition to other energy resources. Southern California Edison received over 500 energy storage offers in response to the Local Capacity Requirements RFO that it issued in September 2013, and the Imperial Irrigation District recently solicited qualifications for potential battery suppliers. Other solicitations for energy storage will be forthcoming over the next year or so, both by investor owned utilities seeking to meet the 1,325 MW energy storage procurement target set by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and by California municipal utilities.

The SCPPA Request for Proposals for Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Projects can be found here.