REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action to Delegate Authority to the City Manager to Negotiate, Approve, and Execute Agreements with Aquamarine Westside, LLC and Castanea Project, LLC to Purchase Up to 350 MW of Solar and 135 MW of Battery Energy Storage for up to $73.2 Million Annually
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Deliver and Enhance High-Quality Efficient Services and Infrastructure
Promote Sustainability and Environmental Protection
BACKGROUND
The City of Santa Clara's Electric Department, Silicon Valley Power (SVP), purchases energy to supply to residents and businesses within the City of Santa Clara. With the passage of Senate Bill 100 (SB 100), SVP must meet the State of California Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) where SVP must procure a specified percentage of its retail sales from renewable energy resources by a particular year.
SB 100 requires retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities to procure a minimum percentage of 44% of retail sales from renewable energy resources by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030. The City of Santa Clara also adopted a Climate Action Plan setting a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2035.
SVP is also responsible for supporting the reliability of the grid through the demonstration of having sufficient resource adequacy capacity. Resource adequacy (RA) compliance ensures the safe and reliable operation of the grid in real-time providing sufficient resources when and where needed. Each utility or load serving entity is responsible for demonstrating it has sufficient RA either through the ownership of generation resources and/or procuring enough RA, measured in Mega Watts (MW).
SVP generally procures renewable electrical power in a number of ways. SVP may enter into power purchase agreements (PPA) with project developers through their direct offerings or through a request for proposal (RFP) process. SVP may also participate in power purchase opportu...
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