REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Action on the Renewable Power Purchase Agreement with Viento Loco Wind, LLC
Report
BACKGROUND
In December 2016, the City Council updated the City of Santa Clara's Renewable Energy Resource Procurement Plan to reflect the changes made to the Public Utilities Code and the Renewable Portfolio Standard Regulations mandated by Senate Bill 350 that required the City of Santa Clara's Electric Department, Silicon Valley Power (SVP), to achieve 50% renewables by 2030. SVP currently meets or exceeds current Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements and is on track to meet 33% by 2020. In addition, SVP must replace existing renewable contracts that will expire in the future with new contracts, as well as procure additional renewable energy to meet both load growth projections and annual increases to the RPS as it incrementally rises to 50%.
In conformance with the City's Purchasing Ordinance, the purchase or sale of electrical power and fuels for the generation is not subject to the City's centralized purchasing system, but is instead procured by SVP. SVP procures Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) by engaging with project developers through their direct offerings and through a request for proposal (RFP) process. Each potential PPA project may have unique characteristics that impact the value of the resource to SVP customers and staff evaluates the potential projects on locational value, shape of the generation output, environmental attributes, capacity attributes, viability and flexibility.
At the March 27, 2018 Study Session, City staff provided an informational briefing on the evaluation of a new long-term renewable PPA contract to procure a New Mexico wind generation project scheduled for commercial operation in 2021.
DISCUSSION
SVP was approached through a direct offering by the project developer and has completed eight months of contract negotiations. Staff recommends to add 200 MW of New Mexico wind generation project to ...
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