Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), a community choice aggregator (CCA) in the CAISO region, is seeking projects to meet its renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and reliability goals.
3CE was established in 2017 and now serves over 436,000 customers in the Central Coast region of California, including in Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara Counties.
3CE aims to procure power purchase agreements (PPAs) using the Ascend Analytics Energy Exchange (AEX), a marketplace for renewable and storage projects that helps pair energy consumers with asset owners. Ascend Analytics reports it has helped procure over 10 million MWh per year of renewable energy and 12,000 MWh of battery storage capacity for its customers. It has been working with 3CE since April 2022 supporting 3CE in RFP valuation, portfolio risk management and resource planning. For this 3CE RFP, Ascend will also support in evaluating all conforming bids using its Energy Analytics Platform, PowerSIMM.
The community choice aggregator is seeking new or existing clean energy and storage projects with commercial operation dates no later than December 31, 2032, with PPA term lengths of 10 to 20 years.
3CE seeks proposals from qualified parties in three categories, each requiring an offered capacity of at least 20 MW:
- Renewable generation only contracts: 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%. No storage projects shall qualify under this product category. RPS-eligible generation includes solar, wind and geothermal.
- Renewable generation plus storage contracts: RPS-eligible generation paired with storage projects. The storage discharge duration must be at least 4 hours and the capacity cannot exceed 100% of the generation nameplate capacity.
- Standalone storage: Contracts with a discharge duration of at least 4 hours.
3CE reports that it currently has seven projects online with 409 MW of renewable generation and 110 MW of battery storage. It also has nine projects currently in development for a total of 632 MW of renewable generation and 480 MW of battery storage.
Last year, for example, 3CE executed a 25-year power purchase agreement with Hydrostor, valued at nearly $1 billion, for 200 MW/1600 MWh energy storage from a planned 500 MW compressed air energy storage system. Its share of the project will help the agency meet its goal of providing 100% clean and renewable electricity by 2030 to its 447,000 customers between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara counties, according to the aggregator.
The RFP team will host an informational webinar for this latest RFP interested bidders on May 2, 2024, at 11 a.m. PT. Submissions are due May 22, 2024, 5 p.m. PT. To participate, ask questions, and receive RFP updates and materials, prospects must register on the 3CE RFP website.
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