Renewable Energy RFO/RFP Solicitation Process

Best Price Isn't Always the Best Deal

June 22-23, 2021 | Online :: Central Time

0621-renewable-rfp

Utilities and other buyers of bulk renewable energy face an increasingly complex, competitive terrain when procuring these resources to meet clean energy objectives and RPS requirements.  The new landscape has sprouted a market with hundreds of new procurement entrants – some buyers like utilities with lots of experience procuring power and other buyers with less experience.  In addition, the power resources being procured have built-in layers and complexities that more conventional power resources do not involve.  Thus, the process of procuring renewable power resources requires meticulous attention and awareness of nuances.

This course will provide utility, corporate and project development professionals engaged in the process of competitive renewable procurement — on both the buy and sell side — best practices and tools to strategically prepare, design, and respond to RFO/RFPs and obtain optimal results. Subject matter experts will share their experiences and strategies to automate, analyze, and decide on the best renewable energy resource procurement outcomes through competitive RFO/RFPs.  Utilities of all kinds (IOUs, munis, coops); load-serving entities such as community choice aggregators (CCAs), universities, government and public-serving agencies and hospitals; as well as corporate and commercial off-takers, will find great value in the best practices delivered in this course.  Those active in project development will find the course useful also, as they prepare and position their offering most competitively.

Learning Outcomes

• Describe a typical RFO/RFP process
• Construct a template for preparing and designing renewable energy and REC RFP procurements
• Define products for procurement
• Assess administrative elements
• Determine protocols
• Identify terms and conditions
• Discuss project evaluation criteria
• Review project short-listing elements for negotiation
• Examine after-the-project-award actions

Who Should Attend

In utilities and other power systems procuring renewable energy resources…

• Procurement staff
• Contract administration staff
• Renewable energy planning staff
• Integrated resource planning staff
• (Resource) origination staff
• Project management staff
• Compliance staff

In the power project development sector providing renewable energy resources…

• Business development
• Project management

 

Requirements for Successful Completion of Program

Participants must log in each day and be in attendance for the entirety of the event to be eligible for continuing education credit.

Instructional Methods

Case studies, PowerPoint presentations, and panel discussions will be used in this program.

Tuesday, June 22, 2021 : Central Time

Overview of Typical RFO/RFP Process

1. 1. Competitive procurement fundamentals
      1. The parties and their transactional roles
         1. Buyers/ off-takers
         2. Sellers
      2. Types of RFOs/RFPs
         1. PPAs
         2. Build-transfer
         3. Self-build
   2. Why RFOs?
      1. Advantages to off-takers
      2. Advantages to sellers
      3. Where is competitive procurement permissible and what are the regulatory limitations that might preclude this resource procurement approach?
      4. Is competitive bidding always feasible or desirable?
      5. Basic types of solicitation mechanisms and procurement RFO/RFPs
      6. What are top-level competitive procurement issues?
      7. Illustrative timeline
   3. Establishing confirmation fairness

Preparing and Designing Renewable Energy and REC RFP Procurements

1. 1. Determining the self-supply vs procurement mix
   2. Distinctions in RFO between buying physical power and virtual power
   3. Bundled vs Unbundled
   4. All-source (mixed resource) solicitation
   5. Creating a procurement plan
   6. Identifying renewable energy procurement requirements
   7. Assembling internal resource procurement team
   8. Constructing workable RFP process timeline
   9. Identifying bidders and conducting outreach
   10. Formulating plan for evaluating bid proposals
   11. Managing vendor selection and awards
   12. Encouraging supplier diversity

Define Products

1. 1. Resource need overview
      1. Energy
      2. Capacity
      3. Storage
      4. All-source
   2. Contract tenor
   3. Resource tenor
   4. Alignment with load
   5. Risk hedging
   6. Local benefits
   7. Environmental benefits
   8. Contract structures

Administrative Elements

1. 1. Web presence
   2. Marketing
   3. Bidder instructions
   4. Schedule
   5. Standard forms to foster automation and minimize errors
   6. Bidder webinar
   7. Answering bidder questions
   8. Issuing addendums
   9. Receiving bids
   10. QA/QC
   11. Eliminate non-conforming bids

12:30 – 1:15 p.m. :: Lunch Break

Protocols

1. Schedule
2. Products being procured
3. Production estimates, availability guarantees, output guarantees, performance security
4. Needed online date
5. Evaluation criteria
6. Quantitative valuation methodology overview
7. Communication policy

Related Items

1. 1. PPA offer form / type of submission
   2. Data templates for project characteristics
   3. Bid security
   4. Binding vs non-binding bid
   5. Treatment of non-conforming bid
   6. NDA
   7. Credit conditions
   8. Terms and conditions

Externalities that may not be Reflected in Bidding Process Impact but could Impact Supplier Selection

1. Scalability
2. Transmission access
3. Siting
4. Curtailment
5. Risks associated w/ project development and resource delivery
6. Availability of storage and recognition of value contribution

5:00 p.m. :: Program Adjourns for Day

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 : Central Time

Project Evaluation

1. Scoring Sheet (inclusion on web page?)
2. 3 economic value streams
3. Energy
4. Capacity
5. Ancillary services
6. Modeling
   1. Components
   2. Geographic variation
   3. Risk profile similarity
   4. Capturing meaningful uncertainty
   5. What not to do (average)
   6. Simulations
   7. NARUC resolution on sub-hourly modeling
   8. Evaluating the impact of storage
   9. Loss of load probability calculations
7. Case studies
8. Cost comparisons
9. Risk management
10. Hedging with a PPA
11. Historical bias
12. Basis risk
13. Danger of averages
14. Performance risk
15. Mark-to-market tracking

Project Short-listing for Negotiation

1. Details
2. Follow-up
3. Notifications

After the Project Award

1. 1. Administration
   2. Monitoring
   3. Scheduling
   4. Settlements
   5. Risk optimization

12:15 p.m. :: Program Adjournment

Storage RFO/RFP Procurement Process

Be Careful What You Ask For

Wednesday, June 23, 2021 : Central Time

 

Overview

The emergence of energy storage as a feasible and economically-justifiable resource element has further complicated the renewable energy resource selection process – in a good way.  Increasingly, energy storage has intrinsic value in multiple ways and for many uses on the grid.  In combination with renewable energy, it can have an especially powerful multiplier value.  But the storage solicitation and procurement process has its own considerations and requirements.  This workshop will identify what those differences are and how they should be addressed.

 

Agenda

1:15 – 5:00 p.m. :: Similarities and Differences Between Renewable Energy and  Storage Procurement Solicitations

• Solicitation Distinctions Between Stand-alone vs Solar+Storage Solicitations
• Special Issues that Merit Evaluation
• Adjustments Required to the Solicitation Process and Timetable
• Storage Solicitation Decision Hierarchy

5:00 pm. :: Program Adjournment

Harry Judd, President, Accion Group

Harry Judd is President of Accion Group.  With more than 40 years of diverse experience in regulated industries and emerging markets, he leads Accion Group’s engagements across the country and specializes in advising regulators and utilities on strategies for the electric utility post-deregulation era. Mr. Judd’s background as a consumer advocate, federal prosecutor, state’s counsel, and counsel for utilities and energy markets provides a unique real-world perspective to our clients.  He holds a J.D. from the University of New Hampshire School of Law (formerly Franklin Pierce Law Center), and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

David Ball, Senior Consultant, Accion Group

Dave Ball is Senior Consultant at Accion Group.  With more than 30 years’ experience in utilities, he specializes in economic evaluation of projects and marginal cost evaluations for customers and utilities.

Scott Martin, Director – Resource and New Business Strategy, SMUD

Scott Martin is the Director of Resource and New Business Strategy at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. In this position, he directs the development and implementation of SMUD’s long term resource plan including long term GHG reductions, renewable expansion and development and integration of distributed resources.  Mr. Martin is also responsible for development of new revenues through the use of SMUD’s intellectual property.  Prior to this position, he supervised retail pricing, natural gas, electricity and environmental products hedging, and commodity budgeting.  Scott has worked in the natural gas and electric industry throughout the western United States for over 27 years and holds a BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MA in Economics from UNLV.

Steve Birndorf, Director – Renewable Energy, NextEra Energy (invited)

Steve Birndorf is Director of Renewable Energy Consulting at NextEra Energy.  He is a seasoned solar and renewable energy executive with more than 20 years of professional experience. With a foundation in consulting, finance, and business development, he has developed projects, led teams and built organizations.  Mr. Birndorf has developed, financed and advised on more than $500M of utility scale and C&I solar projects, largely to private industry, municipalities, school districts and water agencies. Before joining the company in 2020, his industry career has included stints at Edison Energy, Valor Analytics, Sungevity Solar, Borrego Solar and AMSOLAR . He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and earned his MS and MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.  

We will be using Microsoft Teams to facilitate your participation in the upcoming event. You do not need to have an existing Teams account in order to participate in the broadcast – the course will play in your browser and you will have the option of using a microphone to speak with the room and ask questions, or type any questions in via the chat window and our on-site representative will relay your question to the instructor.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: After November 30 you will not be able to join a Teams meeting using Internet Explorer 11. Microsoft recommends downloading and installing the Teams app if possible. You may also use the Edge browser or Chrome.
• You will receive a meeting invitation will include a link to join the meeting.
• Separate meeting invitations will be sent for the morning and afternoon sessions of the course.
  • You will need to join the appropriate meeting at the appropriate time.
• If you are using a microphone, please ensure that it is muted until such time as you need to ask a question.
• The remote meeting connection will be open approximately 30 minutes before the start of the course. We encourage you to connect as early as possible in case you experience any unforeseen problems.

Please Note: This event is being conducted entirely online. All attendees will connect and attend from their computer, one connection per purchase. For details please see our FAQ

If you are unable to attend at the scheduled date and time, we make recordings available to all registrants for three business days after the event

Event	Standard Rate	Attendees
Single Connection - Renewable Energy RFO/RFP Solicitation Process	US $ 1195.00
Pack of 5 connections	US $ 4,780.00
Pack of 10 Connections	US $ 8,365.00
Pack of 20 Connections	US $ 14,340.00
Call us at 303.770.8800 if you have any specific questions on the volume discounts
* all other discounts do not apply to license packs
This event has the following workshops:
Storage RFO/RFP Procurement Process	US $ 495.00
		Add to Cart

Take advantage of these discounts!

• Attend the Course and workshop and pay US $ 1,595.00 per attendee (save US $ 95.00 each)