Southern California Edison Launches RFO for Distributed Generation in Orange County

On November 20, 2014, Southern California Edison (SCE) launched its Renewable Distributed Generation Preferred Resources Pilot (PRP RFO) for Eligible Renewable Resources (ERRs) in central Orange County. The PRP RFO will be used to study whether distributed generation, energy conservation programs, and energy storage can meet the long-term reliability needs of the local community affected by the closure of San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and the expected retirement of a number of large fossil fuel power plants.

Through the PRP RFO, SCE seeks to procure up to 50 MW of electrical energy, capacity, and renewable attributes from distributed ERRs that are at least 500 kW in capacity under a standard, non-negotiable renewable power purchase and sale agreement (PPA). ERRs must be proven, commercialized technologies located within SCE's service territory and connected to a circuit or lower voltage substation in SCE's distribution system that electrically connects to either the Johanna or Santiago substations in the cities of Santa Ana and Irvine, respectively.

SCE recently concluded procurement of capacity under its Local Capacity Requirements (LCR) RFO in the West Los Angeles Basin and Moorpark sub-areas of its territory. The utility announced the results of this RFO and planned procurement, including 60 MW of behind-the-meter renewable energy projects, over 160 MW of behind-the-meter energy storage resources and over 210 MW of energy efficiency and demand response projects. The LCR RFO presumably has given SCE additional experience in procuring distributed energy resources, which could improve the efficacy and speed of the contracting process for the upcoming PRP RFO, as well as SCE's upcoming energy storage RFO under the AB 2514 program.

To bid into the PRP RFO, the ERR facility's latest interconnection study or interconnection agreement, together with the milestone schedule, must support a forecasted Commercial Operation Date (COD) no later than December 31, 2017. SCE prefers offers having a forecasted COD on or before June 30, 2017, and encourages offerors to seek pre-certification as an ERR by the California Energy Commission prior to submitting offers.

SCE will host a PRP RFO bidder's conference to discuss the RFO process with participants on December 2, 2014. Interested participants must register on the RFO website.

Offers must be submitted by April 1, 2015.