Energy Storage, Demand Response, Energy Efficiency Big Winners in California RFP

Energy storage, demand response and energy efficiency were big winners this week in a solicitation issued by Southern California Edison to secure long-term capacity contracts.

The utility chose more than 500-MW of clean energy to help replace the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station and retiring natural gas plants. The winners were announced November 5.

In all, the utility selected 69 clean energy projects, what California calls preferred resources, through the request for proposals.

Energy efficiency, alone, accounted for more 30 of the projects, about  135 MW.

Energy storage accounted for 261 MW, five times more than is required under a California mandate. This marks the first time SCE has secured energy storage through a competitive solicitation.

“This is a monumental decision – arrived at after a team of SCE experts studied more than 1,800 offers for various storage solutions, as well as other preferred resources and traditional generation,” said Janice Lin, executive director of the California Energy Storage Alliance. “The fact that SCE far exceeded the minimum amount of energy storage they were ordered to purchase after comparing multiple solutions head to head, demonstrates that energy storage can be competitive with other preferred resources on both performance and value, and that it’s now an integral part of the utility planning tool kit in California.”

The new energy storage projects will add to the 112 already operating in California, according the Department of Energy’s Global Energy Storage Database.

The preferred resources represent almost a quarter of the total 2, 221 MW the utility secured through the solicitation.  The bulk of the capacity will come from combined cycle and peaking natural gas-fired plants.

“This solicitation is the first time that such a wide range of new diverse resources were directly competing in the purchasing process,” said Colin Cushnie, SCE vice president, energy procurement & management. “No single energy source can give us everything we need all of the time, particularly with our emphasis to use environmentally clean resources. To provide for flexibility, we need to accommodate a mix of energy resources.”

The companies that won the preferred resource contracts are: AES, NRG, Onsite Energy, Sterling Analytics, SunPower, Ice Energy Holdings, Advanced Microgrid Solutions and Stem.

The contracts require approval from the  California Public Utilities Commission.

“Using energy more wisely, improving energy diversity and increasing flexibility are the keys to maintaining and improving the reliability of Southern California’s grid while incorporating renewables and new technologies,” said Cushnie. “These projects will provide energy solutions to meet the reliability and affordability needs of electricity customers.”

The full list of  contract winners is below.

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