Clean Power Alliance Seeking Solar-Plus-Storage Offers in Southern California

by APPA News
January 29, 2023

Clean Power Alliance in California has issued a request for offers for the installation of solar-plus-storage installations to provide backup power during emergencies.

Specifically, the RFO for Clean Power Alliance’s Power Ready program is seeking developers qualified to build power resiliency in several Southern California communities to provide backup power to strengthen its system against the rising threats of power outages related to wildfires, public safety power shutoffs, aging infrastructure, and times of extreme heat.

Power Ready is a community benefit program offered to Clean Power Alliance’s partner communities in order to make public buildings energy resilient by installing solar-plus-storage systems.

In the initial phase, the Power Ready program will provide critical backup power systems to 12 public facilities throughout Los Angeles and Ventura counties at no cost to participating communities. To facilitate the program Clean Power Alliance has contracted with a developer-financier to build, own, and operate the systems for 20 years.

Clean Power Alliance, founded in 2017, is the fourth largest electricity provider in California. It provided 100 percent renewable energy to three million people via 1 million customer accounts in 30 cities across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, as well as the unincorporated areas of both counties.

Clean Power Alliance has been an active participant in the California market for renewable energy. In October, the community choice aggregator signed a 33-megawatt (MW) 15-year power purchase agreement with Fervo Energy for the delivery of geothermal power from a facility in Beaver County, Utah, to CPA’s 32 member communities.

In September 2021, Clean Power Alliance signed of a 15-year power purchase agreement for the Desert Quartzite Solar-plus-Storage project with EDF Renewables North America. The project, which combines a 300-MW solar project with a 600-megawatt hour battery energy storage system, is expected to begin delivering electricity to CPA customers in February 2024.