California Community Power to map out additional storage procurement goals during upcoming board meetings

California Community Power’s board is expected to map out firm goals for the newly formed Joint Powers Authority (JPA) over the coming weeks, and it is a good bet the procurement of long duration storage will continue to be at the top of the list, said several officials involved.

As reported, the JPA was recently formed when heavyweight CCAs - Central Coast Community Energy, East Bay Community Energy (EBCE), Marin Clean Energy, Peninsula Clean Energy, Redwood Coast Energy Authority, San Jose Clean Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) and Sonoma Clean Power – decided to join forces to bolster their ability to procure clean energy.

Participating CCAs will have the opportunity to opt-in or out of any future bidding processes according to their needs, but Peninsula CEO Jan Pepper said that the overall advantage of this JPA is the ability to solicit for bigger clean energy projects.

"As opportunities come up, those of us that are interested in them will be able to pursue those together..." Pepper said. "It’s just an opportunity for us to work together and contract for larger projects than we might be able to do as an individual."

Altogether, the JPA covers 140 municipalities and 32,600 GWh of peak load, which makes up about 40 percent of the capacity of Pacific Gas and Electric, the state’s largest utility. CCA CleanPowerSF is also considering membership, increasing the peak load even more.

Although discussions for a joint powers agency began in 2018, CEO of SVCE Girish Balachandran said that the joint 500 MW long-duration RFO was the catalyst that reignited the process after it was put on hold. Shortlisting is expected to begin for the joint RFO next March, and SVCE confirmed to NPM in January that the entities received bids for 18 different types of long-duration technologies.

CCAs typically have an advantage over IOUs in their ability to be "nimble" or produce localized power with specific community needs in mind compared to the least-cost, least-risk approach. Participants believe that mindset will not change as procurement scales up with CCP.

"For us we have monthly meetings with our board of directors, and if there’s something we need to get their update on or approval on, we can do that very quickly and continue to keep the pace going," Pepper said. "So, all of us have the ability to do that, and everything is public, public meetings where anyone can attend, anyone can comment, there’s a lot of transparency there. "

“Much of our procurement is oriented around local programs and projects," agreed Dan Lieberman, spokesperson for EBCE. "This new JPA doesn't change that focus, it just allows us and the other CCAs to take advantage of group buying power when applicable.”

East Bay was the only CCA that did not participate in the joint long-duration procurement, although it did take part in a joint RFI earlier in the year.

Balachandran, though, thinks that the JPA will give CCAs the clout and capacity to think bigger in procurement, while the more localized approach will continue in individual procurements.

"CC Power may be more for providing backend services that would help each of the CCAs be the front end of providing that connection with customers," Balachandran said. "So, I see it as CC Power has its place, and it’ll do its things well which tends to be economies of scale, etc. But I can’t see CC Power customizing the way a CCA can customize."

More firm goals for the JPA will be established in upcoming board meetings during the next few weeks, but at present Balachandran believes the focus will remain on long-duration storage. Pepper agreed, saying that Peninsula was hoping the JPA will allow it to match much of its clean power with energy storage. Going forward, however, the focus could shift to overall decarbonization beyond just the energy sector.

“The short-term we’re focused on procurement, but in the long-term it really is we’re really looking at this clean energy transition of 2045. How do we get this clean grid at the same time there are other parts of the economy that also need to be transformed like transportation and buildings?" Balachandran said. "So, if there are opportunities to collaborate at a wide scale on issues to get us to clean buildings and cleaner transportation, I think those are opportunities too."