Bear Peak Power discusses emerging community solar markets and forecasted projects

Bear Peak Power (BPP) is planning to submit five project proposals into the New Mexico Community Solar RFP, which Chief Strategy Partner and Managing Partner Ryan Scott described as “very competitive” with close to 500 development companies participating.

Scott told NPM on the sidelines during the RE+ Community Solar Conference in San Diego, California that BPP sees 2023 as being a busy year from participating in the New Mexico RFP and also aiming to have 85 new sites in both utility and distributed generation (DG) batteries.

“What we’ve been doing up to this point is focus on DG and community solar,” he said. “We have a couple utility scale projects and are at varying stages of the development cycle, so this year we’re getting those further along. We’re in a bunch of different states and markets to push the pipeline forward.”

The aim is to get projects to Notice to Proceed (NTP). BPP works to get projects permitted and finish interconnection applications so “everything is done” for a buyer. BPP is in California, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and emerging community solar markets in Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Arizona, and New Mexico, which Scott said is a “big one.”

On the five projects that BPP is submitting to the New Mexico RFP, Scott said a lot is riding on it. Though Xcel Energy has fought the Community Solar Act rules, which initially delayed the RFP, Scott said that BPP doesn’t have time to be worried.

“Guys like us are treating it like a land grab to get the best sites locked up and we don’t have time to speculate if it’s good or not,” he said. “We move on every market and some work, some don’t.”

Scott stated that he is looking forward to the results of the RFP. Bids are due January 31, with winning bids announced in the spring. One of the pieces of the scoring matrix include helping the community, which BPP fulfilled by purchasing a pig from the local FFA in Union County where a deal is being worked on.

“We wanted our name in the community,” he said. “We’re hoping for good news.”

The reason that New Mexico is so competitive though is due to not only high yields but also because the state put together pricing for different utility districts.

“The price is really high,” Scott said, explaining that power can be sold in some areas for USD 0.11 per kWh. “Yields are twice as good as New York and there is no permitting in half these places. It’ll be a big win if we can get a few of those projects selected.”

BPP plans on participating in the New Mexico RFP cycle, which is expected to have new RFPs issued every one to two years.

When asked about Arizona, Scott said BPP has three or four sites where development has begun. On the topic of Arizona’s community solar program, which is still in discussion with the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), the current pitched price is USD 0.055 per kWh. Though the yields in Arizona are comparable to New Mexico, the revenue would be half of what is anticipated.

“We’re of the impression to just go for it anyway,” Scott said of the program. “In Arizona we’re moving forward but won’t get too aggressive out there. I think we’ll keep it at three or four sites until we see how the program looks.”

Meanwhile, in California, Scott said BPP is encouraged by how quickly the state passed its community solar bill even though “there’s not many details on it.”

“The fact that it passed so quickly tells me they are serious about it,” he said. “I’m hoping it shapes up to something interesting.”

In California, BPP is moving forward on acquiring land and moving forward on development regardless of what the program looks like. Though BPP is not sure what the program cap will be for community solar projects, BPP is doing an aggressive push regardless.

“They’ve moved so quickly, we’re optimistic it’s going to be okay,” he said, adding that by July 2024 more should be known.

Looking ahead at 2023, BPP plans to move its 60 MW BPP Beaver project to NTP in West Virginia. The project recently received its conditional use permit (CUP) for five years. However, the project is in the PJM queue, which is undergoing reforms. Because of this, BPP is waiting to see when it will get its interconnection.

“We’re not happy about it,” Scott said of the reform. “We’re not too aggressive in PJM, but we could transact on that before the interconnection is back because we will get an independent third-party appraisal for interconnection upgrades. We have the option to lease and have the long CUP.”

The only other utility-scale project is its 48 MW, two-hour battery, also located in PJM. The project, BPP Huntington BESS, has been shown interest from the utility “that they might want it,” Scott said. The project is still in development but depending how it turns out may lead BPP to pursue other locations and expand that project strategy.

“We’re excited about this year,” Scott said. "2022 was our first real year since launching in 2021. We brought on more people and are excited to scale it, and hopefully get a lot of projects to NTP.”

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.


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