Georgia Power's new utility-scale head discusses flexibility in looming RFPs
Georgia Power’s new Renewable Development Utility Scale Manager took over in April ahead of a number of renewable solicitations, including a utility scale RFP meant to facilitate the company’s new C&I subscription program.
Marc Vinson, who formerly served as the utility’s Regulatory Affairs Manager, will oversee RFPs, contract structuring in PPAs and PURPA purchases from Qualifying Facilities in his new role.
Flexibility measures, some of which were first identified in the utility’s 2022 Integrated Resource Plan, will be key to ensuring successful solicitations, Vinson said.
Georgia Power indicated the need to site new projects in the northern part of the state closer to its load center. It also proposed a change in how it weighs customer benefit, transitioning to a “best-cost analysis by removing the avoided cost ceiling limit” as the utility’s foremost factor.
There are likely to be other changes in the company’s solicitation process included in the upcoming utility scale RFP for the new Clean And Renewable Energy Subscription Program (or CARES), the “cornerstone” of Georgia Power’s IRP.
Draft RFP documents for the first of two 1050 MW solicitation rounds will be released in August or September, and the RFP will open for bids in December. Projects awarded through this year’s solicitation are expected to start operations in 2027. The second round will open in 2025.
“Once the RFP documents are finalized and approved by the (Georgia Public Service Commission), we will be able to outline all of the areas of flexibility included in the RFP,” Vinson said.
Vinson’s time as Regulatory Affairs Manager gave him an inside look at the process of getting the utility’s new renewable program’s approved by the PSC, he said.
“That experience interacting with Commissioners, PSC Staff, and intervenors over the last six years will be beneficial moving forward as we implement additional renewable programs for our customers,” Vinson said.
Planning Georgia Power’s generation fleet, and “balancing all of the moving parts” involved to do so, represents one of the biggest challenges of the moment. It’s also one Vinson will be directly involved in as he settles into the new role.
“With such a diverse customer mix from a residential, commercial, and industrial standpoint, we have to find the right balance of resources that benefit all of our customers to the greatest extent possible,” Vinson said.
The 2022 IRP states the company plans to procure at least 6 GW and up to 9 GW of renewable energy before 2035, including 2300 MW before the next IRP in 2025.
That 2.3 GW includes 200 MW of distributed generation. Draft documents for a 193 MW RFP for distributed resources were published recently. The solicitation for projects up to 6 MW will be released by the end of August.
The approved IRP also allows the company to solicit for 500 MW of battery storage, and an all-source RFP to replace retiring capacity between 2029 and 2031. It does not address timing for either, or the size of the latter.
Among the structural changes in the IRP are the “ability to modify timing, total procurement target amounts, and other requirements in future RFPs,” according to the planning document. Georgia Power has apparently already taken advantage of that latitude, as the IRP first indicated it would solicit for its 200 MW of distributed resources through two 100 MW RFPs, one in 2023 and one in 2024.
Routine procurements will allow the utility to regularly incorporate improvements and select “the most efficient use of internal and external resources” toward those ends, according to the IRP.
After the last few years, one of the challenges in developing future RFPs will be allowing for flexibility around “supply chain issues that may arise” during the process, Vinson said.
It’s not all risk and uncertainty. One other potential outside influence on Georgia Power’s solicitations going forward, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA2022), passed just weeks after Georgia regulators approved the IRP, with new and extended tax credits meant to boost renewable development.
“We are excited to see how (IRA2022) impacts the market,” Vinson said. “We have a great opportunity in front of us as we transition our fleet.”
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.
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