Peninsula Clean Energy executive discusses new PPA with Pattern's SunZia wind project
Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE) announced its largest single renewable contract to date with Pattern for a portion of its 3,515 MW SunZia Wind project.
Roy Xu, director of power resources for PCE, told NPM that the 220 MW contract with the developer is the result of a 2021 RFP that was in negotiations for “quite a while.”
Part of the reason why negotiations took so long, he explained, was due to the complexity of the project itself and that this is PCE’s first out-of-state resource.
“It is going to be pseudo-tied into the ISO,” he said. “It has a transmission component and is a huge project that is going to be divvied up into different pieces and offtakers. It is not in the California ISO, so the process is different.”
Pattern has broken ground on its transmission line for the project, running from New Mexico, through Arizona, and into California. The project’s commercial operation date is 4Q26, when PCE is set to begin receiving the contracted capacity.
“That transmission line across multiple states, getting permits and site control for the transmission path is not an easy undertaking,” Xu said. “It is a great addition to our portfolio.”
Xu stated that he does not believe additional contract announcements are pending from the 2021 RFP, but that PCE is in negotiations for other projects as a result of later RFPs.
The long-term PPA with Pattern is for a term of 15 years and will supply 13% of PCE’s total annual electricity demand, according to the press release from PCE. It also pointed out that PCE is the first community choice aggregation (CCA) to finalize a PPA with Pattern for capacity from the project.
The contract is expected to bring PCE closer to its goal of having 24/7 renewable power and will provide higher wind generation during the winter months when solar in California is at its lowest.
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.
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