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SFPUC details Clean Power SF procurement, aims for phased citywide enrollment
Summary
Clean Power SF reported receiving proposals from 32 firms and hundreds of bids, with most offers for Category 1 renewable energy and a plan to phase citywide enrollment (half in 2018, remainder in 2019); staff flagged uncertainties including the PCIA exit charge, potential solar tariffs and reliance on new projects that must meet milestones.
Clean Power SF Director Michael Hines told the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission on Oct. 24 that the agency received proposals from 32 companies and more than 300 distinct bids in its renewable-energy request for offers, and that more than 90 percent of the offers were for new projects that would require long‑term contracts.
Hines said 83 percent of the projects bid into the RFO are located in California and that a smaller subset — six projects — met the commission’s nine‑county Bay Area preference. “We received proposals from 32 companies, and proposing energy for more than 70 different projects,” he said during the commission’s general‑manager report.
The presentation explained why Clean Power SF plans a two‑phase enrollment to reach citywide participation: staff recommended enrolling roughly half of eligible customers in 2018 and the remainder in 2019 to match the availability of renewable energy from operating projects. The program’s long‑term planning targets aim to increase renewable content from about 45 percent in 2018 to 70 percent by 2030 and to reach 100 percent greenhouse‑gas‑free energy by 2030.
Hines and other staff emphasized job creation tied to project development. Staff presented job‑year estimates consistent with the program growth plan (a previously published range of roughly 1,300 to 5,400 job‑years), and said most near‑term positions will be construction jobs tied to new projects. Staff also described a procurement strategy using laddered forward contracts to manage price risk.
Commissioners and members of the public asked for more detail on the local‑hire and small‑business elements of the procurement. A public commenter urged stronger local‑hire commitments and breaking large contracts into subcontracting opportunities to make them accessible to small firms; Hines said the RFO included preferences for local projects and that staff will report additional detail as contract negotiations proceed.
Staff identified several uncertainties that could affect costs and timelines: reforms to the PCIA (the exit fee charged by PG&E) expected early next year, a pending International Trade Commission recommendation in the Suniva case that could lead to tariffs on imported solar panels, and competition from other community choice aggregators for the same projects. Hines said staff plan to bring a pool of projects to the commission for conditional contract approval at the Nov. 14 meeting and aim to execute initial supply contracts by mid‑January 2018 to support the next phase of auto‑enrollment.
What’s next: staff will continue negotiations with shortlisted bidders, return to the commission with proposed conditional contract approvals on Nov. 14, and provide more detailed information on local‑hire plans and job types before large‑scale enrollment.
