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SFPUC director briefs LAFCO on Clean Power SF schedule, technical studies and market research
Summary
SFPUC told LAFCO it is proceeding with procurement toward an October RFP and December responses, has completed technical-potential work feeding an economic feasibility study, will field a market survey of 800 residents, and is engaged in CPUC proceedings that may affect program costs.
Mike Campbell, director of the Clean Power SF program at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, told the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) on Friday that the program is on a schedule that moves from an RFQ this spring toward an RFP in October and supplier responses by December. Campbell said responses to the current RFQ are due next Friday and the published list of prequalified bidders is expected in August.
The SFPUC director summarized technical and economic work that will shape procurement. He said the technical-potential study ' covering solar on municipal rooftops, wind-monitoring data and the prospects for combined heat-and-power and fuel cells ' is complete and will be rolled into an economic feasibility report due toward the end of next month. Campbell identified municipal sites already assessed for rooftop solar and described existing wind monitoring at six city locations, noting Twin Peaks and Treasure Island as relatively strong sites for utility-scale turbines.
Campbell also outlined a market-research plan to gauge likely customer participation and to inform the RFP and marketing. The first phases will use focus groups and follow with a multilingual telephone survey targeting roughly 800 respondents across the city, which Campbell said should yield statistically useful estimates of likely subscribership and the demographics of potential customers.
On procurement design, Campbell said the SFPUC expects to issue an RFP in October and to use the RFP responses to refine supply options and price projections. He said the agency has contacted potential suppliers and advertised in trade publications to encourage a competitive response.
Campbell flagged several regulatory risks the commission is tracking. SFPUC staff, the city attorney's office and the Department of the Environment are participating in CPUC proceedings that could influence costs to a community choice aggregator, including litigation over bonding requirements for CCAs and proceedings affecting investor-owned utilities' energy-efficiency incentives. He said SFPUC plans to assert entitlement to public goods charge funding for energy-efficiency activities once a CCA goes live.
Campbell also described possible local resource contributions the program may pursue, including municipal rooftop solar, opportunities tied to a downtown steam loop operated by a private firm that now provides heat but not electricity, and landfill or biogas projects. He cautioned that some sites are at capacity (for example, wastewater treatment plants that already recover fuel) and that integration of combined heat-and-power systems can be constrained by existing steam-loop connections.
The SFPUC presentation included staff plans to hire analysts for the program team and further work on supplier selection, and Campbell said the agency would coordinate the risk-assessment and contracting work with a planned RFP timetable. He offered to return with consultant findings and further detail as the feasibility and market research work matures.
Next steps noted to LAFCO: RFQ responses due next Friday, publication of prequalified bidders in August, an RFP in October and RFP responses in December. Campbell said the finalized economic analysis and market-research results will be available in coming weeks and will inform the RFP that is expected to govern supplier selection and contract structure.
