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Committee endorses Clean Power SF package of Calpine contracts to secure resource adequacy and renewables
Summary
The committee voted to send to the Board three Clean Power SF actions with Calpine — a retroactive RA amendment (25 MW), an amendment increasing renewable energy purchases from The Geysers to 50 MW, and a retroactive sale of excess RA to SCE — with staff saying the measures support compliance and long‑term reliability while preserving community benefits.
The Budget & Finance Committee voted to forward to the Board a package of Clean Power SF contracts with Calpine Energy Services that Clean Power SF officials said would strengthen the city’s regulatory compliance and renewables supply. Michael Himes, director of Clean Power SF, said the package includes a retroactive amendment to secure additional resource adequacy capacity (25 megawatts, bringing the total to 50 MW beginning January 2022), a separate amendment to increase renewable baseload purchases from The Geysers geothermal facility (25 MW to 50 MW) and a retroactive sale contract to Southern California Edison for excess resource adequacy products.
Himes said the RA amendment was executed by the general manager on Oct. 28 to meet the California Public Utilities Commission compliance deadline and that the added RA will cost about $3.6 million per year (not to exceed roughly $30.24 million over the amended term). He said the renewable amendment would cost approximately $25.8 million per year (roughly $243 million over its full term) and would increase the community benefits commitment to Hunters Point Family Foundation and Girls 2000, extending existing STEM‑education commitments.
The Budget Legislative Analyst reviewed the financial plan and noted the contracts are funded from Clean Power SF revenues and the utility’s long‑range financial plan. Committee members pressed staff about community benefits scoring and selection; Himes and Tracy Zhu, the PUC community benefits manager, explained that bidders may submit voluntary community benefits proposals that receive evaluation points and that Calpine voluntarily continued its prior community partners. After public comment and a recommended nonsubstantive correction to an amount in the file, the committee moved both items to the Board with a positive recommendation as amended.
