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Summit County hears update on community renewable energy agency; agency to run its own RFP
Summary
Emily Quintin told the Summit County Council that Rocky Mountain Power canceled its systemwide all-source RFP, prompting the Community Renewable Energy Agency (CREA) to develop an agency-led solicitation to bring utility-scale renewables to participating communities; SB 214 may let new communities join CREA.
Emily Quintin, a presenter for the Community Renewable Energy Agency (also called Utah Renewable Communities), updated the Summit County Council on Thursday about the agency's next steps to expand community renewable energy options. Quintin said Rocky Mountain Power and its parent PacifiCorp canceled the most recent systemwide all-source request for proposals, so CREA is preparing its own agency-led solicitation to procure new utility-scale renewable energy resources to serve participating communities.
"We are readying the materials," Quintin said, describing a framework that would have Rocky Mountain Power file the solicitation materials with the Public Service Commission while the agency drives scoring criteria that reflect community priorities. Quintin said the agency has been negotiating for three years with the utility and technical and legal consultants are helping design a solicitation that could entertain bids for projects up to 300 megawatts of generating capacity.
Quintin also flagged a recent legislative change, SB 214, which removed the earlier statutory requirement that communities adopt a net-100% renewable goal by the end of 2019 to be eligible to join CREA. "That change in the legislation opens up the possibilities that additional communities could join the agency," she said, and the agency has adopted a process and a short July deadline for communities that want to be included in the program application.
Quintin said Salt Lake City submitted a grant application under Inflation Reduction Act funding to provide a financial backstop for the program; the application is for just under $50 million and, if awarded, would help guarantee contract performance in the low-probability scenario of large opt-outs. Quintin said an award decision is expected in July.
Councilmembers thanked Quintin and CREA's staff. Roger (council) noted the remaining procedural steps: finalizing the agency RFP and filing the broader program application with the Public Service Commission for approval. The presentation was informational and there were no votes tied to the update.
Next steps: staff will finalize solicitation documents and coordinate Rocky Mountain Power filings with the Public Service Commission; the council asked staff to follow up as grant and filing milestones occur.
