Utah's Salt Lake County Will Announce a Solar Project RFP on May 14, 2010
On May 14, 2010, Salt Lake County, Utah will be releasing a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for a 1 MW solar project. If your company is interested in receiving the RFP as soon as it is released, you should register with BidSync (registration is free).
About the Solar Project:
It is anticipated that the initial solar project will include three County facilities (Salt Palace Convention Center, Environmental Health, and the Riverton Senior Center) with solar installations totaling approximately 1 MW. This solar project will utilize a power purchase agreement (“PPA”) financing model. It will also employ public and private capital, Federal grants, and public/private subsidized bonds that are able to work together efficiently because of the recent Stimulus Bill. The project also makes use of recent changes to Federal tax rules, and the recent re-awakening of private capital markets that make a significant public-private partnership possible. The County is working to coordinate these financial resources to make them easily accessible. More details will be available in the RFP. Longer term, Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon has set a goal to install 10 MW of solar on as many county-owned facilities as possible.
PPAs and Third-Party Financing Now an Option in Utah:
In 2010, with the passage of HB 145 – Renewable Energy Financing Provisions, Utah enabled third-party financing of renewable energy systems for the following entities: a county, municipality, city, town, other political subdivision, local district, special service district, state institution of higher education, school district, charter school, or any entity within the state system of public education; an entity qualifying as a charitable organization under 26 U.S.C. Sec. 501(c)(3) operated for religious, charitable, or educational purposes that is exempt from federal income tax and able to demonstrate its tax-exempt status. Significantly, this recent legislation clarified that certain third-party financing arrangements are exempt from regulation by the Utah Public Service Commission, which is consistent with how these arrangements are viewed in several other states across the country. This clarification will now open the door for more innovative financing for renewable energy technologies, which has the ability to remove the upfront cost hurdles of capital intensive investments and offer an attractive bundle of services, including: design, installation, financing (including monetizing tax benefits), permitting and interconnection, maintenance, etc.
GVSU and MAREC Seek Partner for Met Tower in Lake Michigan
Grand Valley State University (GVSU) and its Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) have issued a Request for Proposals seeking funding partners to develop an offshore research platform and wind assessment meteorological (MET) tower installation. GVSU and MAREC have acquired $3.1 Million in grants and research monies to fund a portion of the Project. Partners are being sought to: contribute the additional funds, expertise, and resources needed to complete the Project beyond those already committed by GVSU/MAREC and federal/state sources; design the MET Tower/Research Platform; construct the MET Tower/Research Platform (to be completed by September 1, 2011); and provide the overall operation and maintenance of the structure to support data collection and research.
A pre-proposal conference is being held at GVSU on May 3, 2010, and proposals are due June 10, 2010.
Nebraska Public Power District Wind and Renewables RFPs
The Nebraska Public Power District has two open RFPs that may be of interest to renewable energy developers.
In Request for Proposal (RFP) 10018, the District announced that it intends to expand its power supply by adding wind-powered resources to its generation portfolio . The District seeks proposals to provide power from wind projects between 50 megawatts (MWs) and 300 MWs capacity. The resulting PPAs would have a term of 20 years. Bids are due by 5:00 pm Central Time on June 4, 2010.
The District also issued Request for Proposal (RFP) 10005, a separate request for energy, capacity and environmental attributes from small renewable energy projects. The solicitation defines a small project as one with a nameplate capacity at each location of less than ten (10) MW but greater than the maximum size allowed in the interconnecting utility’s Net Metering Policy. Bids are due by 5:00 pm Central Time on September 1, 2010.
The District's contact for each RFP is Sarah Hopwood, Tel 402 563-5405, Fax 402 563-5034
sjhopwo@nppd.com.
Nevada State Office of Energy Seeks Renewable Energy Proposals
The Nevada State Office of Energy (“NSOE”) announced on March 16, 2010, that is it has issued a Request for Proposals (“RFP”) for renewable energy projects under the $8M+ Revolving Loan Program. Projects must be no more than 60kW in size for solar PV and 20kW maximum for wind turbines and solar thermal. Loan terms will be less than 15 years and interest rates three percent or lower. Applicants may apply for a minimum of $200,000 and a maximum of $1,645,000, and must be able to enter a loan contract prior to June 30, although projects may begin after that date. It is the intent of the RFP to approve a minimum of five applications. The solicitation may close at any time upon determination by the Director of the Nevada State Office of Energy that a sufficient number of qualified applications have been received to satisfy the needs of the RFP. If the RFP fails to produce a sufficient number of eligible applicants the Director may consider granting loans exceeding the published maximum amount.*
Interested parties should go to http://energy.nv.gov/recovery/RevolvingLoan.htm or contact Robert Nellis, Energy Program Manager at (775) 687-1850 x7304 for more information.
*Request For Proposal No. 0001 for ARRA Revolving Loan Program For Renewable Energy Systems Release, dated March 15, 2010.
NYPA Receives 11 Notices of Intent to Bid for Offshore Wind Projects
The New York Power Authority stated today that it has received eleven (11) Notices of Intent to Bid into its RFP for offshore wind projects in Lakes Erie and Ontario. Formal proposals are due June 1. For more information, see my previous blog entry on NYPA's plans.
RFP for Renewable Resources.
NV Energy issued its Spring 2010 Request for Proposals seeking new renewable resources. NV Energy hopes to use the RFP to meet its RPS requirement of serving 12% of retail load with renewable energy in 2010. Bidders should also be aware that NV Energy's non-refundable bid deposits have changed: projects 10 MW of larger must submit a $10,000 deposit ($7,500 if the same facility was bid into the 2009 RFP); projects under 10 MW must submit a $5,000 deposit ($3,500 if the same project was bid into the 2009 RFP). Responses to the RFP are due April 16.
Details regarding NV Energy's Spring 2010 RFP can be found by clicking here.
Southern California Public Power Authority RFP
Here's a new opportunity for renewable energy developers. The Southern California Public Power Authority has issued a request for proposals seeking renewable energy generation "with supporting infrastructure(s) as structured projects through (i) facility ownership; or (ii) power purchase agreement with ownership option(s), in one or more facilities." SCPPA is a California joint powers authority that plans to purchase an undivided equity share in facilities, issue tax-exempt debt financing, and sell output at cost to its municipal utility members. SCPPA will also consider straight or pre-pay power purchase agreements that include a facility purchase option.
Responses are due May 28, 2010. Follow the link for the solicitation materials: www.scppa.org/Downloads/RFP/Renewable_Energy_Projects_052810.pdf
