The City of Palo Alto, California, is seeking a minimum of 20 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually, not to exceed 80 GWh/year, from eligible renewable resources. The City will not, however, consider proposals for the sale of Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) alone . The City intends to negotiate and execute one or more power purchase agreements with

On August 22, 2012, the U.S. Army Engineering & Support Center in Huntsville, AL held a pre-proposal conference to discuss the final multi-award task order contract that was issued on August 7, 2012 (the “Final RFP” or “MATOC”).  My colleague, Lane Tucker, and I attended to hear the Army’s presentations and to engage directly with renewable energy developers, consultants, seasoned government contractors, large energy service contractors (ESCOs), and others. The conference provided attendees a great opportunity to explore the field of potential contractors and subcontractors and start (or continue) conversations about potential teaming arrangements that could result in both a MATOC award and one or more base task order awards. 

For those who could not attend, fear not; all of the presentation materials will soon be available on the Army EITF website and the Huntsville team will post all of the questions presented, along with the Army’s formal responses, to the ProjNet website. Also important is that Tonju Butler, the Procuring Contracting Officer, indicated that the deadline for questions on the Final RFP would be extended from today until September 7, 2012, so that individuals and teams can have additional time to formulate and posit questions that may be important to their proposals.  However, that change has not yet been posted to the FedBizOpps website as an amendment.  It is too early to tell whether this extension foreshadows an extension of the October 5, 2012 proposal deadline. Right now, the Army is holding firm to that date, so individuals and teams that intend to respond should plan accordingly. Keep an eye out for other amendments to the Final RFP, too. Conference attendees were assured that more would be forthcoming to clarify small technical issues and, hopefully, to flush out the structure for proposing prices. All amendments will be posted to the FedBizOpps website for the MATOC.

Here are a few takeaways and a short discussion about some important issues. Be sure to check the Q&A on the ProjNet website for any official responses from the Army on these topics. Continue Reading Army Holds Pre-Proposal Conference in Huntsville on Renewable Energy Procurement

Northwestern Energy has issued an RFP seeking up to 45 MW of renewable generation that qualify under Montana’s community renewable resource requirement.  The RFP process is being managed by Land Energy Consulting. 

The first conference call for the RFP was held on August 15, and a second is scheduled for September 12.  Proposals are due at

Arizona Public Service Company has announced that it is seeking proposals from solar developers and installers to build a 32 MW solar PV facility.  APS would finance the project  through its AZ Sun Program.  When completed, the new solar facility will be owned and operated by APS and is expected to provide electricity to more

On May 3, 2012, The Detroit Edison Company (DTE Energy)  issued a Request for Proposals (RFP)  seeking approximately 100 megawatts (MW) of nameplate rated capacity or approximately 300 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of annual supply (including associated RECs) from wind energy systems that will have a commercial operation date before December 31, 2013.  DTE expects to contract for

On April 30, 2012, SCE announced the launch of its second Renewable Auction Mechanism (RAM) RFO (RAM 2). SCE’s RAM program is open to all RPS eligible technologies not greater than 20 MW and interconnected within any of the service territories of SCE, Pacific Gas & Electric or San Diego Gas & Electric.  The RAM RFO will be

Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) announced yesterday that it had issued its 2012 Photovoltaic Program Power Purchase Agreement Request for Offers (“PV PPA RFO”).  PG&E seeks to procure PPAs for 50 MW of new photovoltaic resources to be located in PG&E’s service territory.  

Copies of the solicitation protocol and related information and materials are now available

On February 24, 2012, the U.S. Army Engineering & Support Center issued a draft request for proposals for renewable and alternative energy (the “Draft RFP”). Since posting our initial blog and Energy Law Alert, we have received a number of inquiries about the details of the solicitation. Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.

Before we get to the questions, however, we wanted to remind everyone of the Climate Solutions event entitled “Mission Critical: Clean Energy and the U.S. Military” that will be held at 600 University Street in Seattle from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. tomorrow. The event will be hosted by David Benson, an energy and clean tech partner in our Seattle office. We look forward to seeing you there.

Q1:      Is this the actual RFP?

            A1:      No. It is only a draft. The Draft RFP can be found here. The Army is accepting comments until March 21, 2012. Comments can be submitted via the ProjNet website here.

Q2:      When will the Army issue the final RFP and what form will it take?

            A2:      The Draft RFP does not set a date for release of the final RFP, which will take the form of a Multi-Award Task Order Contract (the “MATOC/Final RFP”). For those unfamiliar with the MATOC process, it is very important to understand four fundamental things: (1) the MATOC will not likely offer the opportunity to bid on any specific project (i.e., a “seed project”) because the Draft RFP covers multiple technologies, (2) the Army will grant multiple awards under the MATOC, (3) awards granted under the MATOC give awardees the right to bid on individual Task Order contracts issued by specific facilities for specific projects (e.g., a Task Order for a 10 MW solar PV project at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington), (4) parties that are not awardees in the MATOC process may not bid on these Task Orders. Thus, a developer must be an awardee under the MATOC/Final RFP in order to have the right to bid on individual project development opportunities. Before issuing the MATOC/Final RFP, the Army will need to complete its review of all of the comments that it receives by the March 21 deadline. At some point after the MATOC/Final RFP is published, the Army will host a pre-proposal conference in Huntsville, Alabama where participants will hear presentations regarding the program, the scope of work, contractual considerations, and small-business considerations. 

Q3:      Is the Department of Defense really mandated to procure 25% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2025?Continue Reading FAQ on Army’s $7 Billion Draft RFP for Renewable Energy

On August 15, 2011, Great River Energy (GRE) issued a request for proposals (RFP) for community-based energy development (C-BED) renewable energy resources.  Eligible energy technologies include: wind, solar, hydroelectric of less than 100 megawatts, biomass, municipal solid waste, landfill gas and anaerobic digesters, and hydrogen produced from any of the previous resources.

In announcing the