ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
MEETING DATE: December 17, 2025 AGENDA CATEGORY: Consent - Agreements TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
FROM: Zachary Meyer, Public Works Director
DATE: December 3, 2025
SUBJECT: Amendment No. 2 to Agreement No. 2020-200 with FFP BTM Solar, LLC for the installation of battery energy storage infrastructure at Green Waste Facility (Ward 1)
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends approval of this amendment.
BACKGROUND:
On October 21, 2020, City Council awarded Agreement No. 2020 -200 to FFP BTM Solar, LLC (Forefront Power) to install and operate a battery energy storage system (BESS) at the City’s Green Waste Facility, alongside other City owned properties.
Amendment No. 1 was executed on December 13, 2023, which established the Guaranteed Commercial Operation Date as 60 days from inspection to energize the system or March 31, 2025, whichever occurs later.
Upon Forefront Power beginning their due diligence and design and engineering phase for a solar array , which was approved under Agreement No. 2020 -196, and battery energy storage system, it was determined that an electrical infrastructure gear swap would be needed for the additional loads that the solar array and battery storage would put on the existing infrastructure. This infrastructure upgrade ha s a 65-week lead time for the equipment and requires an outage to perform the work. While weighing the options with the new information, the City determined the land to be dedicated to solar generation would be better suited for alternative functions, given the limited footprint and magnitude of service the Green Waste Facility provides. Therefore, Forefront Power, at the direction from the City, pivoted to a design to only include a battery energy storage system at the Green Waste Facility. This decision was made after simulating multiple scenarios involving different combinations and sizes of solar panel and battery arrangements. This iterative process delayed the progress of the energy storage system beyond the anticipated milestone dates set in Amendment No. 1 and has triggered a reassessment of the Energy Service Agreement (ESA) rate set for the energy storage syst em. To move forward with this project, the new ESA rate will need to be increased and timelines extended. The increase is a result of increased labor, material, insurance, and operation and maintenance (O&M) costs since 2020, fully absorbing the cost of the gear swap which was determined after initial contract signing, property tax assessment given the removal of solar generation, and project site diligence and design that was previously shared between the solar and battery projects.
Staff proposes to amen d Agreement No. 2020 -200 with Forefront Power to increase the ESA rate and modify the construction milestone dates at the Green Waste Facility. The amendment is summarized as follows:
The energy storage system size is to be adjusted from an estimated size of 1,400 kW AC to a designed size of 1,043.9 kW AC.
The ESA rate is to be adjusted from $60.29 monthly to $330.51 monthly. The Guaranteed Commercial Operation Date is updated from March 31, 2025 to June 13, 2028.
Because these projects initiated in 2020, Forefront Power was able to lock in rebates and incentives for the BESS under several state and federal programs. Several of these incentives are no longer available or set to decline in the near future with rapidl y approaching completion deadlines. It is imperative that the City proceed with the projects to maintain ESA rates that include these incentives. If the City were not to move forward with these projects and choose to install at a later date, the ESA rates would be much higher than the adjusted rates proposed in Amendment No. 2 due to lack of incentives available.
The adjusted ESA rate is higher than at initial contract award, but these rates are still expected to be lower and more stable than PG&E pricing over the 10-year term. This rate is a fixed, flat rate that helps the City budget accurately and hedge against future rate volatility.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Beginning this project in 2020 has given the City the opportunity to lock in a fixed, flat rate for lower energy storage before incentives disappear. Due to this project’s legacy status, if the project is completed by the incentive deadline, the project is projected to save the Green Waste Facility upward of $2 million in energy costs over the next 10 years that would not otherwise be available in the future.
COUNCIL GOAL:
Reliable Infrastructure
ATTACHMENTS:
Green Waste Facility 2020-200 Amendment 2_BESS