MINUTES
Energy Planning & Resources Committee
of the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, May 24, 2023, 12:15 p.m.
Meeting videos are available on CPA's YouTube Channel.
http://www.youtube.com/@CPApublicmeetings
Committee Members participated in this meeting from the following locations:
Manhattan Beach City Hall
City Manager Conference Room
1400 Highland Avenue
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
CPA Office
801 S. Grand Ave., Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Alhambra City Hall
Conference Room A
111 S. First Street
Alhambra, CA 91802
Carson City Hall
Executive Conference Room
701 East Carson Street
Carson, CA 90745
West Hollywood City Hall
3rd Floor Conference Room
8300 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Thousand Oaks City Hall
Public Works Conference Room
2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd.
Thousand Oaks, CA 91362
City of Oxnard Service Center 1
East Conference Room
214 South C Street
Oxnard, CA 93030
CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
Acting Chair Maloney called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. and Gabriela Monzon, Board Clerk, conducted roll call.
ROLL CALL
Alhambra Jeff Maloney Committee Member Remote
Carson Reata Kulcsar Committee Member Remote
Manhattan Beach David Lesser Committee Member Remote
Oxnard Kathleen Mallory Committee Member Remote
Sierra Madre Robert Parkhurst Committee Chair Absent
South Pasadena Diana Mahmud Committee Member Remote
Thousand Oaks Helen Cox Committee Member Remote
West Hollywood Chelsea Byers Committee Member Remote
All votes are unanimous, unless otherwise stated.
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GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
CONSENT AGENDA
1. Approve Minutes from April 26, 2023, Energy Committee Meeting
2. Receive and File April 2023 Risk Management Team Report Motion: Committee Member Mahmud, South Pasadena
Second: Committee Member Byers, West Hollywood
Vote: The consent agenda was approved by a roll call vote.
REGULAR AGENDA
3. Oral Update from Vice President, Power Supply
Lindsay Saxby, Vice President, Power Supply, provided an update on CPA project statuses and solicitations. Five solar and storage projects, totaling 425 megawatts of solar and 181 megawatts of storage, are set to come online in 2023. CPA staff are currently negotiating long-term Resource Adequacy (RA) agreements, biomass projects, and other storage agreements.
Committee Member Mahmud inquired about CPA’s energy and storage capacity by summer’s end. Ms. Saxby indicated that the Resurgence project will come online by summer and contribute 48 megawatts of solar and 40 megawatts of storage.
4. Provide Feedback on Net Energy Metering (NEM) 3.0
Karen Schmidt, Director, Rates and Strategy, provided a presentation on NEM 3.0 policy options. The California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC’s) NEM 3.0 decision reduced overall compensation for roof-top solar for new solar customers, increased the economic payback for battery storage, and provided added compensation for low-income customers. While partially aligned with CPA’s goals, which include supporting grid reliability, incentivizing energy storage adoption, and expanding access for low-income customers, the approach adopted by the CPUC may not overcome barriers to general storage adoption or overall access to solar and storage for low-income customers. Ms. Schmidt reviewed the CPUC’s NEM
3.0 decision and its impacts on CPA’s existing customers, export compensation, and low-income customers. Ms. Schmidt explained CPA’s NEM policy options and compared the customer value, impacts on CPA policy goals, and costs of NEM 2.0 and NEM 3.0. CPA has the option to adopt a rate adder to increase the incentive for storage adoption and/or to increase compensation for low-income customers.
A rate adder could have marketing benefits for CPA, but it is challenging to predict the cost over time or how it would impact customer adoption. Incentives and other customer programs may provide a larger boost to the adoption of storage resources compared to rate adders; Ms. Schmidt reviewed various customer programs under consideration. Staff is preliminarily recommending setting CPA’s export compensation rate consistent with Avoided Cost Calculator (ACC) values adopted by the CPUC’s NEM 3.0 decision, complemented by a broad-based storage rebate program that includes additional incentives for low-income customers.
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Committee Member Cox inquired about the availability of funding via the Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) for residential battery storage. Joanne O’Neill, Director, Customer Programs, indicated that SGIP offers funding for larger systems such as batteries and for wildfire-prone areas; there is no general funding currently available. Committee Member Cox emphasized the importance of exploring alternative methods to incentivize energy storage adoption, citing bulk battery deployment as an example. Ms. O’Neill explained that CPA currently envisions two stages, with the first stage involving up-front incentives and the second stage focusing on innovative approaches to reach specific markets.
Committee Member Lesser expressed support for staff’s approach; commented on the significance of CPA’s discretion to implement NEM 3.0 on the generation side; pointed to the relevance of Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) NEM policy approach, as differences could lead to consumer confusion. Committee Member Mallory emphasized the importance of incentive programs targeting renters and low-income customers and suggested additional analysis of incentive programs used by other Community Choice Aggregations (CCAs). Committee Member Mallory noted that historically, upfront incentives for energy storage adoption by low-income customers have shown the most success. Committee Member Mahmud expressed support for staff’s recommendation; inquired about CPA’s implementation timeline and incentive eligibility. Staff indicated that CPA intends to implement in alignment with SCE’s proposed timeline, likely in December 2023.
With regard to eligibility, staff noted that customers must remain with CPA to receive incentives, but staff are discussing other potential eligibility conditions, including a form of economic dispatch back to the grid. Committee Member Mahmud expressed concerns about the effectiveness of low-income customer incentives and suggested a larger investment in community solar programs to maximize benefits for these customers, particularly those residing in multifamily housing. Acting Chair Maloney commented that focusing on technical assistance would be beneficial as it tends to be a barrier for low-income customers.
5. Provide Feedback on the 2023 Clean Energy and Reliability RFO John McNamara, Director, Structured Contracts, provided a presentation on the launch of the 2023 Clean Energy and Reliability Request for Offers (RFO). The 2023 Clean Energy and Reliability RFO aims to fulfill CPA’s remaining Mid-Term Reliability (MTR) compliance requirements and meet a portion of its portfolio needs, including Resource Adequacy (RA) requirements, through long-term contracts. This will reduce the reliance on short-term market procurement. In April, the Energy Committee provided feedback to modify the RFO design to attract more competitive long-term renewable energy and RA offers, including soliciting offers for natural gas tolling agreements (tolls). Mr. McNamara reviewed the expanded procurement options and the eligibility of different product types. CPA may receive offers for traditional natural gas tolling agreements, hybrid facilities with battery energy storage, or a conversion to a green hydrogen fuel source. Consequently, new criteria will be applied when evaluating natural gas offers. Offers that extend the scheduled retirement date of existing natural gas facilities without providing a transition to a cleaner alternative will be ineligible for participation in the RFO. Mr.
McNamara reviewed the qualitative and quantitative criteria for ranking toll projects received in the RFO, including the analysis of forecasted generation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and impacts on Disadvantaged Communities (DACs). Mr.
McNamara shared the RFO process timeline.
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Committee Member Kulcsar asked why resource start dates of as late as 2027 and 2028 were being solicited. Mr. McNamara explained the need for timeline flexibility to attract more facilities and bids. Matthew Langer, Chief Operating Officer, added that projects with earlier online dates will be preferred.
COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS
None.
ADJOURN
Acting Chair Maloney adjourned the meeting at 1:43 p.m.