MINUTES
Energy Planning & Resources Committee
of the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, October 30, 2024, 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
Clean Power Alliance Office
Executive Conference Room
801 S. Grand Ave., Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90017
Alhambra City Hall
Conference Room A
111 S. First Street
Alhambra, CA 91802
City of Oxnard Service Center 1
East Conference Room
214 South C Street
Oxnard, CA 93030
West Hollywood City Hall
3rd Floor Conference Room
8300 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Sierra Madre City Hall
Council Chambers
232 W. Sierra Madre Blvd.
Sierra Madre, CA 91024
Arcadia City Hall
Council Chambers Conference Room
240 W. Huntington Drive
Arcadia, CA 91007
Carson City Hall
City Manager’s Conference Room
701 East Carson Street
Carson, CA 90745
CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
Chair Parkhurst called the meeting to order at 12:15 p.m. and Annie Mendoza, Deputy Clerk of the Board, conducted roll call.
ROLL CALL
Alhambra Jeff Maloney Committee Member Absent
Arcadia Michael Cao Committee Member Absent
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 Remote
South Pasadena Diana Mahmud Committee Member Remote
West Hollywood Chelsea Byers Committee Member Remote
All votes are unanimous unless otherwise stated.
GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
CONSENT AGENDA
1. Approve Minutes from the September 25, 2024, Energy Committee Meeting
2. Receive and File September 2024 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 the Vice President of Power Supply
Lindsay Descagnia, Vice President of Power Supply, reported on projects expected to be active by the end of the year and on CPA’s Resource Adequacy (RA) filing. The CPUC is in the process of reviewing the filing.
Committee Member Mahmud inquired about supply chain and labor shortages.
Staff responded that developers have been stocking up on supplies to prevent delays and that projects have not experienced labor challenges. Staff confirmed for Chair Parkhurst and Committee Member Mahmud that they will post quarterly reports on executed PPAs on the member agency portals.
4. (a) Approve the 2024 Queue Cluster 15 RFO Shortlists and Waitlists for Both Full Capacity Delivery Status and Energy Only as Recommended by the RFO Review Team (b) Authorize Staff to Enter Into Bilateral Exclusivity Agreements With FCDS QC 15 Proposals With a Generation Component as Recommended by the RFO Review Team
Lindsay Descagnia, Vice President of Power Supply, presented background information on CAISO’s Interconnection Process Enhancements (IPE), noting that CAISO was overwhelmed with project applications. To narrow down the number of projects, LSEs like CPA can allocate Commercial Interest Points to early-stage Queue Cluster 15 (QC 15) proposals, boosting the most viable in the CAISO rankings. CPA’s 2024 Clean Energy and Reliability RFO for QC 15 projects received a robust response. In October 2024, a Review Team of Committee members and CPA staff reviewed the projects and produced a shortlist and waitlist.
Ms. Descagnia discussed the projects’ megawatt generation range, expected online dates, and scoring. The Review Team recommended that staff receive flexibility to award points bilaterally under certain conditions. Staff is seeking approval of the 2024 QC 15 RFO recommended shortlist and waitlist for FCDS and EO and authorization to enter into bilateral exclusivity agreements with proposals with a generation component.
Ms. Descagnia noted that the new process presents a challenge as CPA evaluates projects at a much earlier stage of development. Projects are evaluated on qualitative metrics, as well as the percentage of subscribed capacity at Points of Interconnection and estimated total IPE scores. Ms. Descagnia described product types, eligible resources for each, and additional QC 15 metrics considered in the selection discussions. Ms. Descagnia reviewed CPA’s point allocation strategy, noting that CPA received the third most points among 70 LSEs. Staff will need flexibility during shortlist negotiations. Ms. Descagnia presented a breakdown of RFO offers. There were 74 FCDS and 23 Energy Only. The QC 15 projects were ranked using CPA’s standard evaluation criteria. The Review Team recommended that CPA staff have the authority to enter into bilateral exclusivity agreements because of the December 23, 2024, deadline for allocating commercial interest points.
In response to Committee Member Lesser’s question about generation, staff stated that these projects amount to less than 10% of CPA’s total generation. Staff indicated that the projects with points have the potential to produce power but may not end up as part of CPA’s portfolio. Staff clarified for Committee Member Kulcsar that some proposed projects are more viable than others and that CPA’s participation helps identify the best prospects. Committee Member Mahmud commented that the QC 15 process allows CPA to survey a competitive market and identify projects that weren’t ready for this RFO; also, CAISO may discover where some substations need to be expanded. Staff explained that projects scoring low on environmental stewardship were rejected, as were projects with no site control. Projects with high development scores were given preference.
Motion: Committee Member Mahmud, South Pasadena
Second: Committee Member Byers, West Hollywood
Vote: Items 4a and 4b were approved by a roll call vote
COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS
None
ADJOURN
Chair Parkhurst adjourned the meeting at 1:15 p.m.