MINUTES
Energy Planning & Resources Committee
of the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California
Regular Meeting
Wednesday, September 24, 2025, 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
Arcadia City Hall
Council Chambers Conference Room
240 W. Huntington Drive
Arcadia, CA 91007
Carson City Hall
Executive Conference Room
701 East Carson Street
Carson, CA 90745
Temple City City Hall
City Hall Conference Room
9701 Las Tunas Drive
Temple City, CA 91780
L.A. County Sanitation District
Conference Room D
1955 Workman Mill Road
Whittier, CA 90601
CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL
Chair Parkhurst called the meeting to order at 12:16 p.m. Annie Mendoza, Deputy Clerk of the Board, conducted roll call.
ROLL CALL
Alhambra Jeff Maloney Committee Member Remote
Arcadia Absent
Carson Reata Kulcsar Committee Member Remote
Manhattan Beach David Lesser Committee Member Remote
Oxnard Kathleen Mallory Committee Member Remote
Sierra Madre Robert Parkhurst Chair Remote
South Pasadena Diana Mahmud Committee Member Remote
Temple City Ed Chen 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 August 27, 2025, Energy Committee Meeting
2. Receive and File August 2025 Risk Management Team Report Motion: Committee Mahmud, South Pasadena
Second: Committee Member Lesser, Manhattan Beach
Vote: The consent agenda was approved by a roll call vote.
REGULAR AGENDA
3. Oral Update from the Vice President of Power Supply
None.
4. Approve the 2025 Clean Energy and Reliability Shortlist (Slide 17) and Waitlist (Slide 18) as Recommended by the RFO Review Team
Lindsay Descagnia, Vice President, Power Supply, reported that on July 28, 2025, CPA received 106 proposals for the 2025 Clean Energy and Reliability RFO. Of those 106, 25 proposals have since withdrawn for various reasons, leaving 81 available. Most proposals were for either Standalone Storage or Renewable Generation plus Storage. Staff set Renewable Energy and Resource Adequacy (RA) targets for this RFO. Proposed projects are sufficient for CPA to meet or exceed these targets. Viable projects, especially solar and wind projects, are likely to increase in price over the next RFO cycles as developers navigate the uncertainty of the current landscape, including reduced or eliminated federal tax credits, uncertain tariff costs, and interconnection delays.
On September 12, 2025, a Review Team met to produce a shortlist and waitlist recommendation. Ms. Descagnia presented an RFO overview and procurement targets, described the Review Team’s approach to evaluating and ranking projects, and highlighted aspects of various offers.
Staff clarified for Committee Member Kulcsar that the waitlist recommendations should be considered in the order listed in the waitlist. Committee Member Mallory asked why projects on the waitlist did not make it onto the shortlist, and staff responded that the difference is a higher contract price offered on the waitlisted projects. Staff also informed her that waitlist projects may be bumped up to the shortlist if shortlist projects drop out of the process.
Committee Member Mahmud inquired about projects that are on the waitlist but appear to have scored well based on their quartile ranking, and staff responded that the quartiles blend together the solar and storage with the standalone storage.
The best-priced renewable and storage projects are in the third and fourth quartiles, and the best-priced standalone storage projects are in the first quartile.
Staff was open to listing projects in a manner that clarified technology type and ranking.
Committee Member Lesser commented that he was part of the Review Team and pointed out that the Review Team had information, such as pricing, that is not shared with the full Energy Committee and asked staff how they would help Committee Members make a decision. Staff clarified that the Energy Committee would essentially approve the Review Teams’ approach to evaluating and ranking the projects.
Chair Parkhurst asked staff if there was any additional information about the standalone project that was pending further due diligence before it could be definitively placed on the shortlist. Staff responded that they were working to ensure the project’s viability, considering the information provided by the developer.
Motion: Committee Member Mahmud, South Pasadena
Second: Committee Member Mallory, Oxnard
Vote: Item 4 was approved by a roll call vote.
COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS
Committee Member Mahmud referred to the Wall Street Journal's "What’s News" podcast, which stated that China is expected to eclipse the United States in renewable energy technology development due to actions by the federal government. She also mentioned a news report stating that the Department of Energy has withdrawn $13 billion from renewable energy programs, adding that CPA’s RFO Review Team recommended exceeding initial procurement targets due to uncertainty in the renewable industry.
Committee Member Lesser remarked that a New York Times article reports that China is seeking to reduce its carbon emissions by as much as 10% by 2035, as compared to the U.S. currently.
Chair Parkhurst reported that 90% of the energy generated and put on the grid this year has been from renewable sources, specifically solar and wind. He also noted that there is a minimum 5-year wait for installing a natural gas turbine. Of the three companies delivering the turbines, only one is American.
ADJOURN
Chair Parkhurst adjourned the meeting at 12:53 p.m.