2022 Midterm Reliability RFO (Request for Offers)

Clean Power Alliance of Southern California (CPA) is soliciting competitive proposals for resources needed to achieve compliance with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) decision requiring procurement to address mid-term reliability. Issued on June 24, 2021, the “Decision” orders load serving entities, including CPA, to procure 11,500 MW of new capacity statewide between 2023 and 2026. A portion of the new capacity procured must be in the form of Long-Lead Time (LLT) resources, defined in the Decision as long-duration energy storage or firm, zero-emitting generation.

This is CPA’s second Midterm Reliability RFO and Bidders are strongly encouraged to submit offers for projects with long-duration storage capabilities (able to deliver at maximum capacity for at least eight hours from a single resource) and/or Baseload/Firm Renewable Energy Contracts. Please note that for resources located outside of the CAISO grid, CPA will only accept offers that deliver at interties specified in section 3.C of the RFO protocol.

Ascend Analytics (Ascend) is administering this Request for Offers (RFO) process on behalf of CPA.

CPA’s 2022 Midterm Reliability RFO seeks offers from the following product types:

Baseload/Firm Renewable Energy:

Zero emissions generation capacity or capacity that is eligible under the requirements of the RPS program and has an expected annual capacity factor of at least 80%. The resources must not be use limited or weather dependent. No storage projects shall qualify under this product category. Projects in this category should have a generation size of 5 MW – 100MW and a commercial operation date no later than June 1, 2026.  

Long-Duration Storage (8+ hours): 

Stand-alone storage or RPS-eligible generation paired with storage projects (40 MWh – 800 MWh in storage capacity). The storage duration must be at least 8 hours. If the storage is paired with RPS-eligible generation, then the storage capacity cannot exceed 40% of the generation nameplate capacity. Projects in this category must have a commercial operation date no later than June 1, 2026.  

4-Hour Storage: 

Stand-alone storage or RPS-eligible generation paired with storage projects (40 MWh – 800 MWh in storage capacity). The storage duration must be 4 hours. If the storage is paired with RPS-eligible generation, then the storage capacity cannot exceed 80% of the generation nameplate capacity. Projects in this category must have a commercial operation date no later than June 1, 2025. CPA has a preference for projects with an earlier COD. 

Mandatory data templates will be supplied to bidders for submission of project information. Projects will be evaluated on a combination of quantitative and qualitative factors that include economic value, development risk, workforce development, environmental stewardship, benefits to Disadvantaged Communities, and project location.

Bidder Registration

To bid on this RFO and access RFO documents, you must register on the RFO Website. Full submission instructions are included in the RFO documents. 2022 - 2023 grants.

RFO Schedule
Date Time
August 1, 2022 RFO opens
August 10, 2022 Bidder Webinar to discuss RFO process at 11:00am Pacific Time. A link to the webinar is provided on the RFO website.
August 19, 2022 Deadline to submit Q&A questions at 11:59pm PT. Submit questions directly on the RFO website:  www.ascendanalytics.com/cpa-midtermreliability-rfo-2022
August 31, 2022 Q&A responses posted
September 9, 2022 Deadline to submit RFO Proposals at 5:00pm PT
Mid/Late- November 2022 Bidders notified of shortlist status
November 2022 - February 2023 Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Energy Storage Agreement (ESA) negotiations and awards
RFO Materials

Upon launch, the full RFO is available for download on the RFO Website, which includes the following documents:

  • 2022 Midterm Reliability RFO Protocol
  • Submission Instructions for 2022 Midterm Reliability RFO
  • Offer Form Template
  • CPA RPS Plus Storage PPA
  • CPA Baseload PPA
  • CPA Energy Storage Agreement
  • CPA NDA Agreement
  • CPA Exclusivity Agreement
  • CPA Campaign Contributions Disclosure Form
Bidder's Webinar

A bidders’ webinar will be held on Wednesday, August 10th from 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PST. The webinar will discuss the RFO process. To participate in the webinar, bidders must first register on the RFO Website.