PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Item #5
ID #9862
ENERGY DIVISION RESOLUTION E-4368
December 16, 2010
Resolution E-4368. Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
PROPOSED OUTCOME: This resolution implements Pacific Gas and Electric Company's Solar Photovoltaic Program. Specifically, this resolution adopts (1) a competitive solicitation process, program protocols and eligibility criteria, (2) standard power purchase agreements, and (3) annual compliance reporting requirements.
ESTIMATED COST: Actual costs are unknown at this time. Costs for any single power purchase agreement shall not exceed $295 per megawatt hour. Total program costs from power purchase agreements are not expected to exceed $2.85 billion and may be considerably less.
By Advice Letter 3674-E filed on May 24, 2010.
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SUMMARY
This resolution implements Pacific Gas and Electric Company's (PG&E) Solar Photovoltaic Program. In Decision (D.) 10-04-052, the California Public Utilities Commission (Commission) adopted a five-year program to promote the development of distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) in PG&E's service territory, with a focus on ground-mounted projects in the one to 20 megawatt (MW) range (PG&E's Solar PV Program).
The intent of PG&E's Solar PV Program is to facilitate the development of 500 MW of solar PV facilities over five years, half of which will be owned and operated by PG&E and half of which will be owned and operated by independent power producers (IPP) with the generation sold to PG&E pursuant to power purchase agreements (PPA). Competitive solicitations will be used to select both the most cost-effective utility-owned generation (UOG) projects and the most cost-effective IPP PPAs. This resolution addresses the requirements for the competitively-bid PPA portion of the program (PPA Program).
This resolution adopts a competitive solicitation process, eligibility criteria, administration protocols and two standard PPAs for the PPA Program. One standard PPA is for projects three MW and smaller in size and the other is for projects greater than three MW and up to 20 MW. This resolution also clarifies the process for PG&E to comply with the annual reporting requirements set forth in D.10-04-052.
PG&E's Solar PV Program - given its magnitude, its combination of UOG and IPP elements, and its utility-based administration - is a relatively new construct. In D.10-04-052, the Commission stated that it is reasonable to expect market, technical and regulatory challenges to arise as PG&E's Solar PV Program is implemented. Accordingly, this resolution implements the PPA portion of PG&E's Solar PV Program in a manner that provides sufficient flexibility to make changes in response to these issues as they emerge.
