RAM Webinar Questions and Answers

December 6: 10:00 am – noon

Supplier Diversity

  1. Will PG&E provide a list of minority-owned companies?

No. Since we are not sure what type of products or services you will be looking for, as part of your sub-contracting effort, we encourage you to use the public Supplier Clearing Housedatabase listed in the resources page. This is the best way for you to find diverse suppliers. Another resource is theDepartment of General Services database which provides more information about the Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Participation Program.

Additional Resources:

  • National Minority Supplier Development Counsel
  • Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC)

For additional information regarding PG&E’s Supplier Diversity program please contact Jerilyn Gleaves at PG&E.

  1. Does the entity that PG&E is doing business with need to be certified?

Yes. The entity that PG&E executes the contract with needs to have the CPUC Clearing House Certification.It cannot be a parent company. It does need to be the entity with whichPG&E actually will be contracting.

Offer Form

  1. I was wondering if the change from RAM2 requiring that we input an expected date of executing an interconnection agreement will have any impact on the projects ranking and likelihood of being selected.

No.

There is no change to the methodology from RAM 2.

For RAM 2, we ranked the offers and then asked the higher ranking offerswhen they expected to have an interconnection agreement so we couldassess their ability to meet the on-line date. We are now asking for that information in advance from all bidders.

Interconnection

  1. If we provide evidence of enrollment in a CAISO Deliverability study (here due in about 8-12 weeks) isthat sufficient to be treated under FCDS?

No. We must have a completed study that provides an estimate of deliverability costs and timeline for deliverability upgrades in order to treat you as FCDS for this RFO.

  1. Does participation in the Cluster 5 Study, which will have Phase I results in January 2013, meet the interconnection study requirement for RAM 3?

No. You must have a completed study at the time of offer submittal, which is December 21, 2012. In order for PG&E to evaluate your bid, we need the estimate of the upgrades required, the time required for those upgrades, and the cost of the network upgrades. You will have to wait until RAM4 to participate.

If you already have an interconnection study as an energy-only resource, and you just applied for deliverability in Cluster 5, there will be no deliverability data for PG&E to consider. You may bid into this RAM3 RFO, but we will evaluate you as an energy-only resource.

  1. Will interconnection to any SCE facility satisfy the interconnection requirement?

Yes. As long as you are interconnected to the distribution or transmission system of SCE, SDG&E or PG&E you are eligible to participate in this RFO.

  1. What if a project is interconnecting to a different balancing authority within California but can easily deliver power into the CAISO?

That is not allowed under the CPUC-adopted protocol. Your project has to be interconnected to PG&E, SCE, or San Diego’s distribution or transmission system.

Interconnection out of State

  1. How many projects from RAM1 or RAM2were located out of State?
    Zero. The eligibility requirements for RAM are very specific. You must interconnecttoPG&E, SCE or SDG&E’s transmission or distribution system.
  2. Are projects interconnected outside of California eligible to participate?

No. Projects outside California or even outside of PG&E, SCE or San Diego transmission or distribution systems are not eligible to bid in this RFO.

  1. What is designated by SP15 and NP15?Could you define them in geographic terms?

NP15 and ZP26 are both located in PG&E’s service territory and will be treated as a Northern California resource for purposes of RA valuation. If your project is located in SDG&E or SCE territory you are looked at as SP15.

  1. Could you give an example of an operator that is on-line by June of 2015, but not fully deliverable?

Your study may indicate that the upgrades required for energy-only statustake 12 months and the deliverability upgrades will take 60 months. This means that you can come on-line and deliver energy to the grid (as an energy only resource) once those reliability network upgrades are completed. The project will be considered as energy-only resource and not a “fully deliverable” resource until the deliverability upgrades are complete, which will take significantly longer.

  1. What network upgrades would be required for an existing facilitythat already has an interconnection agreement and is in SP15 and delivers to a different utility, if any?

If the project is an existing resource that is not going to repower or increase capacityand the project already hasan interconnection agreement, we wouldn’t expect any network upgrades associated with your facility. If the project will be repowered or expanded then upgrades may be required. Youarerequired to go throughthe ISO process to ensure the system is still sufficient to accommodate any increase in capacity. This holds true whetherthe project is an existing resource in PG&E’s service territory, or one of the other IOU’sservice territories.

  1. If an existing facility has FCDS in SP15, could it bid an energy only contract to PG&E to avoid the "Network Upgrade" penalty?

If you are an existing facility this is already fully deliverable, we would assume that the network upgrade cost was $0 because you already had achievedfull capacity deliverability status. You could bid as energy only but there is not much incentive to do that. Bidding as energy-only means that we will not attribute RA value to your project in the selection process. In addition, the PPA requires that you give all attributes associated with your projectto PG&E, including all capacity attributes.

  1. How can the resource adequacy value be calculated by bidders at this time as mentioned on page 23 of the presentation?

As part of PG&E’s evaluation we calculate the RA value. We look at your generation profile and assess how many MWs will count towards our RA requirement using the CPUC adopted methodology. We then use our own confidential estimate of capacity value to come up with the RA value of your project.

  1. We are trying to bid for a 3MW RFO and our largest install to-date is 1MW, does it make us not eligible?

If you have built a 1 MW project we would look at 3MW projectas being close enough and similar enough that we would deem your bid eligible.

  1. What is the difference between the intermittent resources and baseload resources?

Please refer to the RAM protocol document on page 4-5 for the definitions of the intermittent (as-available peak, as-available non-peak) and baseload resources.

Project Development Security

  1. Is Project Development Security ($60/kw) required to be posted for an existing operational project that is able to start making deliveries immediately after the CPUC approval of a new RAM PPA?
    We suggest that you look at the timing for posting security under the protocol and the PPA and determine whether the initial energy delivery date for the project will coincide with the CPUC approval date. If deliveries begin immediately after CPUC approval, you would need to post Delivery Term Security rather than Project Development Security.
  1. Are bid forms submitted in an earlier RAM RFO acceptable in this RAM RFO 3 (i.e. site control, Commitment of site owner, etc.)?

No. You must meet all of the requirements of this RFO. We will not consider documents previously submitted in a prior RFO.

  1. I have an existing PPA that continues past June, 2015, but it provides a Seller termination right. Am I eligible to bid into RAM 3? (Updated 12/14/2012)

If you havea Standard Offer power purchase contract with PG&E, SCE, or SDG&E contract which allows for early termination without penalty or payment of damages, we will allow you to bid, with the caveat that the contract be terminated prior to the earlier of the RAM delivery term or 24 months following CPUC approval of the new RAM contract. The applicable contracts include both Standard Offer 1 (SO1) contracts with 30 day termination rights, and transition/PURPA contracts that allow for termination in the event the project is selected in an IOU solicitation. If you have an existing contract that does not provide for such termination, such as an SO2 or SO4 contract, then you are not eligible for RAM 3 unless the contract expiration date is prior to the RAM delivery term. PG&E may consider non-standard contracts on a case-by-case basis.