Happy New Year, Solar Warrior!
Can you believe it? 2020 is finally over. But before wrapping up this year, we have a final episode that’s potentially one of the best we’ve produced this year.
In early December, I had a chance to sit down with CPS Energy executives to discuss their latest RFP, and I was amazed by the depth of answers they provided. Not only we discussed how the RFP is shaped, but also the underlying philosophy and methodology supporting the landmark power call for the Lonestar state!
As many of you are well aware, having listened to the interview with Paula Gold-Williams (the CEO of CPS Energy) some weeks ago, the largest public power utility in the United States CPS is on a journey of decarbonizing their generation assets. And, as such has been foreshadowing a quite sizable RFP.
On December 1, CPS along with the City of San Antonio announced the largest municipally-owned fully integrated electric and gas utility in the US is launching their RFP under what's known as the FlexPOWER Bundle initiative for a whopping 900MW of solar, 50MW of energy storage, and 500MW of firming capacity as part of the vision for CPS’ Flexible Path.
It's designed to replace aging generation capacity, and introduce new technologies for firming capacity, and around the clock energy reliability for San Antonio. Today we're going to dig into how an RFP like this comes together how a forward-thinking utility in today's energy economy puts together the innovative structure not only to request these resources but to manage them what the leadership requirements are, to dig further into the mechanics of this RFP and the overarching goals.
We've got Dr. Cris Eugster, the COO of CPS Energy, as well as Krista Davis, Director of Energy Supply and Market Operations Strategy. The team that is putting this RFP out into the world is managed by in part or in whole these two individuals. And we're excited to have them here on SunCast.
Thanks a ton to our podcast sponsor, PowerHub and FIMER for continuing to help make this content FREE to You! Please check them out and let me know what you think!