Clean Energy Alliance (CEA), a Community Choice Aggregator serving approximately 255,000 customer accounts across seven Southern California cities, seeks competitive offers for long-term energy and capacity supply. The solicitation targets two primary resource categories: (1) long-term, low/no emissions supply and/or capacity from projects interconnected within or capable of interconnecting to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) balancing authority, with strong preference for SP15 area delivery, and (2) long-term capacity from storage projects located in the San Diego-Imperial Valley Local Capacity area. CEA has established a goal to supply 100% renewable energy on a 24/7 basis to its customers by 2035 and requires a diverse mix of low/no emissions resources to match its load shape on a monthly basis.
For low/no emissions renewable energy projects, CEA welcomes offers for co-located/hybrid solar plus storage, geothermal, standalone storage (including long-duration energy storage), carbon capture, wind (including repowers), biogas/biomass projects, and other low/no emissions generation. Projects must range between 1 MW and 100+ MW in capacity, with contract terms of 10-20 years commencing on the Initial Date of Delivery. Renewable resources must be certified by the California Energy Commission as Eligible Renewable Energy Resources. Pricing must be offered at the generator node and/or SP15 Trading Hub, with energy commodity inclusive of Green Attributes/Renewable Energy Credits and Capacity Attributes. For San Diego local capacity projects, CEA is primarily interested in standalone storage (4-hour and/or long-duration) but will consider solar plus storage and other project types. All projects must demonstrate deliverability status or provide alternative approaches to providing Resource Adequacy value.
Key dates include: RFP issuance March 3, 2026; question submission deadline March 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM PT; CEA posts responses to questions by March 18, 2026; RFP response deadline April 3, 2026 at 5:00 PM PT; shortlist and waitlist notifications by April 30, 2026; and execution of shortlist term sheets and exclusivity agreements in Q3 2026. All electronic submissions must be sent to procurement@thecleanenergyalliance.org with appropriate subject line. Submission requirements include a completed standardized response form and project-appropriate term sheet with any proposed edits tracked and clearly explained.
Evaluation criteria include overall response quality and completeness, price and relative value within CEA's supply portfolio, project location and local benefits (including impacts to Disadvantaged Communities), development status (interconnection, deliverability, siting, zoning, permitting, financing), team qualifications and financial stability, environmental impacts and fire safety considerations, grid reliability impacts, economic benefits to high-poverty communities, term sheet acceptance, and workforce benefits with projected job creation. CEA will require bid deposits of $5,000 per MW times the project's guaranteed capacity upon execution of a term sheet, acceptable in the form of cash or investment-grade letter of credit.