MCE Request for Qualifications (RFQ) 2026-05 for Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Integration with MCE VPP Program and eDERMS

MCE (formerly Marin Clean Energy) is issuing a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to establish a qualified vendor list of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for integration with MCE's Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Program and Enterprise Distributed Energy Resource Management System (eDERMS). The Program, funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC), enables flexible load participation during MCE-dispatched load events coordinated through MCE's eDERMS and communicated via OpenADR. Qualified OEMs will have their equipment and platforms added to MCE's list of qualified vendors, enabling participation in MCE's VPP Tariff and VPP Participation Agreement framework.

MCE is a not-for-profit public agency and the preferred electricity provider for more than 600,000 customer accounts and 1.5 million residents and businesses across Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, and Solano counties in California. The Program integrates residential and non-residential distributed energy resources (DERs), including energy storage, building energy management systems, smart thermostats, EV chargers, lighting controls, heat pump water heaters, and other load-shifting equipment, into a unified managed system. MCE's eDERMS sends and coordinates load-modification event signals, with OpenADR serving as the common integration layer to support long-term VPP scalability and interoperability across heterogeneous DERs.

Eligible OEMs must demonstrate the ability to receive, interpret, and respond to OpenADR payloads. The integration pathway includes device and software setup, security and connection establishment, registration and resource configuration, capability and telemetry validation, event and dispatch testing, and production approval. MCE will provide OpenADR integration documentation, standardized test tools, and may provide technical assistance for OpenADR 3.0 certification at no charge, subject to available resources. Respondents must commit to participating in integration scoping, testing and validation, and issue resolution during onboarding.

The qualification questionnaire evaluates respondents across multiple sections: OpenADR capability (25 points), dispatchability and load modification (15 points), telemetry and data availability (10 points), cybersecurity and data privacy (pass/fail), program eligibility and exclusivity (pass/fail), integration readiness and resource commitment (pass/fail), and long-term participation (pass/fail). Respondents also provide information on data resolution, data access methods, data retention, security controls, and customer consent management. MCE's VPP value-sharing tariff provides monthly on-bill credits for participating customers, with 5-year terms for residential installations and 7-year terms for commercial, industrial, agricultural, or public-facility customers. The RFQ was published on September 9, 2026; the submission deadline is not specified in the available materials.