Polar/UPPCo – Capacity RFP

Upper Peninsula Power Company (UPPCo), a regulated utility serving approximately 52,000 electric retail customers across 10 of Michigan's Upper Peninsula counties, is seeking to procure 30 Zonal Resource Credits (ZRCs) for two winter seasons through a competitive auction. The procurement covers Winter 2029-30 (December 1, 2029 - February 28, 2030) and Winter 2030-31 (December 1, 2030 - February 28, 2031), with resources available within Local Resource Zone (LRZ) 2 or across LRZs 1-7 within the MISO market.

The auction will be conducted on the Polaris RFx Platform with two separate auction lots: one for 30 ZRCs for Winter 2029-30 (Polaris RFx ID 2792962) and one for 30 ZRCs for Winter 2030-31 (Polaris RFx ID 2793036). The bid submission window opens on Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 3:30 PM ET and closes on Friday, March 13, 2026 at 3:00 PM ET. Capacity pricing will be in a fixed format at $/kW-month, with a Polar transaction fee of $0.20/kW-month. Capacity will be delivered via MISO MECT transfer.

All bidders must participate through the Polaris RFx Platform; offers submitted outside this platform will not be considered. Bidders not yet enabled with UPPCo must submit enablement requests by Friday, March 6, 2026 at 4:00 PM ET, with enablement activities to be completed by the bid submission deadline. Participating bidders must have either established EEI Master Power Purchase and Sale Agreements with UPPCo or have made substantial progress toward establishing such agreements prior to auction commencement.

Award selection will be made by UPPCo at its discretion following the auction close on March 13, 2026 at 3:00 PM ET, with award review and notification occurring between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM ET on the same day. All successful bidders will be required to execute EEI Master Power Purchase and Sale Agreements with UPPCo. Transaction fees will be invoiced following contract execution, with payment due within 30 calendar days.