UD-18-05: Rulemaking Proceeding For ENO’S RFP Process For Generating Resources And Power Purchase Agreements
Council Docket UD-18-05, established via Resolution No. R-18-355, opens a rulemaking proceeding to consider the process for how future requests for proposals (“RFP”) for generating resources or purchase power agreements issued by Entergy New Orleans (“ENO”) will be conducted.
Periodically, ENO seeks to acquire resources to meet its energy needs and reliability requirements for its customers. In response, ENO uses its internal process to issue RFPs to solicit bids from parties interested in potentially supplying ENO with a resource for its electric power supply; however, the lack of information on ENO’s selections and the slow pace in which ENO pursued potential renewable resources proved deeply concerning to the Council. As a result, on April 5, 2018, the Council adopted Resolution R-18-97 directing, in pertinent part, the following: ENO to show cause why the timeframe the company was employed to buy renewable resources to fulfil its 100MW renewables generation portfolio was not imprudent; for Council Advisors to investigate and evaluate ENO’s RFP process; for ENO to propose a “green pricing” proposal in which customers may voluntarily choose to have some or all of their electricity supplied by renewable resources; and by July 31, 2018, for ENO to file an application requesting approval of a portion or all 90 MW of renewable resources selected by the company from the updated bid responses received by ENO announced in its January 30, 2018 press release. Thereafter, on July 31, 2018, ENO filed its application for approval of renewables portfolio, request for cost recovery, and related relief. The Council provided an opportunity for interested parties, the Council’s Advisors, and ENO to provide comments regarding the request for generation resource proposals in ENO’s RFP process.
Pertinent docket deadline dates are/were as follows:
- September 24, 2018 - All interested persons that wished to intervene in this docket filed motions to intervene with the Clerk of Council by September 24, 2018, with objections to intervention requests filed within five days of such requests.
- October 19, 2018 - Comments from all parties on the specific topics outlined in Resolution R-18-355 due;
- November 16, 2018 - Reply comments due;
- February 15, 2019 - An Advisors’ Report responding to the comments and reply comments and the Advisors’ recommendations to the Council due;
- May 10, 2019 – the Council’s Advisors proposed set of rules governing future RFPs for generating resources or purchase power agreements issued by ENO, regardless of the type of technology sought due;
- June 7, 2019 – ENO and Intervenors proposed revisions and edits to the Advisors’ draft proposed rules due. All revisions or edits were made in redline format for the convenience of the Council and the parties;
- December 2019 – On or before the close of December 2019, the Council Advisors anticipated setting forth a draft set of rules incorporating the parties’ revisions and edits to the Advisors’ proposed set of rules governing future RFPs for generating resources or purchase power agreements issued by Energy New Orleans;
- February 2020 – The draft set of rules for ENO’s Request for Proposals for Generating Resources and Purchase Power Agreements remained under review by the Council;
- March 12, 2010 - The Utility, Cable, Telecommunications, and Technology Committee (“UCTTC”) recommended Resolution R-20-105 to the full Council adopting a process for how future Requests for Proposals for generating resources for purchase power agreements issued by Entergy New Orleans, LLC shall be conducted;
- April 15, 2020 – The Council adopted Resolution R-20-105 resulting in settlement of UD-18-05.