California community choice aggregator’s board approves 15-year geothermal energy contract

The Board of Directors for California’s Clean Power Alliance (CPA) recently approved a 15-year contract with Ormat Technologies Inc.’s Heber South Geothermal facility located in Imperial Valley, Calif.

Once the long-term contract takes effect January 1, 2022, the facility will add 14 megawatts of renewable energy to CPA’s energy portfolio. With an expected average annual generation of 116,508 MWh, the project will also allow CPA to further comply with the state of California’s aggressive renewable energy mandates.

CPA will pay for the output of the geothermal generation of the project at a fixed-price rate per megawatt hour for the full term of the 15-year contract. Under the contract, CPA will receive all product attributes from the facility, including energy and renewable energy credits (RECs).

In addition, the contract brings CPA closer to meeting its regulatory obligations under California’s SB 100 and SB 350, which require that 65% of Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) compliance related renewable energy supply be sourced from long-term contracts beginning in the 2021-2024 compliance period.

The Heber South project has a firm transmission agreement with California public power utility Imperial Irrigation District to deliver power to the California Independent System Operator at the Coachella Valley substation.

CPA, a community choice aggregator (CCA), serves approximately three million customers and one million customer accounts across 32 communities throughout Southern California.

According to CAISO’s website, geothermal energy accounts for 1,389 MW of the ISO’s grid as of April 11, 2021.

In January 2020, Ormat Technologies announced the signing of two power purchase agreements with Silicon Valley Clean Energy and Monterey Bay Community Power, two California CCAs.

The American Public Power Association has a category of membership for community choice aggregation programs.