Title
Evaluation of Biomass-Fueled Generation Facility Proposals (B)
Staff is providing its evaluation of the proposals received in response to GRU's Request for Proposals (RFP 2007-135) for a Biomass-Fueled Generation Facility for City Commission review and recommends that three respondents be invited to submit binding proposals.
Explanation
At the direction of the City Commission, Utilities Purchasing issued a Request for Proposal for a biomass-fueled generation facility on October 15, 2007. The RFP was posted on the GRU website and announced to all known interested parties. In addition, the RFP was advertised in the Wall Street Journal and Public Power Weekly. A non-mandatory pre-bid meeting was held at the Deerhaven Generating Station on November 9, 2007.
The RFP included a two step process to encourage innovation and broad participation from prospective respondents. Because proposals for such a project are resource intensive to develop, binding proposals were not required in the first step of the evaluation process. The second step of the process allows up to three selected respondents to be invited to submit binding proposals, one of which would be recommended for project development. Limiting the number of invitees is expected to improve the quality of the proposals while assuring competition.
There were fourteen evaluation criteria in the RFP with pre-established scoring weights. Grouping these criteria into three main categories resulted in the following overall weightings: 1) Economics- cost effective renewable energy and capacity (31%); 2) Environmental- environmental attributes consistent with community values identified by the City Commission (34%); and 3) Risk and Reliability- exposure to financial loss, enhanced and reliable electrical supply (35%).
On December 14, 2007 eleven (11) proposals were received in response to the RFP. The proposals are posted on www.GRU.com under "Future Power Supply". Two proposals were deemed non responsive because they either did not meet the RFP's requirements for allowable fuels or the requirements for demonstrated technology. The proposals have been evaluated by eight Utility staff members based on their areas of expertise, which include: power plant design, construction and operation; power supply economics; emission control and regulation; forestry management; fuel purchasing; utility finance; and contract risk management.
Staff's review and analysis are summarized in the back up materials accompanying this agenda item. Attachment A is a summary table comparing key aspects of the proposals, such as capacity and technology. Attachment B provides an overview of the contract terms and conditions associated with each proposal. Attachment C describes the methodologies used to score each proposal on the fourteen evaluation criteria. Attachment D summarizes the evaluated scores by major category for each respondent, and Attachment E contains the detailed evaluation matrix.
Recommendations
The City Commission authorize the General Manager or her designee to invite the three top-ranked respondents to RFP 2007-135 to each submit a binding proposal for a biomass-fueled generation facility, replacing any invitee that fails to affirmatively accept the invitation by inviting the next ranked respondent, in the following order of precedence: 1) Sterling Planet; 2) Covanta Energy; 3) Nacodoches Power, LLC; 4) Green Power Systems; 5) Taylor Biomass Energy, LLC; 6) Envortus, Inc.; 7) NRG Energy Inc.; 8) Timberland Harvesters, LLC; and 9) Railex Merchant Energy Group.
Fiscal Note
Staff will not recommend proceeding with a project that does not have long term financial, environmental, and/or reliability benefits for the community.
Drafter
Prepared by Ed Regan, P.E., Assistant General Manager for Strategic Planning
Submitted by Karen S. Johnson, General Manager