Under the Illinois Power Agency Act, the electric power needed by Illinois' two largest electric utilities, Commonwealth Edison Company (which serves the northeastern portion of Illinois, including Chicago) and Ameren Illinois Company (which serves the central and southern portion of Illinois) are procured by the Illinois Power Agency (IPA). The IPA submits a procurement plan for the upcoming period to the Illinois Commerce Commission for approval. Once the Commission approves the procurement plan, the IPA administers a bidding process by which the requirements for each utility set out in the procurement plan are met.
During the next several weeks, the IPA will be issuing requests for proposals (RFPs) for suppliers of electricity and renewable energy products to submit bids to provide ComEd's and Ameren's procurement needs. Bidders selected by the IPA will be presented to the Commission for approval. Upon receiving such approval, contracts will be entered into between the winning bidders and the respective utilities. The following is a short summary of the upcoming RFPs to be issued by the IPA for ComEd and Ameren.
ComEd RFP Opportunities
RFPs for both "standard products" and renewable energy credits (RECs) will be issued on April 26, 2011 (with a bidder information Web conference to be held that same day). The standard products RFP will solicit suppliers to deliver specific quantities (expressed in 50 MW blocks) of on-peak and off-peak energy to ComEd in each monthly period from June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2014. The RECs RFP will solicit RECs generated by a renewable energy source (as defined in the Illinois Power Agency Act) for the period from June 1, 2011 through May 31, 2012. The overall target number of RECs sought by this RFP is 2,117,054. Drafts of both RFPs and related documents are now available through the ComEd RFP web site at http://www.comed-energyrfp.com/.
The bidding process will be conducted in two parts. Part 1 of the bidding process will determine the qualifications of bidders. Part 1 proposals are due by May 2, 2011. Qualified bidders will be notified on May 6, 2011. The Part 2 proposals for those bidders notified as being qualified will then be due by May 16, 2011 for bidders to supply standard products and by May 18, 2011 for bidders to supply RECs. The Commission will then decide on the winning standard products bidders by May 20, 2011, and on the winning REC bidders by May 24, 2011.
Ameren RFP Opportunities
The IPA will be issuing an RFP to supply Ameren with planning resource credits (PRCs) as defined by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc. (MISO) (for example, one PRC equals one MW of unforced capacity) for the period of July 2011 to May 2012 for customers on Ameren's fixed price tariffs. The IPA will issue this RFP on April 20, 2011, and bids are due on May 11, 2011. Selected bidders will be sent to the Commission for approval, with contracts to be signed between the winning bidders and Ameren no later than May 18, 2011. A copy of the draft Confirmation Agreement to be entered into between winning bidders and Ameren is available on the IPA's Web site at http://www2.illinois.gov/ipa/Documents/Ameren-Eleven-Month-2011-AIC-Capacity-Confirm.pdf.
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