CPS Energy Launches Community Dialogue About Its Flexible Path Resource Plan, Including A Focus On Coal
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PS Energy, the largest municipally owned electric and natural gas company in the United States, is launching a community-wide dialogue about future paths it could pursue to power San Antonio, Texas, the nation's 7th largest city.
In 2021, the utility will launch a community-wide dialogue by publicly releasing its Flexible PathSM Resource Plan, which is now accessible on their website. The Flexible Path Resource Plan directly addresses the retirement of several aging gas steam units that will reach their end of life during this decade.
Aligned with the company's broad Flexible Path strategy, CPS Energy developed the new and innovative FlexPOWER BundleSM Request for Proposal (RFP). This important global RFP was issued in 10 languages in late 2020. The RFP submission process closed on February 1, 2021. The company started its evaluation process and hopes to begin announcing selected projects by early spring or late summer.
The FlexPOWER Bundle will help CPS Energy vet the most effective energy solutions to replace its previously mentioned older gas steam units that will reach their end of life (approximately 55 years) before 2030. The following shows the components of the bundle
Up to 900 MW of solar resources that will support the Environmental Responsibility Pillar.
Up to 50 MW of energy storage that will support the Resilience and Environmental Responsibility Pillars.
Up to 500 MW of all-source firming capacity, defined as any technologies that can be called upon when renewables are not available, supporting the Pillar of Reliability.
NOTE A Megawatt (MW) is the unit representation for power. For example, 1 MW of solar can power 200 homes on an average summer day.
In 2018, CPS Energy shut down two older coal units, J. T. Deely 1 and 2, 15 years earlier than planned. The company thoughtfully replaced that power generating capacity through the purchase of a newer natural gas plant. The new Flexible Path Resource Plan also includes a view of possible alternative options for their two remaining and newer coal units, Spruce 1 and 2.
To expand customer engagement, CPS Energy is opening the topic about coal up to its community. Part of that conversation will involve further explaining how the company aspires to come up with a balanced, thoughtful, and effective pathway forward. To facilitate the discussions, CPS Energy will explain how it uses its balanced Guiding Pillars & Foundation, as shown below, to vet all major strategies and initiatives, including the Flexible Path, as well as any specific incremental power generating solutions.
The primary objective of this community-wide dialogue is to broadly engage customers while soliciting their questions, insights, and feedback. Included in this process will be a series of virtual town halls and meetings where customers will hear from leaders and have opportunities to ask questions and seek collaboration. Information about how to participate will be shared this month.
As a basis of the upcoming conversations, the Flexible Path Resource Plan's available reference materials will include key assumptions and scenarios, including estimated residential customer bill impacts and company financial metric projections. Importantly, the document also addresses potential impact to their workforce. Relative to the new Resource Plan's look at potential options for its two remaining coal units, two distinct scenarios have been developed.
✔️ CPS Energy Launches Community Dialogue About Its Flexible Path Resource Plan, Including A Focus On Coal
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