HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-16 brokerage agreement renewable energyRESOLUTION NO. 2010-16
WITH CPUC DECISION 06-02-012.
WHEREAS:
1. The State of California has established the California Renewable Portfolio standard
(RPS) program which beginning in 2010 requires California investor owned utilities (IOUs) to
obtain 20 percent of their retail sales from renewable energy sources, which are facilities such as
solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric electric power generating plants, that produce less than
average amounts of greenhouse gases; and
2. Effective March 11, 2010, the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) has
authorized owners of electric generating facilities located in California which qualify as
renewable energy sources to sell to IOUs the environmental attributes of those facilities separate
from the energy produced by those facilities to assist the IOUs to satisfy 20% RPS standard; and
3. The CPUC decision calls these separate or unbundled environmental attributes
"tradable renewable energy credits (TRECs) each of which represent 1 megawatt hour (MWH)
of electricity produced by a qualified renewable energy resource; and
4. Through its membership in the Northern California Power Agency (NCPA), the City
of Ukiah owns interests in and receives energy from a variety of renewable energy resources;
and
5. The City does not need the environmental attributes of electricity produced by these
facilities, because it is not an investor owned utility and because it obtains greatly in excess of
20% of its retail sales of electricity from renewable energy sources; and
5. The City can sell TRECs to produce much needed additional revenue for its electric
utility; and
6. To sell TRECs in accordance with the CPUC decision, the City must register with the
Western Renewable Generation Information System (WREGIS), obtain evidence from the
California Energy Commission that its energy resources are certified as qualified renewable
energy resources, obtain the services of a broker to facilitate the sale of TRECs, enter buy-sell
agreements with California IOUs and otherwise comply with the requirements of the CPUC
decision; and
7. The City Council has considered the application of the California Environmental
Quality Act ("CEQA") to the sale of TRECs produced by existing renewable energy facilities;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED as follows:
1. The City of Ukiah authorizes the City Manager or her designee to:
a. Register the City with Western Renewable Generation Information System,
including the execution of any required agreement and the payment of the required registration
fee;
b. Obtain evidence from the California Energy Commission that power generating
facilities located in California in which the City owns an interest or from which it receives
electricity are certified by the CEC as qualified renewable energy resources under the California
RPS program;
c. Execute on the City's behalf and bind the City to a brokerage agreement with
Evolution Markets, Inc., a Delaware corporation, authorized as a foreign corporation to conduct
business in California, to provide brokerage services to the City in connection with the marketing
and sale of TRECs, provided the brokerage commission does not exceed 3.5% of the value of a
TREC sale transaction and that the other terms and conditions of the brokerage agreement are
approved by the City Attorney;
d. Execute on the City's behalf and bind the City to sales agreements with
investor owned utilities for the sale of TRECs, provided the terms and conditions of the those
agreements are approved by the City Attorney;
e. Execute any other documents or take any further actions necessary or
reasonable to trade TRECs on behalf of the City, including environmental attributes of energy
produced in the past by the City's renewable energy resources to the extent authorized by the
CPUC decision.
2. The City Manager shall report to the City Council periodically, but no less often than
annually, on the sale of TRECs by the City's electric utility, the costs of such trading, the gross
and net revenues produced by such trading, significant changes in the market or the regulation of
the market and other matters.
3. In compliance with CEQA, the City finds that if selling TRECs is a project under
CEQA, it is exempt from environmental review either because it could not have a significant
adverse impact on the environment or because it is categorically exempt under 14 California
Code of Regulations § 15301 as a Class 1 categorical exemption for leasing, licensing
of existing public facilities involving negligible or no expansion of use beyond that
existing at the time of the lead agency's determination."
4. Pursuant to the City Council's above CEQA finding, the Planning Director is directed
forthwith to file a notice of exemption with the County Clerk.
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PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Ukiah City Council on April 7, 2010, by the following
roll call vote:
AYES: Councilmembers Crane, Rodin, Baldwin, and Mayor Thomas
NOES: None
ABSTAIN: None
ABSENT: Councilmember Landis
Beni Tho as, Mayor
ATTEST:
1
v
J' Anne Currie, City Clerk