2018 Demand Response Auction Mechanism (DRAM)

Key RFO Documents

This website provides an overview of the market solicitation. Respondents must read the RFO Protocol document to fully understand all aspects of this RFO.

SDG&E’s version of the DRAM Purchase Agreement (PA). To be clear, Offerors do not need to submit this with their Offer, it is for informational purposes only at this point in the process. For each Shortlisted Offer, SDG&E intends to send the Offeror a redlined version for execution.

Overview and History

In accordance with Decision (“D.”) 14-12-024 – Decision Resolving Several Phase Two Issues and Addressing the Motion for Adoption of Settlement Agreement on Phase Three Issues (“DR Phase Two and Three Decision”) approved on December 4, 2014 by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or Commission) and D.16-06-029, Decision Adopting Bridge Funding for 2017 Demand Response Programs and Activities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (“SDG&E”) is issuing its 2018 DRAM RFO. The 2018 DRAM RFO is seeking local, system and flexible Resource Adequacy (“RA”) resources via a standard, non-negotiable Demand Response Auction Mechanism Purchase Agreement (“DRAM PA” or “PA”) for execution in accordance with the RFO Protocols.

Ordering Paragraph (“OP”) 5 and 6 of the DR Phase Two and Three Decision ordered the California Investor-owned utilities, including SDG&E, to file an advice letter with a standard contract (the PA) outlining the parameters of the 2016 DRAM pilot. Advice Letter 2729-E was filed on April 20, 2015 containing this information. This advice letter was approved, with certain modifications, on July 23rd, 2015 in the Resolution E-4728. As ordered, a supplemental Advice Letter (AL 2729-E-A) was then filed on August 24th, 2015 with further modifications to the PA and SDG&E’s DRAM 2016 pilot program.

SDG&E submitted Advice Letter (“AL”) 2796-E on October 9, 2015 with the programmatic details of the 2017 DRAM pilot. R.4754 approved AL 2796-E on January 28, 2016 with modifications that were required to be filed in a supplementary AL. Consistent with OP 14 of R.4754 SDG&E filed AL.2796-E-A on February 8, 2016 with the final DRAM 2016 contract and qualitative factors.

D.16-06-029 OP19 authorized a third auction pilot, the 2018 DRAM RFO Pilot, for which SDG&E filed AL 2949 on September 1, 2016. This AL was approved by R.4817 on January 19, 2017 with modifications. SDG&E filed supplemental AL 2949-A with these modifications on February 2., 2017. In accordance with R.4817 SDG&E submitted AL 3041 outlining SDG&E’s registrations for the 2018-2019 DRAM.

SDG&E Electric Rule 32 governs how SDG&E manages third party demand response providers (“DRPs”.) The Commission, in D.15-03-042, authorized SDG&E to put in place certain processes and systems to facilitate a DRP's ability to bid Proxy Demand Resources (“PDRs”) or Reliability Demand Response Resource (“RDRR”) into the wholesale market. D.15-03-042 also establishes process, timeframe, and volume limits which pertain to the implementation of Rule 32. The DRAM PA is subject to the provisions of Rule 32 and any limitations authorized by the Commission relative to its implementation.

The DRAM is a pay-as-bid auction of monthly local, system, and flexible RA for Offerors to bid directly in the California Independent Operator System (“CAISO”) market, with participation from customers in the SDG&E’s service territory. Offerors must bid directly into the CAISO energy market and any resulting revenues or liabilities allocated solely to the Offeror. Offeror’s DR resource shall be comprised of a PDR or Reliability Demand Response Resource (“RDRR”) RDRR or multiple PDRs and RDRRS that aggregate customers within SDG&E’s Sub-LAP. SDG&E has a single Sub-LAP (as opposed to the other California IOUs that have multiple Sub-LAPs) so, in effect, any SDG&E customer, whether receiving commodity service from SDG&E or an Energy Service Provider, is eligible.

The current Commission DR requirements to qualify for local and flexible RA mandate the DR resource to bid into the CAISO energy market under the CAISO Must-Offer Obligation (MOO) for DR as one or more PDR(s) or RDRR(s) as defined in the CAISO Tariff.

Scheduling Coordinator Request for Information

As part of 2016 DRAM, the IOUs are issued a Request for Information from Scheduling Coordinators open to providing SC services to demand response aggregators. Information provided in response to the RFI, and subsequent updates since, will be made public as part of the 2018 DRAM.

Scheduling Coordinator Request for Offers (SC RFI)

Non-Binding Schedule for the 2018 DRAM

The following schedule and deadlines apply to this RFO. SDG&E reserves the right to revise this schedule at any time and in SDG&E’s sole discretion. Respondents are responsible for monitoring the RFO Website for updated schedules and possible amendments to the RFO or the solicitation process.

No	Event	Date/Time
1	Launch 2018 DRAM RFO	3/10
2	Pre-Bid Conference	3/21
3	Deadline to submit any questions	4/3
4	Answers to all Questions will be posted	4/6
5	RFO Offer package due no later than 12 pm PPT on this date	4/10
6	IOUs Notifies non-conforming Offerors (request to “cure”)	4/20
7	Offeror “Cure” period concludes	4/27
8	SDG&E Notifies Offerors of selection	5/24
8	Shortlisted bidders notify IOUs of acceptance/rejection	5/26
9	All contracts are executed	6/5
10	Contract collateral due for all contracts	6/15
11	IOU files Tier 1 advice letter seeking CPUC approval of Contracts	6/30
12	Approximate CPUC Contract Approval	8/4

CAISO Bidding Information

DRAM winners or "Sellers" providing RA to SDG&E will be solely responsible for registering their proxy demand resources (PDR) or Reliability Demand Response Resource (RDRR) at the CAISO and acquiring a resource ID. An initial step of this process is to input customer location information into the CAISO demand response system. SDG&E requires that the Seller obtain customer authority to access historical and ongoing customer specific information which is needed for this CAISO registration process and for energy settlements.

Contact Information

All questions or other communications regarding this Resource Adequacy RFO MUST be submitted via email to BOTH DRAMRFO@sdge.com with a CC to waynejoliver@aol.com (Independent Evaluator).

All questions and their answers will be posted publicly on this website anonymously soon after receipt. We cannot respond directly to or confidentially to any questions.

Registration and Submission Information

A maximum of 20 offers or offer variations per recipient will be allowed.

The RFO and all subsequent revisions and documents are available for download from the RFO Website. Potential Offerors are responsible for monitoring the RFO Website for subsequent updates, notices and postings.

Offerors must submit bids into the 2018 DRAM RFO event on the PowerAdvocate® website. Offerors intending to submit an Offer but who do not yet have an existing account with PowerAdvocate® must first register to create a username/password to receive access to the event. Please review the RFO protocols for more information.

Please note that no late bids will be accepted.

Participation from Diverse Business Enterprises

SDG&E encourages Diverse Business Enterprises (“DBEs”), “Women-Owned Businesses” or “Minority-Owned Businesses” or “Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises” as defined in G.O. 156[1], to participate in this All Source RFO.

Furthermore, SDG&E encourages developers to utilize DBEs during various stages of project development and construction. As a part of G.O. 156, SDG&E will require developers to identify and verify their DBE contractor/subcontractor spending if any.

Additional information on SDG&E’s DBE program and utilizing DBEs can be found at:

http://www.sempra.com/about/supplier-diversity/
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/puc/supplierdiversity/

SDG&E’s DBE Program representatives will provide a presentation during the bidders’ outreach event. DBEs can request additional information by contacting SDG&E at vendorrelations@sdge.com.

Solicitation Submittal Documents

Offer Form
Credit Application
Company Organization Chart and key personnel bios (Submitted as a separate attachment to your Offer)
Supporting documentation for your qualitative criteria answers (Submitted as a separate attachment to your Offer)

Evaluation Example

To facilitate understanding of the evaluation SDG&E created a mock evaluation spreadsheet with RANDOM FAKE numbers showing how NMVs are calculated (Press F9 to see the numbers change). The numbers in this spreadsheet should not be taken seriously. This is provided just to show how NMVs are calculated.

Example DRAM Evaluation

Frequently Asked Questions

Pre-Bid Conference Call

SDG&E, SCE, and PG&E will be hosting a conference call for those considering making an offer into this solicitation. Participation in the conference call is not mandatory for those ultimately submitting a proposal.

When: 3/21
Time: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM PPT
Audience link: https://engage.vevent.com/rt/sandiegogasandelectriccompany~032117
Toll-Free Dial-in: 844-419-1768
Conference ID: 87598649

Pre-bid web conference presentation

The audio of the bidder’s conference will be posted as soon as possible after the conference. To access this, use the original event link.

477.39 KB

DOCX

RFO Protocol

182.80 KB

DOCX

DRAM Purchase Agreement

1.94 MB

PDF

Scheduling Coordinator Request for Offers (SC RFI)

54.18 KB

XLSX

Offer Form

70.00 KB

DOC

Credit Application

69.79 KB

XLSX

Example DRAM Evaluation

1.90 MB

PDF