Distributed Energy Resource - Rooftop Wind Microturbine Project

The City of Pasadena through its Department of Water and Power (PWP) is inviting proposals for the design, engineering, permitting, procurement of materials, writing of a construction bid request, and maintenance of a rooftop wind turbine that can produce at minimum 5 kW to be installed on a municipally owned building in the City Maintenance Yards. The objective for this solicitation process and subsequent resource acquisition is to select a private entity to develop this distributed energy resource (DER) rooftop wind turbine for operation by PWP. Proposals must include the purchase price of the wind turbine unit and the engineering required to properly install and operate this unit. Construction is not a part of this solicitation and will be sub-contracted out by the City.

Under its municipal charter, the City has operated a Water and Power Department since the early 20th Century. Currently, PWP delivers about 1.1 million megawatt-hours ("MWh") of energy annually to 68,000 retail customers, with a historical peak load of about 330 Megawatts ("MW"). PWP has assembled a portfolio of generating resources including gas-fired, large and small hydro, coal, nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, and landfill gas; and holds partial shares of several of the resources to benefit from economies of scale and to share risks. PWP owns the gas-fired units at the Glenarm Power Plant, a share of the Magnolia gas-fired unit in Burbank through an agreement with the Southern California Public Power Authority ("SCPPA"), and the Azusa Hydroelectric Plant. Other resources are purchased under long-term contracts. In addition, PWP has ownership and contract rights on various transmission lines, which were operationally transferred to the California Independent System Operator ("CAISO") in 2004 when Pasadena became a Participating Transmission Owner ("PTO"). Decisions of the Pasadena City Council over the last ten years have demonstrated a commitment to accelerate the shift of Pasadena's energy supply portfolio to carbon-free and renewable resources. As a result, PWP’s 2018 Integrated Resource Plan ("IRP") and 2021 IRP Update have led to Renewable Portfolio Standard ("RPS") targets and greenhouse ("GHG") reduction targets that exceed state mandates. Pasadena has also adopted a Climate Action Plan and is a leader in promoting energy efficiency. Most recently in 2023 Pasadena adopted a climate emergency resolution declaring climate change an emergency and setting a goal to source 100% of electricity from carbon-free sources.

Following one of the recommendations identified in the 2023 IRP, PWP is pursuing a robust Distributed Energy Resource (DER) plan aimed at increasing the number of DER installations in the city. The most common DER projects are solar and batteries which leaves room for improvement in resource diversity which rooftop wind turbines will satisfy. DER wind turbines are an emerging technology that greatly complements solar as it has the capability of producing during all hours of the day and in this region will tend to have a higher production during the night when solar is not producing. This pilot project will install a small installation of these units to see if our area is an acceptable location to install wind or vice-versa which will help inform our DER plan and what our customers will consider installing for themselves.