CESA – RPS Webinar: Reverse Auctions, Renewable Energy, and RPS

This webinar, presented by the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) for the State-Federal RPS Collaborative, describes the advantages and disadvantages of the reverse auction approach, and provides advice for state policymakers who may wish to consider using reverse auctions. This webinar gives special attention to California’s Renewable Auction Mechanism.

Reverse auctions have potential to be an efficient mechanism for securing the maximum renewable energy at the lowest cost. This approach requires developers to compete against one another on a cost basis with the lowest price bids into the auction, expressed in kWh generated per dollar, winning the auction. Reverse auctions may start to be used more widely in the coming years, especially now that the California Public Utilities is using them for projects sized between 1 MW and 20 MW with RPS-eligible technologies.

Guest Speakers:

• Neil Auerbach (Founder and Managing Partner of Hudson Clean Energy Partners) discussed the rationale for using reverse auctions for renewable energy and will explain their economic and political advantages.
• Jaclyn Marks (Senior Policy Analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission) described the structure of the California Renewable Mechanism and the initial experience implementing it.
• Bruce Phillips (Director at the NorthBridge Group) provided guidance on how reverse actions can best be applied to RPSs and other state-level renewable energy programs.