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    4.    
AD HOC COMMITTEE ON SUSTAINABILITY
Meeting Date: 01/22/2018  
Subject:    RECEIVE information on enrolling in MCE Deep Green and PROVIDE DIRECTION regarding next steps.
Submitted For: John Kopchik, Director, Conservation & Development Department
Department: Conservation & Development  
Referral No.:  
Referral Name:
Presenter: Frank DiMassa, Energy Manager Contact: Frank DiMassa (916) 313-2188

Information
Referral History:
The Ad Hoc Committee on Sustainability has requested a report detailing the opportunities and considerations of enrolling all County facilities in the MCE Deep Green program.
Referral Update:
Staff members from the Departments of Conservation and Development (DCD) and Public Works have worked independently and with staff at MCE to better understand the costs and benefits of the Deep Green 100% renewable electricity product offering. The Deep Green product offering comes at a cost premium relative to the default MCE Light Green product of around $0.01/kWh (one cent per kWh). MCE Light Green normally comes in within 1 to 2% either less or more expensive than PG&E's default 33% renewable product offering.

An MCE analysis on Contra Costa County (CCC) load indicates that approximately 40,443,282 kWh would be purchased from MCE per year. The one cent per kWh premium for the Deep Green product would result in an increase in electric utility costs to the County of $404,433/year. Utility expenses are paid by each occupying department. The additional costs related to the Deep Green product would be primarily funded by County General Fund Building Occupancy, 29%, Employment & Human Services, 14%, and Health Services – Hospital Enterprise Fund, 34%.

As can be seen in Figure 1 (attached), MCE’s analysis is that the estimated associated GHG emissions reductions would equal 5,228 metric tons of CO2e representing a little less than two percent (<2%) of the County Climate Action Plan goals.


An Alternate Perspective on Green Energy Investing by the County
The Contra Costa County Sustainability Commission is studying the various aspects of the Climate Action Plan; the Chair has indicated that the Commission would like a report on Government Operations at the Feb. 26 meeting. In response to this request for input, the Public Works Department will be presenting a proposed Distributed Energy Resource (DER) Plan to the Subcommittee on February 26th. A key part of the DER plan is the installation of the twelve photovoltaic (PV) systems totaling 5 MW that received Interconnection Agreements at end of calendar year 2017. (Please see Figure 2 attached.) In its meeting of December 19, 2017, the Board of Supervisors approved and authorized the Interim Public Works Director, or designee, to execute PG&E interconnection agreements for net energy metering of solar electric generating facilities of 1,000 kW or less for various County-olwned facilities, Countywide.

The proposed approach for installing these PV systems is through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Figure 3 provides a breakdown of the specifics of conservative estimates of the first year savings from the PPA and first year cost associated with MCE Deep Green and Figure 4 provides the comparative cash flow over the life of the PPA. It can be seen that while a PPA which involves no cash investment from the County saves the County $412,500 in year one, with no solar MCE Deep Green would cost the County approximately $402,000.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
DIRECT staff to proceed to develop a draft 2018 Contra Costa County Distributed Energy Resource Plan, and present the Plan to the Board of Supervisor’s Ad Hoc Committee on Sustainability at its March 2018 meeting.
Fiscal Impact (if any):

Developing the Distributed Energy Resource Plan and presenting to the Board and its Committees and Commissions is a part of the Energy Manager’s responsibilities and has no fiscal impact.

Attachments
Attachments to Staff Report on MCE Deep Green Product

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