Laserfiche WebLink
ORDER NO. PSC -2017 -0278 -PAA -EQ <br />• DOCKET NO. 20170077 -EQ <br />PAGE <br />DECISION <br />Rule 25-17.250, F.A.C., requires that FPL, an IOU, continuously make available a <br />standard offer contract for the purchase of firm capacity and energy from renewable generating <br />facilities (RF) and small qualifying facilities (QF) with a design capacity of 100 kilowatt (kW) or <br />less. Pursuant to Rule 25-17.250(1) and (3), F.A.C., the standard offer contract must provide a <br />term of at least 10 years, and the payment terms must be based on the utility's next avoidable <br />fossil -fueled generating unit identified in its most recent Ten -Year Site Plan or, if no avoided <br />unit is identified, its next avoidable planned purchase. FPL has identified a 1,163 megawatt <br />(MW) natural gas-fired combined cycle (CC) as its next fossil -fueled generating unit in its 2017 <br />Ten -Year Site Plan. The projected in-service date of this unit is June 1, 2022. <br />FPL's revised renewable energy tariff and standard offer contract, in type -and -strike <br />format, are included as Attachment A to this Order. Revisions include updates to the avoided <br />unit, dates, and payment information which reflect the current economic and financial <br />assumptions for the avoided unit costs. <br />A RF/QF operator may elect to make no commitment as to the quantity or timing of its <br />deliveries to FPL, and to have a committed capacity of zero (0) MW. Under such a scenario, the <br />energy is delivered on an as -available basis and the operator receives only an energy payment. <br />Alternatively, the RF/QF operator may elect to commit to certain minimum performance <br />• requirements based on the identified avoided unit, such as being operational and delivering an <br />agreed upon amount of capacity by the in-service date of the avoided unit, and thereby becomes <br />eligible for capacity payments in addition to payments received for energy. The standard offer <br />contract may also serve as a starting point for negotiation of contract terms by providing <br />payment information to the RF/QF operator, in a situation where one or both parties desire <br />particular contract terms other than those established in the standard offer. <br />In order to promote renewable generation, we require the IOUs, such as FPL, to offer <br />multiple options for capacity payments, including the options to receive early or levelized <br />payments. If the RF/QF operator elects to receive capacity payments under the normal or <br />levelized contract options, it would receive as -available energy payments only until the in- <br />service date of the avoided unit (in this case June 1, 2022), and, thereafter, would begin to <br />receive capacity payments in addition to the energy payments. If either the early or early <br />levelized option is selected, then the RF/QF operator would begin to receive capacity payments <br />earlier than the in-service date of the avoided unit. Payments made under the early capacity <br />payment options, however, tend to be lower in the later years of the contract term because the net <br />present value (NPV) of the total payments must remain equal for all contract payment options. <br />The Table below estimates the annual payments for each payment option available under <br />FPL's revised standard offer contract to a RF/QF operator with a 50 MW facility and an in- <br />service date of June 1, 2022, and operating at a 94 percent capacity factor, which is the minimum <br />capacity factor required under the contract to qualify for full capacity payments. Normal and <br />levelized capacity payments begin in 2022, reflecting the projected in-service date of the avoided <br />natural gas-fired CC unit (June 1, 2022). <br />r� <br />U <br />