American Electric Power Service Corporation (AEPSC), on behalf of Appalachian Power, has issued a request for proposal (RfP) to procure power from 150 MW of solar projects with optional battery energy storage systems (BESS) in West Virginia.

The last day to submit the bids is March 31, 2022.

AEPSC and Appalachian Power Company are both subsidiaries of American Electric Power Company.

AEPSC seeks to acquire the 150 MW of projects via one or more purchase and sale agreements to purchase 100% of the project’s limited liability company (Project LLC).

Each project must be a complete, commercially operable, integrated solar-powered electric generating plant. The projects should include all necessary facilities to generate and deliver energy and be connected to PJM by the expected commercial operation date, i.e., December 15, 2024, or December 15, 2025.

Bidder must have a completed PJM System Impact Study and be active in the PJM queue. PJM is a regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia. It acts as a neutral entity to operate a competitive wholesale electricity market and manages the high-voltage electricity grid to ensure reliability for more than 65 million people.

The minimum acceptable solar project size is 50 MW. AEPSC will also consider optional BESS up to 20% of the project’s nameplate rating (MWac). Standalone energy storage resource proposals will not be accepted in this RFP. The projects must qualify for the Federal Investment Tax Credit.

Bidders must have established substantial site control of the proposed project in the form of direct ownership, land lease, land lease option, or easement for at least 35 years. The project must have a minimum design life of 30 years.

Solar panels, inverters, and storage equipment (if included) must be manufactured by those approved vendors in the AEP Solar Generation Facility Standard.

The BESS component of any proposal must be integrated with the solar facility and substation and should be no larger than 20% of the nameplate rating of the project. The BESS should also have a capacity of 4 or 8 hours.

This tender is being issued to support, in part, the program identified in West Virginia Senate Bill 583 to further the development of renewable energy resources and facilities for solar and storage resources.

In October 2021, AEP Energy Partners had issued an RfP to procure power from new or repowered wind and solar plants and BESS located within the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland (PJM) markets

In February 2021, Appalachian Power had invited bids to develop 300 MW of solar and wind projects. The request for bids was the first in a series of RfPs that the company had planned for 2021, which would comply with the Virginia Clean Economy Act.