This Cooperative located in Central Texas coordinated with seven other Texas Electric Cooperatives (“the Consortium”) in a project to jointly solicit bids for the preparation of a Request for Proposal that provided them with means to then solicit proposals from companies that will design and install Community Solar projects on a turn-key basis on properties in their individual service areas. These eight Cooperatives provide reliable electric service to over 170,000 connected meters within their respective service territories. SEnergy served as the Consortium consultant and our scope or work included: Preparing two joint RFP’s for the design and installation of Community Solar Project on a turnkey basis, including Six Cooperatives – One solar array that will initially produce no more than .99 MW AC at the interchange meter and Two Cooperatives – Two solar arrays that initially produce no more than .99 MW AC at the interchange meter(s); Issuance of RFP / Management of Proposal Responses including Issue RFP, managing and responding to vendor information requests and questions, and receiving proposals from vendors; Request for Proposal Evaluation including Fully evaluate and fully vet the responses of the RFP; Developing short list of suppliers from the RFP process; Attending short listed vendor meetings as requested by Cooperatives; Negotiating contractual agreements with preferred suppliers; Finalizing and implementing contractual agreements with preferred suppliers; Attending Cooperative collaborative meetings as requested by group; and Attending Cooperative staff / board meetings as requested by Cooperatives. The RFP requested technical and cost information regarding various options, such as tracking arrays vs. fixed arrays, SSA (Solar Services Agreements), PPA (Purchased Power Agreements), and other purchase/ownership options.
