In 2014, utilities and other offtakers in North America issued 52 requests for proposals (RFPs) for clean energy. Trends in these RFPs can serve as a leading indicator for the industry. We look at the mix of RFPs by sector, geography, and company.
• The analysis in this report is based on our North American Clean Energy RFP database (available to clients of Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s Insight services).
• There were 52 RFPs for clean energy in North America issued in 2014, totalling 3.3GW (to the extent the RFPs were for capacity or storage, and disclosed the amount being sought).
• By sector: Solar RFPs dominated the market, both in capacity (1.8GW) and quantity (27 RFPs). There was also a significant amount of interest (at least 12 RFPs) in energy smart technologies, particularly energy storage. Most storage RFPs are looking for a relatively small amount of capacity, evidence that these may be initial experimental forays into a rapidly changing sector.
• By geography: The West was the biggest region for RFPs, with 1.0GW being requested. The Southeast was the second-largest region in terms of capacity requested, almost all of it solar. The absence of RFPs in the PJM region is striking, potentially owing to state mandates for renewable energy already having been largely met.
• By company: Alliant made the biggest splash with a single RFP. Collectively, the US Armed Forces issued seven RFPs.
• We also look at three RFPs that are currently ‘open’ and accepting proposals (renewables in Ontario, storage in California, solar in Texas) and provide a brief analysis on these.