RFP Alert: Mississippi Power seeks 200MW of solar

Utility Mississippi Power announced a request for proposal (RFP) for a total of 200MW of solar photovoltaic projects. The projects must have an export capability of the point of interconnection of at least 20MWac. The RFP states that the utility accepts only proposals that include 25-year energy-only power purchase agreements, and the projects must be in the state of Mississippi. Applications are due March 15, 2022.

Mississippi Power said after evaluating the proposals the final bid list is planned to be accepted August 1, 2022, and interconnection requests are due within five days of notification of an accepted bid. There is a bid evaluation fee for the RFP of $5,000, which is fully non-refundable. The full RFP document, which includes terms for environmental attributes, curtailments, delivery requirements, interconnection, and more, can be viewed here.

Solar activity in Mississippi

Mississippi Power joins another utility in the state, Entergy, in planning to add more solar PV to its energy mix. Entergy’s plan calls for 1GW of solar and other renewables in five years. The additions would bring solar from 1% to 33% of the utility’s capacity share by 2027. The company said it would begin issuing RFPs this year, replacing natural gas infrastructure with solar to serve its growing base of over 450,000 customers.

Mississippi’s solar capacity is set to multiply as major project proposals are accepted across the state. Like many of the states in the US Southeast, a combination of large-scale corporate solar contracts and utility-scale projects like the ones called for in the above RFPs. The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates about 319MW cumulative solar capacity in the state through 2021, a number that will be trounced by the completion of these RFPs alone.

Plus, rooftop solar is set to get a boost as the state recently decided on a new incentive that provides a one-time upfront rebate of $3,000 for a new system between 3kW and 6kW. The state’s net metering rate is $0.057/kWh and the commission added a new $0.02/kWh adder for customers who are at or below 250% of the federal poverty line.