Authorize the Director of General Services to submit a letter of commitment to partner with UC Davis' grant application to the California Energy Commission's Virtual Power Plant program. (potential general fund impact) (Pistochini)

Authorize the Director of General Services to submit a letter of commitment to partner with UC Davis' grant application to the California Energy Commission's Virtual Power Plant program. 

The University of California, Davis, is leading a grant application effort to submit a proposal to the California Energy Commission's Virtual Power Plant program.  UC Davis proposes developing a virtual power plant that will generate 1 megawatt of power or more via demand response measures.  The UC Davis Western Cooling Efficiency Center (WCEC) will lead a collaborative effort between various local government entities in Yolo County—the County government, the City of Davis, and the UC Davis Campus—to demonstrate the benefits of community-based virtual power plant (VPP) strategies. By leveraging the sizable electric loads of government buildings, this project aims to showcase the potential of community based VPPs in enhancing demand flexibility, supporting California's grid decarbonization efforts, and deliver tangible benefits to their communities. Additionally, the project will serve as an educational conduit to inform citizens about the evolving electric grid and the role of distributed energy resources (DERs) in creating a sustainable energy future.

Specifically, the County will receive the benefit of new control systems and programs that will allow the County to implement demand response strategies at key county buildings that can be controlled centrally by County staff in a targeted manner that reduces energy usage with minimal impact to County operations, while maximizing the ability to deliver carbon-reduction efforts and monetary electricity bill rebates.  The County proposes to meet its in-kind contribution via contributions of staff.  UCD and the City of Davis will be contributing a mix of cash and in-kind contributions to this project.  Should the UCD proposal be awarded, County staff will return to this Board for formal approval of participation in the grant and commitment of the match.

The University of California, Davis is leading the collaboration effort between the County and the City of Davis.  UCD has also approached Valley Clean Energy for their support as well.