Acknowledge the termination of the Energy Services Agreement by FFP BTM Solar (ForeFront) for the Yolo Landfill Compost Facility site (Yolo County Agreement No. 22-223). (No general fund impact) (Fieseler/Juhler)

Acknowledge the termination of the Energy Services Agreement (ESA) by FFP BTM Solar (ForeFront) for the Yolo Landfill Compost Facility site, with the understanding that neither Party has any further rights, interests, liabilities, or obligations under the ESA or the matters contained therein; provided, however, that the County reserves all rights, claims, remedies and defenses arising prior to or in connection with this termination, and nothing in acknowledgment of Forefront's termination shall be deemed a waiver of the same. (Yolo County Agreement No. 22-223).

On September 13, 2022, the Board of Supervisors approved three energy service agreements (ESA) with FFP BTM Solar, LLC (ForeFront) to purchase solar power through the School Project for Utility Rate Reduction (SPURR) Renewable Energy Aggregate Procurement (REAP) program, an aggregated solar procurement program that works to secure pre-negotiated project pricing and terms for California public agencies and non-profit educational organizations. The three County locations selected for these solar projects were: 1.) Landfill Borrow Site, 2.) Beamer Campus Parking Lot and 3.) Landfill Composting Facility. 

On September 24, 2024 due to significant cost increases to the Beamer Campus Site project, ForeFront proceeded with terminating that agreement (Yolo County Agreement No. 22-225) with no further liability to the County. Now, due to significant cost increases and the inability to secure NEM 2.0 pricing with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) by the state-mandated deadline for the Compost Facility, ForeFront provided notice that it is also terminating (Att. C) of Yolo County Agreement No. 22-223 (Atts. A and B), with the understanding that the County has no further liability to ForeFront regarding the Compost Facility ESA. ForeFront is terminating the Compost Facility ESA pursuant to Section 2.5(a) of the General Conditions, which provide in pertinent part: In the event that any of the following events or circumstances occur prior to the Commercial Operation Date, Provider [ForeFront] may (at its sole discretion) provide notice that it is terminating this Agreement, in which case neither Party shall have any liability to the other, including no liability on the part of Purchaser [County] for the Early Termination Fee or Pre-Installation Termination Payment [...]."

The Landfill Borrow Site portion of the project was successfully built in 2025 and has been powering Yolo Landfill's main operations for almost one year. This project is proving successful with mutually agreeable language whereby ForeFront owns and maintains the system throughout the life of the contract. To date, they have already been on-site for the annual washing of the panels to increase production and manage minor repairs at no additional cost to the Division. 

Northern Recycling, our compost facility operator, and County Counsel are aware of the termination and the reason that ForeFront is terminating. While this step is not legally necessary, since we received a written termination notice from ForeFront, we have decided to memorialize it through this Board action as we did when we terminated the Beamer Campus project.