ADEQUACY OF OUTREACH. Here are some considerations used to evaluate whether PG&E performed successfully in reaching out to the community of renewable power developers: • How many individuals were contacted? To what extent were these contacts in companies that develop renewable power? • Was a diverse set of renewable technologies covered in the contacts, or was the outreach excessively focused on one or two technologies? • How widely was information about the solicitation disseminated? Was information about the solicitation readily available to the public? • To what extent did Participants appear well-informed about the details of the solicitation? By May 2011, PG&E had compiled a general contact list for use in publicizing its RFOs, totaling more than 1,600 individuals; this is a significant increase from the version of the list used in the 2009 RPS solicitation, with closer to 1,100 contacts. PG&E appears to have been actively compiling contacts for outreach, including a contact list for the biogas industry. When analyzed to attempt to assess which industries the contacts represented, the largest segment was made up of individuals active in the solar power sector, followed by wind power and biomass-based generation. Figure 1 displays the estimated shares by industry sector of these contacts. Note that this contact list is employed not just for renewable solicitations but for all-source RFOs as well. Inspection of the contact list reveals that many of the major developers of renewable energy in North America are included, particularly among solar, wind, and geothermal developers. About 60% of the individual contracts represented organizations that could develop renewable generation or sell from existing facilities. Other contacts were with entities that provide services to renewable energy developers, such as attorneys, financing providers, consultants, equipment vendors, and wholesale marketers; it is unclear whether these providers sought to be on PG&E’s RFO contact list in order to keep abreast of the solicitation or to develop business with renewable energy developers. PG&E did not issue a press release to announce the issuance of the 2011 RPS RFO. However, news of the solicitation was picked up and reported in the electric power trade press, including publications such as Global Power Report, Megawatt Daily, Power, Finance, and Risk, and ReCharge. In addition, the detailed solicitation protocol and its attachments, the schedule, and other informational items were posted on...
