RFP - Renewable Energy for Harris County

Harris County, Texas is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to procure renewable energy assets through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), with proposals due by 2:00 p.m. Central Time on June 1, 2026. The County seeks qualified renewable energy developers to provide between 80-100 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity and 40-50 megawatts of wind power, with openness to geothermal assets and battery storage coupled with renewable projects. All projects must be located within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) territory with minimum contract terms of fifteen years or longer, utilizing either financial or physical PPAs settled at any ERCOT hub. Pricing shall be structured using a prepaid PPA model with pricing submitted on a dollar-per-megawatt-hour basis, allowing Harris County to prepay substantially all long-term PPA costs at the project's commercial operation date. Harris County anticipates awarding to a single vendor, though reserves the right to award to multiple vendors or designate Primary and Secondary vendors; vendors must attend an optional pre-proposal conference scheduled for May 18, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. CST (RSVP required by May 15, 2026). Evaluation will be based on Company Strength & Experience (10%), Contracting Provisions (10%), Pricing (40%), and Product Structure & Attributes (40%), requiring vendors to demonstrate renewable energy experience, firm overview with employee count and deployment history, asset production profiles with P50 production data, interconnection queue status, component sourcing details, and timelines with deliverables. Respondents must submit asset-specific technical information, credit ratings from major agencies (S&P Global, Moody's, Fitch), recent financial statements, and proposed contract language addressing production guarantees, availability guarantees, curtailment provisions, price floors, development posting requirements, commercial operation date guarantees with delay damages, and provisions addressing import tariff impacts and Inflation Reduction Act implementation.

Harris County does not specify set-aside designations for disadvantaged enterprises, women-owned businesses, or other protected classes in the primary RFP requirements; however, the Subcontractor Listing Form requires disclosure of HUB/MWBE and Section 3 program certification status for any proposed subcontractors. All bidders must comply with Harris County's minimum wage policy requiring payment of $21.65 per hour (adjusted annually on October 1st) to workers assigned to the contract, and contractors must self-certify wage compliance at bid submission and contract initiation. Vendors are required to maintain comprehensive insurance coverage including workers' compensation with $1,000,000 employers' liability, commercial general liability with $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 aggregate limits, automobile liability with $1,000,000 combined single limit, and umbrella/excess liability of $1,000,000 per occurrence, with Harris County named as additional insured on a primary and non-contributory basis. Subcontractors exceeding $25,000 in contract value must obtain 100% payment bonds, and Harris County retains the right to reject any proposed subcontractors on any reasonable basis. Energy Edge Consulting has been engaged as Harris County's energy consultant and broker to facilitate negotiations; vendors must compensate Energy Edge at a market rate of one percent of the notional value of the renewable energy contract, payable at the commercial operation date or offtake start date for existing projects. No specific award value or budget range is disclosed in the RFP documentation, allowing Harris County flexibility in evaluating proposals based on pricing competitiveness and project attributes rather than a predetermined budget cap.