Title
Authorizing the City to enter into a Customer Agreement with Xcel Energy to enroll the City into Xcel’s Renewable*Connect program.
Body
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul’s Climate Action and Resilience Plan adopted in December 2019 established the goal of achieving carbon neutrality in municipal operations by 2030; and
WHEREAS, the Climate Action and Resilience Plan also included a key action of increasing municipal purchases and installations of renewable energy for city operations; and
WHEREAS, purchasing 100% renewable electricity for city-owned buildings will reduce operational carbon emissions and help make progress toward achieving the city’s climate goals; and
WHEREAS, city staff worked with Xcel Energy during the fall of 2023 to determine that 2000 megawatt hours (MWh) annually of renewable electricity capacity is available for purchase by the City of Saint Paul; and
WHEREAS, city staff also worked with Xcel Energy to identify ten municipal premises with the appropriate annual electric demand to meet the capacity available through Renewable*Connect; and
WHEREAS, Xcel Energy’s Renewable*Connect is a voluntary program and the city is choosing to pay a price adder of approximately $0.04 per kilowatt hour of electricity purchased annually over a 5-year term for buildings enrolled in the program; and
WHEREAS, analysis by city staff determined that participating in Renewable*Connect will not have a significant impact on annual energy costs for the buildings enrolled that would require amending the departments’ utility budgets; and
WHEREAS, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission approved Xcel Energy’s rates, program offerings, and enrollment-terms for the Renewable*Connect program, which prevents Xcel from re-negotiating its Renewable*Connect agreement-terms; and
WHEREAS, the City of Saint Paul would like to enter into an agreement with Xcel to enroll in its Renewable*Connect program, which includes an indemnification clause in favor of...
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