Title
Update on the Renewal and Changes to the Electric Coordination Agreement
Body
The Power Pool was established through the Electric Energy and Power Coordination Agreement (ECA) between Los Alamos County and The Department of Energy in 1985. (Note: In 2002 the National Nuclear Security Administration was established as a branch of the Department of Energy and took over responsibility for the ECA. The acronyms NNSA, DOE, and LANL may be used interchangeably throughout this discussion). Through the contract, both parties contribute the power from and costs of each of the respective "Pool Approved Resources" into the pool, and those costs are then allocated back to the parties pro rata according to each party's usage. The contract has been renewed continuously since 1985. Historically the County has contributed approximately 75% of the resources, while the Lab has accounted for approximately 80% of the load.
After 40 years, 24 contract modifications and at least 5 revisions to the ECA Approved Operating Procedures, now is the right time to prepare a new ECA, the 2026 ECA, that will carry the Los Alamos Power Pool forward into the future. The 2026 ECA is similar to the current ECA with all of its applicable modifications and removing obsolete ones. The 2026 ECA, as currently drafted, is referred to as the Statement of Work (SOW), and is the body of the agreement. The SOW refers to Approved Operating Procedures, a separate document which provides the procedures for administration, budgeting, operations, and resource planning. To allow for a meaningful inspection and comparison of the 2026 ECA and Operating Procedures against the current ECA and Operating Procedures, six files are attached with this agenda item in addition to the presentation slide deck. Attachments B and C are the 2026 documents, attachments D and E are the current documents, attachment F is a compilation of the six most recent modifications, and attachment G is a compilation of the five most recent revisions to the Approved Operating Procedures.
The 2026 ECA and Approved Operating Procedures are currently under review by the DOE/NNSA's contracting office; as such they remain in a draft form subject to revision. Staff is planning on this review to be completed in July 2025, after which the documents will be presented to BPU and County Council for consideration in August or September 2025.
Attachments
A - 2026 Electric Coordination Agreement Overview
B - 2026 ECA SOW and Exhibits
C - 2026 ECA Operating Procedures
D - ECA conformed to Mod 18
E - 2020 ECA Operating Procedures signed
F - Combined Mods 19 through 24 Council Staff Reports
G - Jan 1 2010 - Jun 30 2020 Ops Procs Revs Council Staff Reports