Key Takeaways
- You can find utility RFPs across all major categories in one searchable place on Energy Adepto.
- The main types of utility RFPs include energy RFPs (solar, energy storage, and all-source), consulting services, construction services, software, and transmission & distribution materials.
- Utility RFPs are posted across dozens of fragmented sources: utility procurement portals, independent evaluator or RFP consultant sites, news articles, and power industry organization websites.
- Key variables to evaluate quickly in any utility RFP: scope of work, contract value, delivery date, eligibility requirements, and contract structure.
- Utility spending is growing, driven by state mandates, grid modernization, and the rapid buildout of the infrastructure needed to meet clean energy goals.
Utility RFPs are formal procurement solicitations issued by investor-owned utilities, co-operatives, and other load-serving entities seeking competitive bids across a wide range of needs. RFPs are used to procure energy generation, storage, consulting services, construction, software, transmission & distribution materials, and more. Utilities, co-ops, and municipalities across North America are actively issuing RFPs to meet capacity needs, reliability mandates, clean energy goals, and infrastructure modernization requirements. For developers, EPCs, consultants, software vendors, and equipment suppliers, these solicitations represent an enormous pipeline of opportunity. Finding and tracking them is a real challenge, especially for companies trying to enter or expand in the market. Utility procurement notices are scattered across utility portals, state regulatory filings, industry listings, and consultant websites.
A lot of time goes into participating in high-value utility RFPs. Being selected could mean a multi-million-dollar contract and a chance to build a long-term relationship for future projects. That is why it is critical to understand all the opportunities out there and which ones make the most sense to pursue.
In this article, I’ll break down utility RFPs. We’ll look at what types are often open for bidding, energy & utility industry nuances, and how Energy Adepto helps you discover more utility RFPs in one place.
What Are Utility RFPs?
A utility RFP (Request for Proposals) is a formal solicitation issued by a utility, co-operative, municipal utility, or other load-serving entity inviting vendors, developers, and suppliers to submit competitive bids across a broad range of procurement needs. Utility RFPs span everything from energy generation and storage contracts to professional consulting engagements, vegetation management services, construction and EPC services, software platforms, transmission & distribution materials, and more.
Utility RFPs vary significantly in scope, contract value, and requirements. Some are large capital procurement events worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Others are focused service contracts or equipment purchases. Breaking down which types of RFPs are solicited by Utilities and how the procurement process is different for each one will give you a better understanding of the typical utility procurement process.
Types of Utility RFPs
Here are some of the main categories of RFPs.
Energy RFPs (ex. Solar, Energy Storage, and All-Source)
Energy RFPs are solicitations for generation and storage capacity delivered to the grid. This is typically the highest-value category of utility RFPs, with individual contracts often worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. The three common sub-types include:
- Solar RFPs: Targeting utility-scale ground-mount or distributed solar projects, typically procured under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Projects range from community-scale installations under 5 MW to transmission-connected assets of 200 MW or more.
- Energy Storage RFPs: Targeting battery energy storage systems (BESS) or long-duration storage resources. Buyers are seeking dispatchable capacity and ancillary services such as frequency regulation, voltage support, or peak shaving.
- All-Source RFPs: Technology-agnostic solicitations open to any supply-side resource like solar, wind, storage, gas, demand response, and more. These often represent the largest individual opportunities in the utility RFP pipeline.
Energy RFPs are often procured very differently from other types.
For investor-owned utilities, the RFP process is under the microscope because they make money by rate basing infrastructure investment. The selection process often needs to be reviewed and approved by the Public Utilities Commission of their respective state.
Given the scale, effort, complexity, and scrutiny during the evaluation process, utilities will often hire an independent evaluator to manage the process for them.
Examples
- Duke Energy Carolinas 2025 RFP for New Solar Resources
- NorthWestern Energy All-Source Capacity RFP 2025
Consulting Services RFPs
Utilities regularly issue utility RFPs for professional and advisory services. These consulting utility RFPs cover areas such as resource planning and integrated resource plan (IRP) development support, regulatory and rate case support, environmental permitting and compliance, engineering feasibility studies, grid interconnection analysis, and audits. Consulting utility RFPs can be a strong entry point for firms looking to build relationships with utility buyers for future opportunities.
Examples
- City of St. Petersburg Municipal Electric Utility (MEU) Feasibility Study
- CPS Energy Financial Audit Services RFP from May 2026
Construction Services RFPs
As utilities invest heavily in new generation, grid hardening, and infrastructure modernization, construction services represent a big market. These solicitations seek qualified contractors and EPCs for substation construction and upgrades, transmission and distribution line work, solar and storage project construction, and vegetation management.
Examples
- Yampa Valley Electric Association Electric Transmission Construction Services for 69kV Double Circuit
- US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS – Construction Services of a Power Generation Microgrid at Cape Cod Space Force Station in Bourne, MA
IT & Software RFPs
Utilities are increasingly modernizing their operational and business systems, causing a steady stream of IT & software utility RFPs. These solicitations cover categories such as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, Customer Information Systems (CIS) and billing platforms, asset management and work order systems, grid analytics and forecasting tools, and cybersecurity software.
Examples
- City of Naperville – Utility Billing (UB) / Customer Information System (CIS) Software and implementation services
- Vallecitos Water District – SCADA Remote Site Upgrades
Transmission & Distribution Materials RFPs/RFQs
Utilities procure large quantities of physical materials and equipment through utility RFPs/RFQs, particularly as grid expansion and hardening accelerates. RFPs cover items such as transformers and switchgear, conductors and cable, steel poles and lattice towers, insulators and hardware, and underground conduit and duct systems. These utility RFPs are often structured as multi-year supply agreements or bulk orders, making them valuable long-term contracts for qualified suppliers.
Examples
- Nashville Electric Service – 750 KVA Three Phase 60 Hertz, Onan, Subway-Type Network Transformers
- Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority – RFQ 69 kV Fault Indicators
How to qualify Utility RFPs?
Every utility RFP has a different set of requirements depending on the category, but the most important variables to evaluate quickly are the following:
- Scope of work: The specific deliverable sought if that is energy capacity (MW), a consulting engagement, a construction project, a software service or implementation, or a materials supply agreement.
- Contract value and structure: Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) or build-transfer agreements for energy RFPs; fixed-fee, time-and-materials, or retainer structures for consulting; lump-sum or unit-price contracts for construction; SaaS subscription or perpetual license for software; and blanket purchase orders or spot contracts for materials.
- Eligibility and prequalification: Many utility RFPs require vendors to meet specific criteria before bidding, such as bonding and insurance minimums, safety certifications, prior utility project experience, or financial standing.
- Delivery timeline: When the resource, service, or product must be operational or delivered. For energy utility RFPs, this is the Commercial Operating Date (COD). For services and materials, this may be a project milestone schedule or delivery window.
- Location and jurisdiction: Service territory, state regulatory requirements, and for energy RFPs, ISO/RTO region and interconnection queue requirements.
- Domestic content and local preferences: Some utility RFPs require or award preference points for U.S.-manufactured equipment, locally sourced materials, or local workforce requirements.
- Evaluation criteria: How bids will be scored. Typically a combination of quantitative (price, years of experience, size, schedule) and qualitative (technical approach, qualifications, and risk factors).
Where Are Utility RFPs Published?
One of the core challenges in tracking utility RFPs is that there is no single centralized registry. Utility procurement notices are distributed across:
- Individual utility procurement portals and websites
- Independent consultant websites managing the utility RFP solicitation process
- State public utility commission (PUC) dockets and regulatory filings
- Industry association newsletters and mailing lists
- News outlets covering the power sector
Because of this fragmentation, developers who are manually monitoring utility RFPs can miss opportunities or discover them too late in the process to prepare a competitive bid. Energy Adepto solves this by aggregating utility RFPs from across all these sources into a single, searchable database.
How Energy Adepto Tracks Utility RFPs
Energy Adepto continuously monitors utility websites, regulatory portals, industry organizations, and consultant postings, and news outlets to identify new utility RFPs as they are released. Each utility RFP is reviewed, categorized, and enriched with key metadata so you can filter by technology type, geography, capacity, and deadline without reading through dozens of pages.
AI-Powered RFP Summaries
Long utility RFP documents, often 30, 50, or even 100+ pages, are automatically summarized using AI to surface the key decision points. Instead of spending hours reading dense RFP language, you get a structured overview of requirements, timelines, and contacts in seconds.
Summaries allow your team to quickly evaluate whether a utility RFP is worth pursuing before spending hours reviewing the full document.
Geographic Coverage
The Energy Adepto database covers utility RFPs primarily in the U.S. and Canada.
Filtering and Search
Within the platform, you can filter the full utility RFP database by:
- RFP type (energy, solar, energy storage, all-source, consulting, construction, software, transmission, etc.)
- Organization
- State or region
- Submission deadline
- Active vs. closed solicitations
This means your business development team spends time on qualified utility procurement opportunities rather than data collection.
Why the Utility RFP Market Is Growing
Capital investment for investor-owned utilities is expected to grow nearly 24% annually from $173 billion in 2024 to $214 billion in 2025 and increasing into 2027.
Increased investment over the last few decades is generally driven by several changes:
- Data center load growth demand: The growth of AI and the demand of new data centers to support the AI growth has increased the load growth forecast of many utilities.
- State clean energy mandates: Dozens of states have enacted Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) and storage procurement targets requiring utilities to source defined quantities of clean energy and storage capacity by specific deadlines.
- Grid modernization investment: Utilities are spending heavily to modernize aging infrastructure including upgrading substations, expanding transmission capacity, and deploying smart grid technology.
- Falling clean energy costs: Solar module, battery, and balance-of-system costs have declined dramatically, making clean energy resources competitive with conventional generation in most U.S. markets and accelerating procurement volume.
- Digital transformation: Utilities are accelerating investment in operational technology from advanced metering to grid analytics and cybersecurity.
Energy Adepto: One Place for Utility RFPs
Energy Adepto aggregates active utility RFPs across all major categories: energy (ex. solar, storage, and all-source), consulting services, construction services, software, and transmission & distribution materials into one searchable platform. AI summaries, deadline tracking, and new utility RFPs are added continuously so your team can have a structured approach to finding the best opportunity worth pursuing.
