GPP Webinar: Improving Solar PV Results through Collaborative Procurement
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
2:00–3:30 p.m. (EST)
EPA's Green Power Partnership (GPP)
Faced with increasing pressure to cut costs and reduce their carbon footprints, local governments and state agencies are investigating renewable energy opportunities. Successfully executing a renewable energy strategy, however, requires significant legal, procurement, property management, and engineering expertise that may not be readily available to local governments.
To support the public sector adoption of renewable energy generation and reduce transaction costs, the members of the Joint Venture Public Sector Climate Task Force have launched the Renewable Energy Procurement (REP) Project in collaboration with the County of Santa Clara, California, the lead agency for the procurement. The first stage of this project will include nine public agencies with 70 sites across 43 separate locations, for a total power generation potential of 14.4 megawatts (MW). Types of photovoltaic (PV) sites include office rooftops, carports, water storage tanks, ground-mounted systems, bus depots, senior centers, parking garages, health centers, and others.
By leveraging the contractual resource investment of the lead agency and creating a strategically bundled procurement pool, all are benefiting by reducing or eliminating the technical, financial, and organizational challenges of adopting renewable power. This is the largest public renewable energy procurement in terms of both number of sites and number of jurisdictions participating (not in total installed capacity), and it can be used as a model for other regions across the United States.
During this webinar, participants learned about:
- What role each project participant played and how that contributed to the overall project performance.
- What pitfalls were avoided, challenges were addressed, and successes achieved.
- How to approach a similar project in their own areas and leverage this effort.
- How nine independent municipal agencies were able to combine efforts in a joint procurement for 14 MW of new solar PV installations.
Speakers and Presentations
- Rachel Massaro, Associate Director of Climate Initiatives, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network
- Ben Foster, Vice President, Operations, Optony
- Blaine Collison, Program Director, US EPA's Green Power Partnership (pdf)
- Siva Darbhamulla, Chief of Design Services, County of Santa Clara, CA (pdf)
- Transcript of the Improving Solar PV Results through Collaborative Procurement Webinar (pdf)
- Answers to questions attendees submitted that were not addressed during the Improving Solar PV Results through Collaborative Procurement Webinar (pdf)