Collaborative Procurement for Solar PV Focus of EPA Webinar
From 2 to 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Aug. 4, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership will host a webinar on improving solar PV results through collaborative procurement.
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, Calif., 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 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 can be used as a model for other regions across the United States.
Speakers will be Blaine Collison, program director, Green Power Partnership; Rachel Massaro, associate director of Climate Initiatives, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network; Ben Foster, vice president, Business Operations, Optony; and Siva Darbhamulla, chief of Design Services, County of Santa Clara, Calif.
Attendees will learn about project participant roles, how to avoid pitfalls and how nine municipal agencies combined efforts t procure 14 MW of new solar photovoltaic installations.
To register for the webinar, go tohttps://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/303048626.