Green Power Partnership

Green Power Partnership Program Updates Issue 38

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Issue 38, February 26, 2016

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Green Power Leadership Awards Application Period Opening Soon

Save the date! The application period for the 2016 Green Power Leadership Awards will open on Tuesday, March 1, and close on Monday, April 18, 2016.

The annual Green Power Leadership Awards are competitive awards that recognize outstanding commitments and achievements in the green power marketplace. EPA's Green Power Leadership Awards recognize leading organizations that have helped further the green power market through their use of green power and impact on the green power market through innovation and leadership. EPA will post information about award categories, eligibility, and criteria on its website when the application period opens.

The awards will be presented in conjunction with the Renewable Energy Markets Conference in fall 2016, hosted by the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS). For more information on the conference, visit www.renewableenergymarkets.com.

For more information about the awards, visit the awards page or contact Melissa Klein at klein.melissa@epa.gov or 202-343-9207.

Webinar: Green Power Leadership Awards—A Review of 2016 Categories, Eligibility, Criteria, and the Application Process
Thursday, March 3, 2016, 3:00–4:00 p.m. ET
Interested in applying for an award or finding out more? Be sure to register for our GPLA webinar, during which EPA and CRS will review information related to navigating the application process for each of the award categories, as well as answer questions.

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Congratulations to Partners Celebrating Their 10-Year Anniversary with the Green Power Partnership

Twenty-eight organizations are celebrating 10 years of GPP partnership in the fourth quarter of 2015 and first quarter of 2016.

  • Agriculture & Natural Resources: Arid Zone Trees (Ariz.)
  • Clothing & Textile: prAna (Calif.)
  • Construction & Engineering Services: Norkote, Inc. (Wash.)
  • Consumer Products: Garden of Life (Fla.)
  • Education (Higher): The Evergreen State College (Wash.), Oberlin College (Ohio), Duquesne University (Pa.), Northwestern University (Ill.), The City University of New York (N.Y.)
  • Government (Local, Municipal): City of Hillsboro, OR (Ore.); City of Boston, MA (Mass.); City of Milwaukee, WI/City Hall Complex (Wis.); City of Chico, CA (Calif.); Tualatin Valley Water District (Ore.)
  • Green Power Community: Corvallis, OR, Community (Ore.)
  • Marketing, Advertising, & PR: Barrett Outdoor Communications, Inc. (Conn.)
  • Printing & Packaging: Sandy Alexander Inc. (N.J.), The John Roberts Company (Minn.), Johnson Printing & Packaging Corp. (Minn.)
  • Recreation: Sugar Bowl Ski Resort (Calif.)
  • Religious: Congregation Beit Simchat Torah (N.Y.)
  • Retail: H-E-B Grocery Company (Texas), REI (Wash.)
  • Shipping: FedEx Express/Oakland Hub Facility (Calif.)
  • Technology & Telecom: Xilinx (Calif.); Invisible Gold, LLC (Conn.); Cisco Systems, Inc. (Calif.); Applied Materials, Inc. (Calif.)

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Upcoming GPP Webinar—An Introduction to Community Solar Programs

Register today!

On Wednesday, March 9, 2016, from 1:00–2:00 pm (EST), EPA's GPP will host a webinar examining the community solar model, also known as shared solar and community solar gardens. Community solar is an emerging model allowing customers to buy, lease, or subscribe to a portion of a shared solar system that is located away from their home or business.

The webinar will feature in-depth case studies of two community solar programs: Pacific Gas and Electric's new Solar Choice program and Boardman Hill Solar Farm, which is a community-owned solar array in Vermont. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will provide an overview of the growth and trends of community solar in the United States and address contractual/financial considerations for these types of projects. The webinar will review:

  • The emergence of community solar
  • The various models, including utility sponsored, special purpose entity, and nonprofit
  • Solar renewable energy certificates (SRECs) and solar claims

Speakers:

  • Christopher Kent, Program Manager, EPA's GPP
  • Eric O'Shaughnessy, Renewable Energy Analyst, NREL
  • Karly Silicani, Product Manager, Green Power Programs at Pacific Gas and Electric Company
  • Roland Marx, Boardman Hill Solar Farm

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State of Voluntary Market Webinar Summary

On January 27, GPP, in conjunction with NREL, hosted a webinar examining the state of the voluntary green power market within the United States. The webinar provided an overview of the current voluntary market, including the most up-to-date statistics and trends in green power procurement, as well as the latest on green power use within the GPP.

If you missed the webinar, we encourage you to review the slides on the GPP website. You may also request a recording of the webinar.

Below is a figure that highlights some of the information presented during the webinar.

As Figure 1 below illustrates, the program has been growing steadily since 2009 and unbundled renewable energy certificate (REC) purchases continue to be the dominant supply option for many Partners.

Figure 1: Program kilwatt-hours (kWh) by product over time.Figure 1: Program kilwatt-hours (kWh) by product over time.

In another interesting development, since 2013, we've seen an increase in off-site power purchase agreements (PPAs), which, when utilized by Partners, result in extremely large green power purchases. For example, within the five different product offerings noted in Figure 1, the average off-site PPA is nearly 140 million kWh. The next largest average product procurement by our Partners is unbundled RECs at 26 million kWh.

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In the News—Recent Press on the Green Power Partnership

Green Power Partners have received quite a bit of press recently, especially in conjunction with the updated Top Partner Rankings.

The quotes below highlight what a few of our Partners are saying about being recognized for their green power efforts:

Ohio University, EPA recognizes Ohio University among nation's leading green power users, on ranking 14th on the GPP Top 30 College & University list:

"'Ohio University has been committed to reducing its carbon footprint for some time and to be recognized by the EPA demonstrates that we are succeeding,' Ohio University President Roderick J. McDavis says." (January 28 Press Release)

Hasbro, Inc., Hasbro Recognized by EPA for Leading Green Power, on joining GPP:

"'We are pleased to be among leading businesses partnering with the U.S. EPA as we continue on our sustainability journey,' said Brian Goldner, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer. 'Hasbro's decision to use green power is an important choice in advancing our energy conservation efforts in support of a low carbon economy.'" (December 21 Press Release)

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Partner Spotlight—Tucson Unified School District

Tucson Unified School DistrictTina Cook, Energy Project Manager for Tucson Unified School District (TUSD), answers some questions regarding TUSD's sustainability achievements and goals, as well as its involvement with GPP:

Q. Why did your organization decide to use green power? What do you see as the benefits of using green power and what role does it play in your company's broader business and environmental strategy?

Tucson StudentsStudents at Marshall Elementary School learn about the solar program and celebrate their new structure, which not only saves energy but also provides much-needed shade and educational opportunities.A. The use of green power is an integral part of Superintendent H.T. Sanchez's Five-year Strategic Plan to build a better district for our community. With more than 19 million kilowatt-hours generated annually, about 80 percent of the electricity needed at each site will be sourced from clean solar energy under the plan. In parallel, TUSD has begun implementing various energy management and conservation solutions to reduce utility costs following an extensive district-wide energy audit. The project represents TUSD's commitment to using renewable energy and reducing its carbon footprint while saving money, thus serving as a model of good stewardship to its students and other school districts. One notable additional community benefit is that 90 percent of the solar structures are located in play areas, providing shade for the children to play under.

As a school district, Tucson Unified's primary mission is education, and we are incorporating our green power projects into our educational mission. We have incorporated curricular components to encourage students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math. The systems provide an up-close view of green power at work.

TUSD's innovative and future-forward solar project exemplifies the virtues of public-private partnership, and the marriage of proven technology and innovation to the benefit of the District's students, teachers and community. The systems will ensure dramatic long-term cost savings, while serving as a legacy of enhancing environmental quality for future generations.

Q. Is your organization currently striving to achieve a green power goal and is there a timeframe? What steps are being taken to reach it?

A. Superintendent Dr. Sanchez states, "with an abundance of sunshine here in Tucson, solar makes sense...The best part of the project is the student learning opportunities and much needed shade from the Arizona sun."

TUSD set a goal of installing solar energy projects across 43 sites, making it one of the largest distributed solar energy installations in Arizona, the largest school solar project in Arizona by number of sites, and the largest distributed school solar project in the nation to have been executed without local / utility incentives. TUSD has also added five schools with solar photovoltaic, for which the district received utility incentives. The district continues to look for opportunities to use green power as we develop our Comprehensive Facilities Master Plan, which we expect to complete this year.

Tucson Mayor Rothschild SpeechTucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild enjoys the shade provided by Marshall Elemenetary School's solar structure as he helps celebrate Tucson Unified's green energy program.Q. Describe any innovative green power strategies your organization has implemented or is planning. Do you have any upcoming projects or strategies that relate to your company's green power usage?

A. The district has used various innovative applications of existing commercial technologies to drive construction costs lower and facilitate financing of its green power projects at cost-saving rates. These innovations include:

  • deployment of high-voltage modules and inverters, which reduce wiring, Balance of System (BOS), and labor costs while increasing production efficiency;
  • string-level inverters, which eliminate the need for combiner boxes & equipment pads, have higher overall system uptime, and allow for greater flexibility in design, while increasing production efficiency;
  • a proprietary simultaneous module mounting/bonding mechanism which reduces wiring and labor costs; and
  • a streamlined integrated solar shade structure design.

The resulting collection of systems represent the frontier of what can be brought to market in terms of solar efficiency and cost competitiveness.

TUSD is encouraging all schools to incorporate the solar data into their STEM curriculum and are looking at green power as a component as they develop their Facilities Master Plan.

Q. What are two or three lessons you've learned in making the switch to green power or in increasing your green power use?

A. Our district learned several lessons in making the switch to green power, and the most important one is regarding the importance of communication. TUSD's community outreach process was exemplary, having organized multiple sessions to explain project benefits/implementation logistics to neighbors, principals, and parents. We also actively promoted plans through email, direct mail, and radio campaigns. With so many sites in the first phase of the project, TUSD opted for community meetings for six to eight schools at a time. This was a great idea for many but also created an issue for some parents and community members who were unable to attend the grouped meetings. To ensure the information was accessible to all, additional community meetings were then provided to specific sites upon request. In moving forward with the Phase II part of the project that included an additional five schools, we opted to do community meetings at each school rather than group them together.

Superintendant Sanchez SpeechDr. H.T. Sanchez, Superintendent of Tucson Unified School District, speaks about the importance of the solar project at the unveiling of one of the district's completed structures.The solar system deployment at each site had some key design considerations. These included distance to the site's electrical gear, solar panel orientation, shading of trees/landscaping, easements, and, most importantly, the preservation of large play areas. Involvement of staff, parent, and community members was very important to the development of the project at each site, but some of the design requirements did not go over well with our communities. While we worked with each site as best we could, incorporating all design ideas was not feasible given the guidelines and constraints of the physical sites and our negotiated Solar Service Agreement.

Q. What advice would you give to other organizations interested in using green power, and is there anything you would do differently? What barriers did you encounter when switching to green power?

A. The most important advice would be to do your research to make sure you understand all aspects of the project prior to starting. Understanding was the key to success. Natural Power and Energy (NPE) was the project developer and was responsible for the overall project and installation management, the system design and engineering, and contract evaluation and design. NPE brought a wealth of knowledge to the table and helped make the project run smoothly.

As for the project itself, we would not have done anything differently other than providing individual community meetings at each site from the beginning. The main barrier that Tucson Unified encountered was not receiving any incentives from the utility provider. This created changes to the design considerations as a whole that were addressed prior to the start of construction at any site.

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Welcome New Partners

GPP welcomes the following 90 organizations that joined the GPP in the fourth quarter of 2015.

  • Agriculture & Natural Resources: Waste Farmers (Colo.); Green Pest Guys (Texas); Dream Harvest Farming Company, LLC (Texas); Good Earth Organic Farm (Texas)
  • Architectural Services: A-LAM-COR (Calif.)
  • Clothing & Textile: Ralph Lauren Corporation (N.Y.)
  • Consumer Products: S.W. Basics (N.Y.); Vision-Ease Lens (Minn.); Hasbro, Inc. (R.I.)
  • Education (Higher): Ohio University (Ohio), Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (Ill.)
  • Education (K-12): SAU #95, Windham Schools (N.H.), SAU #10, Derry Schools (N.H.)
  • Education (Other): The Empower School (Texas), Bixby School (Colo.)
  • Food & Beverage: Mars, Incorporated (Va.), Counter Culture Coffee (N.C.)
  • Government (Local, Municipal): City of Fremont, CA (Calif.); Southern NH Planning Commission (N.H.); Town of Auburn, NH (N.H.); Town of Chester, NH (N.H.); Town of Weare, NH (N.H.); Town of Derry, NH (N.H.); City of Talent, OR (Ore.)
  • Government (State): Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (Texas)
  • Green Power Community: Wilsonville, OR, Community (Ore.); Talent, OR, Community (Ore.)
  • Health Care: San Diego Spinal Care (Calif.), Baxalta Inc. (Ill.)
  • Industrial Goods & Services: LGSTX Services, Inc. (Ohio)
  • Insurance: Anthem, Inc./Worthington, OH, Facility (Ohio)
  • Legal Services: Rich May, PC (Mass.); Phillips & Cohen LLP (D.C.)
  • Nonprofit (NGO): Hunger is Obsolete (Ariz.)
  • Other: Green Home Cleaning (N.C.); Minx & Maven (D.C.); Shotgun Players (Calif.); JUST Wingate (Texas); Barber of Hell's Bottom (D.C.); Hero Arts, Inc. (Calif.); Immortal Beloved (D.C.)
  • Real Estate: The Macerich Company (Calif.), Lindy Communities (Pa.)
  • Recreation: The Studio DC Yoga Center (D.C.), Mercury Fitness (Calif.), Sun Pilates Studio (Colo.), Orange Music Instruction (Va.)
  • Religious: Lord of the Mountains Church (Colo.), Old Stone Church (Ohio), First Baptist Church Pharr (Texas)
  • Restaurants & Cafes: Copper Crown (N.C.), Beezy's Café (Mich.), Ten 01 (D.C.), Sazza (Colo.), Saffire (Tenn.), Zola (Calif.), Ophelia's Electric Soapbox (Colo.), Grampa's Pizzeria (Wis.), The Southern Steak & Oyster (Tenn.), ACME Feed & Seed (Tenn.), Pagliacci Pizza (Wash.), High Five Coffee (N.C.), Vesta Dipping Grill (Colo.), Edna's of Asheville (N.C.), New Belgium Ranger Station (Colo.), DIRT Eat Clean (Fla.), Steuben's Food Service (Colo.), Jefferson Market & Cakery (Mich.), Bread & Roses Bakery (Ore.), Monk's Kettle (Calif.), Saffron Fine Foods (N.C.), Ace Eat Serve (Colo.), Bedrock Management Inc./Bedrock Bars (D.C.), Appaloosa Grill (Colo.)
  • Retail: The Rocket Candy & Novelties (Mich.), Payless Wireless (Ga.), Verde Salon Inc. (N.J.), The Soapy Dog (N.C.), The Welsh Rabbit (Colo.), Scratch and Peck Feeds (Wash.), Filosano/San Francisco Headquarters (Calif.), the Sage & the Butterfly/ORG by vio (Calif.), Silver Linings Resale (Texas), Astral Designs (N.C.)
  • Technology & Telecom: Equinix, Inc. (Calif.)
  • Transportation: American Airlines Group / Texas (Texas)
  • Wineries & Breweries: Sonoma County Distilling Company (Calif.), Witherspoon Distillery (Texas), Fox Run Vineyards (N.Y.), Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery (Wash.), Bridger Brewing (Mo.), Francis Ford Coppola Winery (Calif.)

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Climate Leadership Conference and Awards Registration Reminder

Join us March 8–10 in Seattle for the annual Climate Leadership Conference, which convenes a global audience of climate, energy, and sustainability professionals to address climate change through innovation and business solutions. Now in its fifth year, the 2016 event will host the first U.S. climate conference post-Paris to further accelerate climate solutions and a low-carbon economy. The Climate Leadership Conference is hosted annually by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES) and The Climate Registry—with EPA as the headline sponsor.

During the conference on March 9, EPA's 2016 Climate Leadership Awards will be presented. The awards honor exemplary efforts to address climate change and the outstanding action taken by the nation's corporate, organizational, and individual leaders. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy will provide the keynote address at the awards dinner.

Learn more about the Climate Leadership Conference and register to attend.

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Energy Information Administration Report: Renewables to Increase by 8.1 Percent in 2016

The Energy Information Agency (EIA) recently estimated that renewables used in the U.S. electric power sector will increase by 8.1 percent in 2016.

EIA expects continued growth in utility-scale solar power generation, which is projected to average 129 gigawatt-hours (GWh) per day in 2017, an increase of 45 percent from 2016. Additionally, utility-scale solar power could average 1.1 percent of total U.S. electricity generation in 2017. EIA also expects utility-scale solar capacity will have increased by 126 percent (13 GW) between the end of 2014 and the end of 2016, with 4.9 GW of new capacity being built in California. Other states leading in utility-scale solar capacity additions include North Carolina and Nevada, which, combined with California, account for about two-thirds of the projected utility-scale capacity additions for 2015 and 2016. Wind capacity, which starts from a significantly larger installed capacity base than solar, grew by 13 percent in 2015 and is forecast to increase by 14 percent in 2016 and by 3 percent in 2017. Review the EIA report.

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Bloomberg New Energy Finance's (BNEF) Sustainable Energy in America Factbook: Renewable Energy Eclipses Fossil Fuels for Second Year in a Row

According to BNEF, it is a new era for American energy; in 2015, increased use of sustainable energy set the stage for a U.S. triple play of carbon reductions, cost savings, and economic growth. The 2016 edition of their Sustainable Energy in America Factbook—produced for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy by BNEF—provides up-to-date, accurate market information about the broad range of industries (energy efficiency, renewable energy, and natural gas) that are contributing to the country's move towards cleaner energy production and more efficient energy usage. Key points from the Factbook include:

  • American energy productivity has increased by 13 percent from 2007 to 2015.
  • 2015 was a record year for natural gas production, consumption, flows to power generation, and volumes into storage.
  • Renewable energy is a prominent part (20 percent) of the U.S. 2015 capacity mix, with 221 GW installed across the country, a 57 percent increase over 2008 levels.
  • Total U.S. investment in clean energy topped $56 billion in 2015, the second highest level in the world.
  • 2015 U.S. power sector carbon emissions fell to their lowest annual level since 1995.

See the Factbook: http://www.bcse.org/sustainableenergyfactbook.html

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National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Webinar: Using Power Purchase Agreements for Solar Deployment at Universities

On February 24, NREL held a webinar about using PPAs for solar deployments at universities. More than 60 universities have used PPAs to deploy more than 100 megawatts of solar photovoltaic on campuses around the country. This webinar was intended for university financial planners and other stakeholders who are assessing the financial aspects of deploying solar. The speakers provided an overview of how universities are using PPAs and key PPA components. In addition, they discussed the process of using PPAs, why PPAs make sense for campus solar deployment, and the benefits and challenges for universities. Tools and other resources were shared to help universities interested in using PPAs for campus solar deployment.

Speakers included Jenny Heeter, a Senior Energy Analyst at NREL, and Eric O'Shaughnessy, a Renewable Energy Analyst at NREL.

Download the presentation now.

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LinkedIn Reminder

If you're on LinkedIn, consider joining and participating in GPP's LinkedIn Group. By joining, you can get the latest information on the GPP, as well as learn more about the green power market. Sign up today!

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