Under the U.S. Departments of Energy’s (DOE) Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC) ENABLE program utilizing General Services Administration Schedule 84, the Forest Service Region 6 pursued projects to improve energy efficiency and install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems at multiple sites in Oregon and Washington. ESPC ENABLE is designed to permit a standardized and streamlined procurement process for small federal projects to install energy conservation measures (ECMs) in six months or less.
Region 6 also applied for the DOE Federal Energy Management Program’s Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies grant in 2015 to help fund the solar PV measure to meet renewable energy goals. This application committed the Forest Service to install solar PV systems totaling just under one megawatt at its sites in Oregon and Washington.
On June 12, 2017, the Forest Service entered into an agreement with selected energy services company (ESCO) Green Generation Solutions, LLC, to implement approximately $4 million of ECMs—including lighting improvements; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) controls upgrades; and solar PV systems.
Project Highlights
The Forest Service sought a project that identified cost-effective energy efficiency measures to reduce the agency’s energy consumption and improve its carbon footprint across the entire region. To meet these goals, the ESCO conducted an intensive audit schedule across 46 different sites within 14 national forests throughout the three northwest states that make up Region 6.
Particular attention was given to opportunities that addressed the Forest Service goals, including lighting, HVAC equipment, controls, water fixtures, and the potential for on-site power generation at each site. Facilities at the sites include ranger stations, office buildings, warehouses, sheds, residences, and barracks. One of the challenges was that occupancy varies per season with peak use and hours occurring during June through October.
The project upgraded the lighting systems from a variety of older technologies to high-efficiency LED lamps with occupancy controls where feasible. HVAC controls were implemented to better match the occupancy hours with the runtime hours of the HVAC equipment and implement setback temperatures. Eleven solar systems were installed—all but one are roof-mounted systems ranging in size from 14 to 45 kW and one ground mounted system rated at just under 500 kW capacity.
The combined installed solar PV systems across Region 6 totals approximately 762 kW DC with the electric savings contributing nearly one-third of the total project savings. The solar PV systems installed as part of the project will provide 100% of the electricity needs for identified buildings at four sites and more than 50% of the electricity needs at the identified buildings at the remaining seven locations.
Impacts
Over the 23-year financed term of the ESPC ENABLE contract, the Forest Service will realize guaranteed savings of over $7.5 million from the initial implementation cost of approximately $4 million. This project will help the Forest Service Region 6 make progress towards federal energy-related goals required by by Executive Order 13834 and other Congressional mandates.
Together, these energy efficiency measures are expected to provide estimated annual savings and benefits of:
- $244,000 in avoided utility and operations and maintenance expenditures
- 9,209 MMBtu
- 1,819 tons carbon dioxide equivalent prevented (equivalent to removing 386 cars from the road [1])
- 30 job years created [2].
Footnotes: