Additional Actions Will Help the National Nuclear Security Administration Realize Guaranteed Savings Through Its Energy Savings Performance Contract With Siemens Government Technologies Inc. at Pantex Plant
March 17, 2026
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March, 24, 2026
Additional Actions Will Help the National Nuclear Security Administration Realize Guaranteed Savings Through Its Energy Savings Performance Contract With Siemens Government Technologies Inc. at Pantex Plant
Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs) are contracts between a Federal agency and an energy service company that allow the agency to improve energy efficiency at no direct cost to the U.S. Treasury. ESPCs include energy conservation measures, which are upgrades to equipment intended to save energy and associated costs.
In 2013, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded an ESPC to Siemens Government Technologies, Inc. (Siemens) to construct the Pantex Renewable Energy Project in Amarillo, Texas. The Office of Inspector General has issued several audit reports identifying weaknesses in the Department of Energy’s oversight of ESPCs.
We conducted this audit to determine whether NNSA’s Pantex Plant realized the guaranteed savings with Siemens under contract No. DE-NA0001628.
We found that NNSA did not realize its planned guaranteed savings from the ESPC with Siemens. Specifically, we found that NNSA’s original estimated savings were based on escalating wholesale rates for exported power; however, the rates decreased substantially shortly after the Pantex Renewable Energy Project became operational. Additionally, NNSA could not fully use the power generated by Pantex Renewable Energy Project throughout the Pantex Plant and instead sold power back to the local utility provider, sometimes at a loss.
Finally, NNSA permitted the maintenance contracts for the wind turbines to expire and made payments to Siemens that exceeded reported savings. As a result, the Federal Government paid a total of $21,187,829 for a 10-year period of guaranteed savings that it could not verify it received.
To address the issues identified in this report, we have made three recommendations that, if fully implemented, should help improve NNSA’s management of ESPCs.