The U.S. Department of Energy announced on May 4, 2010 four new agreements valued at a total of $52.5 million under its Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPC), which are designed to help the federal government save energy and water. The new "task orders" will result in energy-saving upgrades at the Bureau of Land Management, National Wildlife Center, and two General Services Administration (GSA) facilities. Under an ESPC, the contractor—an Energy Service Company (ESCO)—designs, constructs, and obtains the necessary financing for energy-savings projects, and the agency makes payments over time to the contractor from the money it saves on its utility bills. The contractor guarantees the energy improvements will generate savings that will cover all payments to the contractor. Once the improvements are paid for, the federal agency receives all of the long-term cost savings.
The ESPC contracts are administered by DOE and open to all federal agencies. DOE provides the financing and technical project expertise throughout the development of each project. The federal government is the largest single user of energy in the United States, and ESPCs provide federal agencies with access to alternative financing at a scale that is needed to meet the challenge of boosting the use of renewable energy and reducing energy and water consumption.
The annual energy savings of the four projects under the new contracts will be at least 86,000 million BTU—the equivalent of about 14,500 barrels of oil.
Including these ESPC awards, the federal government has launched 36 ESPC projects, under the DOE Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity contracts, in fiscal year 2010, leveraging total private-sector investments of more than $550 million. This exceeds the previous high of $440 million in 2009. The 2010 contracts will result in cumulative payments of just over $1 billion by the agencies to the ESCOs over the life of the contracts, which vary in duration. They will be paid for through slightly over $1.1 billion in guaranteed savings on energy and water costs, and the agencies will continue to benefit from energy savings after the contracts are completed. Annual energy savings for these projects is projected to be in excess of 2,460,000 million BTU—enough energy to power 63,000 homes for a year. There are an additional 35 ESPC projects currently under development.
The four new awards are for improvements to federal facilities which include: installation of renewable energy systems; improvements to heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems; upgrades to lighting, boilers and chillers, and water and sewer systems; installation of building automation systems; and appliance energy-use reduction. The projects are:
| Facility/Location | Investment | ESCO | Award Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSA Region 7 (1) Texas, Oklahoma | $ 9.8 million | Honeywell | 3/30/2010 |
| GSA Region 7 (2) Texas | $17.9 million | Schneider Electric | 3/30/2010 |
| Bureau of Land Management Alaska, Idaho, Nevada, California, New Mexico, Utah | $17.6 million | Johnson Controls | 3/31/2010 |
| National Wildlife Center Wisconsin | $ 7.2 million | Johnson Controls | 3/31/2010 |
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