Procurement Tools & Resources
The Green Power Partnership provides a variety of tools and resources relevant to green power purchasing including:
Many of the following links exit the site Exit
Tools & Calculators
- Green Power Supply Options Screening Tool
- The EPA Green Power Supply Options Screening Tool (XLSM)(1 pg, 124 K) is designed to assist organizations in identifying possible green power supply options that are available to them based on their organizational details as well as federal, state, and utility policies. Accompanying the tool are background documents explaining how each likelihood of availability result is defined and the logic used in producing the result for each supply option.
Green Power Equivalency Calculator- This calculator can help your organization better communicate your green power use to interested stakeholders by translating it from kilowatt-hours (kWh) into more understandable terms and concrete examples. For information about how the equivalencies are calculated, see the Calculations and References page.
- Toolbox for Renewable Energy Project Development
- The toolbox examines six topic areas – including policies and regulations, economic assessments, financing and funding opportunities – that have important implications for developing these on-site solar projects on college and university campuses.
- U.S. EPA's eGRID
- The Emissions & Generation Resource Integrated Database (eGRID) is a comprehensive inventory of environmental attributes of electric power systems.
- US EPA's AVERT AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT)
- The AVERT tool that estimates the emissions benefits of energy efficiency and renewable energy policies and programs
- US EPA's Simplified GHG Emissions Calculator
- These tools are designed to help low emitters develop an organization-wide inventory and establish a plan to ensure GHG data consistency as they track progress towards reaching an emissions reduction goal.
- Power Profiler
- The Power Profiler is a tool developed by EPA that helps you determine the specific air emissions impacts associated with the electricity you use in your home or business.
- REopt Lite Tool
- The REopt Lite Tool was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to help building owners evaluate the economics of grid-connected solar projects and battery storage at commercial sites.
- World Resource Institute's Scope 2 Guidance
- The Scope 2 Guidance standardizes how corporations measure emissions from purchased or acquired electricity, steam, heat, and cooling (called "scope 2 emissions").
- The Power Scorecard
- The Power Scorecard is a rating mechanism that assesses the environmental impact of different types of electric generation. The Power Scorecard makes it easy for you to plug into cleaner power for the future of the planet.
- Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency
- DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.
- North Carolina Solar Center - State Incentives for Renewable Energy
- The North Carolina Solar Center serves as a clearinghouse for solar and other renewable energy programs, information, research, technical assistance, and training for the citizens of North Carolina and beyond.
Guidance Documents
EPA Guidance Documents
The Guide to Purchasing Green Power provides current and potential buyers of green power with information about green power purchasing. The Guide includes information about the different types of green power products, the benefits of green power purchasing, and how to capture the greatest benefit from your purchase. First published in 2004, and previously revised in 2010, this latest version of the Guide provides an overview of green power markets and describes the necessary steps to procure green power. The Guide is the product of a cooperative effort between EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy, World Resources Institute, and Center for Resource Solutions, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The Green Power Supply Options Comparison Table is a user-friendly way to compare the different characteristics of supply options, such as the ease of transaction, relative availability, and impact on new supply. The table indicates the relative likelihood that a green power supply option has a particular characteristic.
The Guide to Making Claims About Your Solar Power Use describes best practices for appropriately explaining and characterizing solar power activities and the fundamental importance of renewable energy certificates (RECs) for solar power use claims. This guidance is primarily focused on claims associated with on-site projects but is equally relevant for off-site owned projects as well.
The Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) Arbitrage guidance document describes this green power procurement strategy used by electricity consumers to simultaneously meet two objectives: 1) decrease the cost of their renewable electricity use and 2) substantiate renewable electricity use and carbon footprint reduction claims. The strategy is used by consumers installing self-financed renewable electricity projects or consumers who purchase renewable electricity directly from a renewable electricity project, such as through a power purchase agreement (PPA).
The Offsets and RECs: What's the Difference? guidance document provides an overview of what offsets and RECs are and the differences between them. It explains why and how an organization might use one or both and also addresses common misconceptions.
Guidance for Collecting & Understanding Relevant Policy and Market Information for Renewable Project Development is designed to help organizations collect relevant policy and market information in relation to the development of renewable energy projects. It reviews policies, incentives, and financing options that might affect an organization’s ability to own, or contract with, on- or off-site sources of renewable energy generation. It includes space for notetaking to help users track policy information specific to their organization’s situation.
Other Guidance Documents
- WRI Report: Describing Purchaser Impact in U.S. Voluntary Renewable Energy Markets
- The Customer's Guide to Solar Power Purchase Agreements (The Rahus Institute) (PDF) (44 pp, 1.7 MB)
- Power Purchase Agreement Checklist for State and Local Governments (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) (PDF) (12 pp, 861K)
- Purchasing Power: Best Practices Guide to Collaborative Solar Procurement (World Resources Institute) (PDF) (62 pp, 3 MB)
- Solar Powering Your Community: Guide for Local Governments (U.S. Department of Energy)
- Getting Started: What to ask the Developer (U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Indian Energy) (PDF) (2 pp, 148K)
- Green Power Procurement Library (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
Green Power Incentives
A number of local, state, and federal incentives are available for installing on-site renewable generation systems.
- The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy (DSIRE) is a comprehensive source of information on the status of local, state, and federal programs and incentives promoting renewable energy. DSIRE's interactive map features information on financial incentives, net metering policies, and awareness and investment programs in various locations.
- The Department of Energy's Leveraging Federal Renewable Energy Tax Credits guide outlines the wide array of resources available to organizations interested in leveraging federal tax credits to accelerate the deployment of clean, renewable energy.
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Grants Office provides some funding opportunities for organizations of various sizes. A large part of EPA's mission to protect the environment and public health is accomplished by awarding grants and cooperative agreements. This website provides information on the grant application process, applicable requirements, as well as a list of current grant opportunities.
- The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) works with business, industry, universities, and others to increase the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. One way that EERE encourages the growth of these technologies is by offering financial assistance opportunities for their development and demonstration.
- The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs issue solicitations inviting small businesses to apply for SBIR/STTR Phase I grants to support innovative research and development projects. Grant applications must respond to a specific technical topic and subtopic, which include energy production (fossil, nuclear, renewable, and fusion energy), energy use (in buildings, vehicles, and industry), fundamental energy sciences (materials, life, environmental, computational sciences, and nuclear and high energy physics), environmental management, and nuclear nonproliferation.
Example Materials
Templates
- Procurement Specifications Templates for Onsite Solar Photovoltaic (Department of Energy)
- Master Renewable Energy Certificate Purchase and Sale Agreement (Environmental Markets Association and American Council on Renewable Energy) (PDF) (50 pp, 577K)
- Commercial PPA version 1.1 (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
- Sample Arizona Solar Power Purchase Agreement (Sustainable Cities Network)
- Model Solar RFP/RFQ (Commonwealth Solar) (DOC) (20 pp, 142K)
Solicitations (Requests for Proposals (RFPs), Requests for Information (RFIs), etc.)
- City of Philadelphia, PA RFP for Large-Scale Renewable Energy Plant (PDF) (24 pp, 416K)
- George Mason University RFP for Renewable Energy Certificates
- The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts RFI for Solar Array
- St. Mary's College of Maryland RFP for Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs)
- TerraPass RFP for New Renewable Energy Project Portfolio Acquisition
- Town of Dartmouth, MA RFP for Power Purchase Agreement for Hosted On-site Renewable Energy System
- University System of Maryland RFP for Clean Energy
- Washington, DC Department of General Services RFP for Solar/Wind Power Purchase Agreement (PDF) (31 pp, 115K)
- Washington, DC Department of General Services RFP for On-site Solar Power Purchasing Agreement Solar at Various Municipal Facilities (PDF) (31 pp, 115K)
- Washington, DC Department of General Services RFP for Technical Consultant for the Procurement of a Renewable Energy Power Purchase Agreement (PDF) (63 pp, 463K)