E.P.A. Administrator and San Francisco Bay Area government agencies celebrate nation’s biggest solar energy partnership

SAN FRANCISCO - Today, U.S. E.P.A. Administrator Gina McCarthy joined Bay Area agencies to celebrate the Regional Renewable Energy Procurement Plan (R-REP), the nation's biggest solar energy government collaboration and the launch of the Federal Aggregated Solar Procurement Plan (FASPP), the nation's 1st federal partnership to purchase solar power. McCarthy, the President's leader on the Clean Power Plan, joined R-REP lead agency Alameda Co. and other local officials and solar industry executives at the West Winton Landfill in Hayward, a centerpiece of the 19-agency R-REP involving 186 Bay Area facilities for a total of 31 megawatts of solar power.

"Combining the purchasing power of local and federal governments is a common-sense approach to combating climate change, reducing taxpayer costs, and spurring innovation," said E.P.A. Administrator Gina McCarthy. "The success of these initiatives show there is the potential to aggregate renewable energy purchases on a much larger scale in regions across the country."

The FASPP, the 1st federal partnership to purchase solar power across multiple agencies, was inspired by the success of the R-REP and other Bay Area efforts. Like the R-REP, the federal partnership among the Forest Service, D.O.E., and General Services Administration will take advantage of economies of scale in solar installation and use a single contract for greater efficiency and cost savings. The FASPP includes nine federal sites in San Jose, Menlo Park, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Bruno, Santa Rosa, Carson City, Reno, and Mare Island. Initially, the Plan will produce up to five megawatts of solar power across multiple federal sites in California and Nevada.

The federal government is the single biggest energy consumer in the nation. Government-wide, the electricity bill is $5 billion a year, paying for 57 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in nearly 500,000 buildings. The FASPP follows President Obama's recent Executive Order - Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade - requiring federal agencies to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent and increase their renewable energy use to at least 30 percent over the next ten years. Specifically, the Order requires federal agencies to work together on procurements to increase clean energy use and as the Order is implemented, the yearly savings are estimated to be almost $1 billion in avoided energy costs.

The FASPP contract solicitation will be open through Friday, June 19, 2015. Businesses interested in submitting can review the FASPP Request for Suggestion on FedBizOpps.gov.

For more information about the R-REP, visit: http://www.acgov.org/rrep/.

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