The US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Forest Service, the Department of Energy and the General Services Administration are partnering to purchase solar power.
The Federal Aggregated Solar Procurement Project (or FASPP) is a contract solicitation designed to take advantage of economies of scale in solar installation. Due to contracting challenges and high costs, agencies have made limited progress installing solar systems. Agencies in the FASPP will use the same contract solicitation and contractor for greater efficiency and cost effectiveness, and third-party financing to cover upfront costs. The project includes nine federal sites in San Jose, Menlo Park, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Bruno, Santa Rosa, Carson City and Reno, and the Forest Service regional office at Mare Island. Initially, the project will produce up to 5 MW of solar power across multiple federal sites in California and Nevada.
The four agencies were inspired by the success of Silicon Valley’s local government aggregated procurement. EPA’s Pacific Southwest Region brought the agencies together. GSA agreed to provide contracting and project management support. DOE’s Federal Energy Management Program, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory provided technical expertise and support. The Forest Service and GSA plan to host the solar systems and buy the renewable energy.
Photo of solar panels via Shutterstock
