Oman Botanic Garden is a broad scale botanic reserve in Muscat, Oman. We are preparing a design submission for our 3 LEED nominated buildings and associated landscape areas. The LEED project footprint is within a much larger general project area of some 550 hectares. A large "Solar Farm" (greater than 5000m2 in area) is proposed to provide renewable energy to a number of buildings and services within the Oman Botanic Garden. This renewable energy facility is located within the project boundary but outside of the nominated LEED building/landscape footprint. It is expected that this PV facility can provide up to 40% (600 kW) of the LEED buildings energy requirements. We note from previous CIRs that renewable energy facilities within a campus precinct but outside of the nominated LEED boundary have been accepted as Onsite Renewable Energy sources. Can you please advise whether we would be able to satisfy the Credit Points for Onsite Renewable Energy (12.5% 3 points) AND the requirements for Green Power as 35% of the LEED buildings energy needs are provided by a "green power". The LEED manual dictates that Green Power must be accredited or have RECs, TRCs or similar. There is currently no process to source such renewable energy certificates in Oman so accreditation for our project may be difficult. Can you please confirm that our proposal meets the requirements of the Green Power credit point? It is envisaged that the planned renewable power source will meet the 35% requirement for the LEED buildings for up to 25 years. Accordingly will we be eligible for the Exemplary Performance credit?
The project team is requesting clarification on the breakdown between EA credit 2 and EA credit 6 for a large solar PV array proposed. For EA credit 2 – As long as the Owner of the project can certify that the energy generated from the Solar PV array installed in this phase of the project will be associate only to the three buildings that are part of this LEED submission, then all the energy generated from the PV array can be taken credit for those three buildings under EA credit 2. Please note that calculations for EA credit 2 are based on energy cost and not on peak power offset. EA credit 6 – the intent of this credit is to encourage the development of green power generation in the country where the project is located. If your country does not have any programs that allow these to happen, then EA credit 6 is not applicable to the project. Please also note that if the project sold the renewable energy certificates associated with the PV array, the team will not be able to take credit for the array under EA credit 2 since now the PV array has no associated environmental benefit on-site. As such the project is not eligible to attempt exemplary performance under EA credit 6, but may be eligible to attempt exemplary performance under EA credit 2. Applicable Internationally; Middle East; Oman.