The title of Table 1--"Points for Renewable Energy Procurement" is confusing, as it includes Tier 1. As you indicated under another comment in this credit, it is possible to procure onsite renewable energy. Our client will own and install a PV solar array on their property and will retain all RECs for the installation. The solar array was sized to offset the electricity for several building projects on the client's property. The RECs will be allocated to each project fed by the solar array and those RECs will be retired for each project allocation. So 2 questions:
1. For Table 1 do I ignore the word "Procurement" in the title? In other words, if this project is allocated RECs from the onsite PV installation equal to 20% of the total annual energy use, my project will earn 5 points--correct?
2. I assume the 10 years refers only to procurement, as presumably, a PV installation lifetime will exceed 10 years--is this correct? Or is this project required to allocate RECs equal to 20% x 10 = 200% of total annual energy use to earn the 5 points?
thanks very much.
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5900 thumbs up
May 3, 2021 - 10:15 am
1. Buying a system and retaining the RECs is one for of procurement. Yes you would earn 5 points.
2. Yes the 10 years would be for a contract to pruchase, not an outright purchase. In your case you are allocating the RECs for the life of the system given that it was purchased.
Stephanie Graham
Sustainability ManagerBurns & McDonnell
26 thumbs up
May 3, 2021 - 2:49 pm
Thanks very much, Marcus!
Stephanie Graham
Sustainability ManagerBurns & McDonnell
26 thumbs up
July 22, 2022 - 4:10 pm
Marcus, the client has now determined that they would like to allocate/retire the RECs from this system to other projects in the same complex in the future. So this would still fall under Tier I, right? I notice that the age of the system is a factor in at least Tier 2. Does the age of the system (online in 2022) limit the potential of future projects also being able to allocate/retire RECs from this same system? If so, is that only within 5 years? I do not see this addressed anywhere?
Also I understand that at least for Tier 2 the system must be located within the same utility service area as the facility claiming use of the system. So I would assume that also applies to Tier 1, which is fine for other projects within the same building complex.
However, if the client wants to allocate any of the REcs from this same PV system to other projects they have in California, or elsewhere in the U.S., I assume this would this be considered Tier 2 off-site renewables that came online within the last 5 years? I am not quite sure what the following criterion for Tier 2 is saying, "Age of the offset is assessed at the beginning of the contract (is this 2022 per above?) and the asset retains the attributes for the duration of the initial contract lease term."
Thanks for any clarifications.
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5900 thumbs up
July 25, 2022 - 11:20 am
Sounds like it is Tier 1. I am not aware of any age restriction for Tier 1.
Correct if they want to allocate the production off-site then it must meet Tier 2 criteria.
The age of the off-site system cannot be older than 5 years when the contract/allocation for it is initiated. So if you wanted to allocate some of the production to an off-site project, you can do so up until 2027.
Stephanie Graham
Sustainability ManagerBurns & McDonnell
26 thumbs up
July 25, 2022 - 11:57 pm
Thanks very much Marcus!