Oakland Energy Master Plan
Green Building Alliance, City of Pittsburgh, Oakland Energy Advisory Group
Pittsburgh, PA
To All Prospective Respondents:
Green Building Alliance on behalf of the Department of City Planning and the Oakland Plan’s Energy Technical Advisory Group invites you to submit qualifications for the Oakland Energy Master Plan.
The City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improve environmental quality, and increase resiliency throughout all systems citywide. To help achieve ambitious goals, the City is initiating energy master planning efforts in Pittsburgh’s Oakland area. With major institutions and significant private development within its boundaries, the Oakland area is one of the most energy intensive districts in the region. With the assistance of Green Building Alliance, the Department of City Planning will form a strong partnership with the key energy generators, utility and service providers, energy users, and other stakeholders to establish the scope of the energy master plan and to collaborate in its development. The proposed energy study and master plan is expected to result in further research, policies, city programs, and neighborhood projects that will help to realize the larger, specified goals.
Only the Background and Timeline sections of the RFQ are presented below. Please download the full RFQ from the following website: https://www.go-gba.org/gba-pittsburgh/
Any questions regarding this RFQ, should be submitted via email no later than 4 p.m. April 9, 2020, and directed to:
Jodi McKinney
Executive Assistant and Operations Manager
Green Building Alliance
333 East Carson Street
Suite 331
Pittsburgh, PA 15223
Email: jodim@gbapgh.org
All proposals will be due by 4 p.m. ET May 7, 2020, as described in the Timeline section of this RFQ.
Sincerely,
Jenna Cramer
Executive Director
Green Building Alliance
Background
The City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improve environmental quality, and increase resiliency throughout all systems citywide. With the 2018 adoption of the Pittsburgh Climate Action Plan 3.0 in 2018, the City committed to reducing energy consumption 50%, integrating at least 200 MW of new renewable energy generation regionally, supporting energy system modernization, and developing and implementing a Pittsburgh District Energy Plan. These commitments will help meet the City’s 2030 goal of 50% reduction in citywide GHG emission. Beyond 2030, Pittsburgh aims to achieve carbon neutrality and serve as a leader in addressing climate change mitigation at the local level.
As part of the effort, the City already has some preliminary analyses relevant to this work via the following hyperlinks:
City of Pittsburgh Energy Baseline, 2013
Siemens, A Technology Roadmap to Pittsburgh: Linking Climate and Innovation, 2019
Pittsburgh 2030 District Reports
City of Pittsburgh Benchmarking Report
University of Pittsburgh FY GHG Inventory
Carnegie Mellon University GHG Summaries
Oakville Energy Task Force:
Initial meetings with Oakland stakeholders (including major institutions, employers, and utilities) showed strong agreement around the following issues:
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Decarbonization and local sourcing of energy: Develop shared purchasing agreements and other means of driving the creation of local renewable energy supplies that are more resilient and provide for additional economic development benefits to the region.
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Reduced demand/consumption of electricity: Energy efficiency and conservation is considered the “first fuel” and planned for when making choices about energy supply options.
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Elimination of fossil fuel heating and cooling sources: Buildings rely on renewable electrical and thermal sources, including in district energy applications.
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“Utility of the future” model: Utility policies and practices enable the energy system transformation through grid modernization, new utility revenue models, and rules which incentivize energy savings and integration of renewable energy sources.
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Integrated infrastructure planning: Energy planning and infrastructure investments are coordinated with stormwater, sewer, and water infrastructure investments to help reduce cumulative costs and in recognition of the energy-water nexus in modern energy systems (e.g., chillers).
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New financial tools and models: Establish financial models and methodologies (e.g., Net Present Value decision making and proxy carbon prices) that allows for up front investments to be repaid through lifetime savings.
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Sharing and advocacy: Ensure that new systems are flexible and can be used to provide low carbon energy to all customers in Oakland. Proactively share information and best practices within the Oakland community and create joint advocacy campaigns for new policy at city, state, and federal levels.
To help achieve these ambitious goals, the City is initiating energy master planning efforts in Pittsburgh’s Oakland area, including the neighborhoods of South, West, Central, and North Oakland. With major institutions and significant private development within its boundaries, the Oakland area is one of the most energy intensive districts in the region. With the assistance of Green Building Alliance, the Department of City Planning will form a strong partnership with the key energy generators, utility and services providers, energy users, and other stakeholders to establish the scope of the energy master plan and to collaborate in its development. The proposed energy study and master plan is expected to result in further research, policies, city programs, and neighborhood projects that will help to realize the larger, specified goals. The timeline for the project is approximately 2 years, starting immediately.
The Oakland energy planning consultant will be hired and contracted by Green Building Alliance, who will process payments; however, the day-to-day management of the work will be jointly handled by a staff team from both the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning and Green Building Alliance. As described above, the consultant will work with a set of expert stakeholders in Oakland and with relevant utilities, public agencies, and authorities on an as-needed basis. As such, experience working with the Public Utilities Commission of Pennsylvania or similar body would be highly relevant to this work.
Area: Oakland’s Fifth and Forbes Avenue corridor is an extremely energy dense area of buildings owned and operated by academic and healthcare institutions. A new wave of private development (including wet labs and other research and development spaces) are increasing the area’s energy demands without the potential to connect to existing natural gas-fueled district energy facilities that, by long-standing legal agreement and regulations, are restricted to a nonprofit collaborative. Adjacent areas in North Oakland, Central Oakland, and along the Boulevard of the Allies represent existing medium- and high-density areas that will also increase the energy requirements in Oakland – create potential for more effective district energy systems. In addition to district energy planning, this study is expected to inform the creation of a combination of Zoning requirements, incentives, and informational programs that incentivize energy efficiency and on-site generation. Vehicle electrification and transportation planning will also be linked to this work and a separately-funded contract at the City of Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
Relationship to Oakland Plan process: The consultant will work with the Oakland Plan’s Energy Technical Advisory Group (Energy TAG) comprised of energy providers, utilities, academic experts, and major energy users including developers. The Department of City Planning’s Lead Planner and Energy Advisor will oversee this work. The Energy TAG will contribute proposals to the Oakland Plan’s Infrastructure Action Team, in addition to creating the resulting study and master plan.
Reference Project: Cambridge, MA, set the goal of being carbon neutral by 2030 and hired consultants to work with stakeholders to develop different scenarios to reach that goal. The group selected their preferred scenario, which became the energy plan. Generally, district thermal energy systems were proposed for energy dense areas, with electrification and distributed renewables recommended for the lower density residential areas. The results of the Cambridge study are included as references to this RFQ.
Outputs: The results of this work are an energy study and strategic energy plan for the Oakland area. This work is expected to influence the generation of policies, projects and programs in the neighborhood. While the primary point of contact at each institution will be designated administrative and facilities staff, the process will need to thoughtfully incorporate the input of expert research staff. The program of work will also include recommendations on governance (including models for joint planning) and investment (in infrastructure and energy generation equipment).
Tentative Schedule of Events
The following represents the tentative schedule for this project. Any change in the scheduled dates for the Pre-Proposal Conference (if applicable), Deadline for Submission of Written Questions, or Proposal Submission Deadline will be advertised in the form of an addendum to this RFQ. The schedule for the evaluation process and other future dates may be adjusted without notice.
RFQ released: March 26, 2020
Cut-off for questions: April 9, 2020
Qualification submission deadline: May 7, 2020
Qualification Review & Supplier Scoring: May 28, 2020
The rest of the RFQ can be downloaded from: https://www.go-gba.org/gba-pittsburgh/