Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs)

ORNL has been an integral part of FEMP’s Super ESPC team since its inception, when the ORNL FEMP team provided contracting and technical support during the placement of the first generation of Super ESPCs in the 1990s. The group’s FEMP team continues to play a prominent role in FEMP ESPC activities:
— Technical review of ESPC proposals and M&V reports
— Analysis of Super ESPC Program data for project quality assurance
— Reducing financing costs in federal ESPCs
— ESPC training materials and instructors
— Support with geothermal heat pumps and combined heat and cooling technologies in energy projects
— Producing program guidance and documenting ESPC best practices
— Leadership on Federal ESPC Steering Committee Working Groups

Results—Competition in Financing

ORNL spearheaded the reforms that first required competition in federal ESPC financing.

ORNL analysis of Super ESPC program data shows that interest premiums over index rates for Super ESPC projects (the component of the total interest rate that can be competed) fell to half of what they were before the reforms were implemented.

Publications:
— Comparing Processes and Costs of ESPC and Appropriations-Funded Energy Projects - ORNL/TM-2002/150
— Comparing Life-Cycle Costs of ESPCs and Appropriations-Funded Energy Projects: An Update to the 2002 Report - ORNL/TM-2006/138
— Reducing Financing Costs for Federal ESPCs - ORNL/TM-204/300
— Determining Price Reasonableness in Federal ESPCs
— Seeing Savings from an ESPC Project in Fort Polk's Utility Bills