Attached is the EPA GPP Reporting form for FY23.

Hi Rob and Tony,

Tim Mies asked me who “owns” the RECs from small scale solar arrays at individual buildings.  I said I’d have to check into it.

At first I thought all RECs are owned by central campus (UES), but then I questioned myself.  For a rooftop solar array, we don’t include it in the M-RETS program, and at ECE, we only “sold” them the solar farm 2.0 RECs.  We let them count their rooftop solar directly and they have the DOR accordingly. 

So is it appropriate to tell him that the RECs associated with the 14.7 kW array he is planning to install at the Energy Farm (not the SCAPES project) will be considered “used” at the Energy Farm?

I would caution that we do not want individual departments to get into selling RECs, without a much broader discussion.  So perhaps we should say that he can use/retire them at his site, but he cannot sell them without further discussion?

What do you recommend?

Thanks,

Morgan

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Good questions. I think that if the department “owns” the REC, then they should also be able to sell the REC. I am interested in others views on the topic, and agree that it would lend to a much broader discussion.

Rob Roman

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I agree that a broader discussion would be helpful.

Best,

Tony

Hello my name is Saif Malik and I am a graduate student in the Energy Systems program. Some classmates and I are working with the Student Sustainability Committee on proposing 2 pairs of solar compactors to be set up by the main union. 

I understand that in the past there was a compactor that broke down/ caused issues. I was hoping to get any information on this so we can look into if this is still viable or what improvements would be needed from what you encountered.

Thank you for your time!

Saif Malik

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Morgan, would you be able to assist with the below?

Jerry Dinnin

Below is an email exchange between Morgan White and Tony Spurlock:

Hi Ehab, Rob, and Tony,

I’ve put the Solar Farm 3.0 slide show from Dec. 9 into the attached report. I referenced the slides with thumbnail images, and we could take some out and increase the size of some, depending on what we prefer to do.

Tony, I would appreciate your assistance with filling in the UIC total contract costs.  I’ve included comments for each of the spaces where that info is needed.  Could you please also look at the other questions I commented.

Rob, there are two questions that I hope you can help answer. 

1. If we lease the land for the onsite solar option, can it still be "behind the meter"?
2. We currently conclude with this statement: “We feel that the hybrid option meets several goals as it has great savings potential, adds renewable energy to the regional MISO network, which supports our local provider Ameren, and directly increases the capacity of the network we use to purchase the balance between what we consume and what we produce at UIUC.”  Is a MISO project somewhere other than in Illinois going to support Ameren and increase the capacity of the network we use?

Thanks,

Morgan

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I added all of the UIC totals and attached the updated calculations.

I do not think the hybrid option benefits Ameren (we are not taking additional delivery and it appears the new array would be outside the Ameren territory).

Should we include a statement related to how this fits into our strategy?  Here is a thought to get the ball rolling.  “This hydrid option allows the University to continue its leadership in Sustainability by leveraging best practices and expanding its portfolio of renewable strategies that provide a more comprehensive approach to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.”  

Regards,

Tony

Attached is a pdf and excel file looking at the costs and solution comparisons for Solar Farm 3.0.