Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 74.49
Liaison Krista Bailey
Submission Date Dec. 17, 2020

STARS v2.2

Pennsylvania State University
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.10 / 4.00 Shelley McKeague
Environmental Compliance Specialist
Engineering Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption, performance year:
3,185,936.95 MMBtu

Clean and renewable electricity (report kilowatt-hours):
kWh MMBtu
Imported electricity from certified/verified clean and renewable sources (i.e., bundled green power purchases) 23,121,277 Kilowatt-hours 78,889.80 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, clean and renewable sources (rights retained/retired) 1,144,787 Kilowatt-hours 3,906.01 MMBtu

A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable electricity:

6 MW Hydroelectric PPA - In 2013, Penn State entered into a 10 year power purchase agreement with Mahoning Creek Hydroelectric Company.

2 MW Solar PPA - A 25 year PPA with Alternate Energy Development Group (AEDG) for a 2MW onsite solar array located on the University Park campus.

70 MW Solar PPA - In 2019, Penn State entered into a 25 year Solar PPA with Lightsource BP. The University began taking power October 1, 2020. (Because of this time-frame, electricity from this source is not reflected in the kwh values above.)


A brief description of the on-site renewable electricity generating facilities/devices:

Penn State has five different solar arrays on campus:
The first is a 2 KW array that was installed in 2001. This array is thin film panels with a grid-tied inverter and is fixed roof mounted on our Physical Plant Building.
The second system is a 1.75 KW pole mounted array and uses passive tracking. It is installed on our Center for Sustainability greenhouse and is mono-crystalline silicon panels with a grid-tied inverter.
The third system is an 8 KW array which is roof mounted onto our MorningStar home, which was PSU's 2007 entry into the Solar Decathlon. This array is mono-crystalline silicon panels with a grid-tied inverter.
The fourth is a 5 KW system located at the Physical Plant Building to offset a vehicle charging station for electric cars purchased as part of a Reinvention Fund grant through the Sustainability Institute.


Clean and renewable thermal energy (report MMBtu):
MMBtu
Clean and renewable stationary fuels used on-site to generate thermal energy 0 MMBtu
Imported steam, hot water, and/or chilled water from certified/verified clean and renewable sources 0 MMBtu

A brief description of the clean and renewable stationary fuels:

not applicable


A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable thermal energy:
---

Unbundled renewable energy products (report kWh):
kWh MMBtu
Purchased RECs, GOs, I-RECs or equivalent unbundled renewable energy products certified by a third party 0 Kilowatt-hours 0 MMBtu

A brief description of the unbundled renewable energy products:

not applicable


Total clean and renewable energy generated or purchased:
82,795.81 MMBtu

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
2.60

Website URL where information about the institution’s support for clean and renewable energy is available:
Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass 0.45
Coal 33.04
Geothermal 0
Hydro 7.33
Natural gas 34.23
Nuclear 21.06
Solar photovoltaic 0.40
Wind 2.68
Other (please specify and explain below) 0.81

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:

Other - Oil & Other fossil generation (from eGRID)

Data above based on fuel use for onsite combined heat and power generation and eGRID RFCW sources for purchased electricity


Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100)
Biomass 0
Coal 0
Electricity 0
Fuel oil 0.10
Geothermal 0
Natural gas 99.90
Other (please specify and explain below) 0

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.