University of California, Berkeley
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy

This year the campus has installed almost 1MW of solar PV. In 2015, two of the five sites become operational in December of the performance year. Solar PV systems at MLK Student Union, the new Eshleman, the Recreation Sports complex, and the University Village apartments are now operational. The Office of Sustainability and Energy worked in a collaborative, competitive procurement strategy with 19 other public agencies in the region, led by the Alameda County General Services division, Berkeley secured very favorable pricing for these three rooftop and one canopy/carport installations – 25-40% below market rate. In aggregate these systems will bring cost savings in year one to the campus. The solar will be installed by a purchase power agreement (PPA) - the vendor is covering the costs of installation and operating and maintaining the systems, and Berkeley will pay for the power they generate. Last year, Jacobs Hall, the new campus building for design innovation in engineering, opened with rooftop solar arrays installed by Sungevity. These arrays are translucent solar panels that not only produce electricity but are an architectural feature.

UC Berkeley added a solar thermal water heating system to a residence hall in 2012. The solar thermal serves the hall, the third party vendor retains the renewable attribute.

Berkeley procures RECs for LEED related building projects. In 2015, the performance year, there were no purchases, but some are upcoming.

The public utility that provides electricity for the campus has 21% unspecified in the power-mix and is reported this way as required by the California Energy Commission. The California Energy Commission calls unspecified power “electricity from transactions that are not traceable to specific generation sources.” Unspecified power is electricity purchased on the spot market from someone like a third-party power provider. Each one of those third-parties will have a different mix of generation (and emissions), depending on what their generation portfolio is. The utility includes this power in the greenhouse gas inventory to The Climate Registry using an average emissions factor for the third-party power providers, rather than accounting for each individual electron coming from one of the third-party power providers’ specific power plants or wind farms.

The campus uses steam to heat buildings - the steam is primarily generated from natural gas cogeneration facility that produces electricity and steam.