Overall Rating Platinum
Overall Score 88.80
Liaison Aarushi Gupta
Submission Date Aug. 11, 2021

STARS v2.2

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

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.73 / 4.00 Matt Gudorf
Campus Energy Manager
Facilities Management
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total energy consumption, performance year:
165,540.84 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) 8,792,367 Kilowatt-hours 29,999.56 MMBtu
Electricity from on-site, clean and renewable sources (rights retained/retired) 21,512 Kilowatt-hours 73.40 MMBtu

A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable electricity:
The Irvine campus is a participant in the University of California Wholesale Power Program which provides 100% carbon free electricity to all ten campuses. The University of California was ranked #1 by among colleges and universities by the US Environmental Protection Agency for green power usage.

Article:
https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-ranks-first-among-colleges-and-universities-green-power-usage

A brief description of the on-site renewable electricity generating facilities/devices:
UCI receives clean and renewable energy from multiple on-site photovoltaic (PV) projects on the UCI campus. A 109 kW ground-mounted concentrated photovoltaic array (CPV array), a 1,005 kW building rooftop mounted PV array, a 48 kW mounted PV array with battery storage on the Anteater Parking Structure, and 2,569 kW on three other parking structures.

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:
Recovered heat from our combustion turbine power plant generates high-temperature water, which provides heating to the campus. In addition to heating the campus, recovered heat is also used in a steam turbine chiller to produce chilled water to cool the campus buildings. This is more efficient than producing electricity to in turn run an electric chiller.

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

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:
Third-party Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) that have been purchased by the campus are certified through the Green-e program. No RECs were purchased for 2019.

Total clean and renewable energy generated or purchased:
30,072.96 MMBtu

Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
18.17

Website URL where information about the institution’s support for clean and renewable energy is available:
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Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
Percentage of total electricity use (0-100)
Biomass 0.20
Coal 1.80
Geothermal 0.20
Hydro 2.40
Natural gas 77.40
Nuclear 2.20
Solar photovoltaic 1.20
Wind 5.80
Other (please specify and explain below) 8.90

A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
UC Irvine operates a steam turbine generator that is driven using the recovered heat from the combustion turbine. The steam turbine generator is only used when the campus heat load has been satisfied.

Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100)
Biomass 0
Coal 0
Electricity 1
Fuel oil 0
Geothermal 0
Natural gas 28
Other (please specify and explain below) 71

A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
UC Irvine operates a combined heat and power (CHP) plant supplying clean energy to the campus and providing a model of clean and efficient energy delivered through a campus microgrid. The energy provided from the heat recovered from the CHP turbine (407,314 MMBtu in 2016) is delivered to provide heating to the campus as part of UCI’s district thermal energy loop. This recovered heat displaces approximately 512,344 MMBtu of natural gas which would have otherwise been burned to supply heat to the campus with a conventional boiler plant.

Clean energy provided through CHP, such as occurs in UCI’s microgrid, is recognized by the California Energy Commission, US Environmental Protection Agency, and US Department of Energy as a key clean and renewable energy strategy required to achieve state greenhouse gas emission limits and federal actions to address carbon pollution. Consistent with this strategy the Scoping Plan for the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) requires installation of 4,000 MW of additional CHP in California by 2020 and the California Clean Energy Jobs Plan calls for 6,500 MW of CHP by 2030.

Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
UCI's campus-wide deployment of renewable energy systems provides distributed generation within the campus microgrid and supports the campus' leading-edge research in clean energy and microgrid/smart grid integration. This includes 1,005 kW of building rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panels, 109 kW of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) ground-mounted panels, and 2,617 kW of PV panels mounted on campus parking structures. In keeping with UCI's role as a living laboratory for sustainability, these systems provide a test bed for renewable energy technology and smart grid integration of renewable energy systems onto the campus microgrid, supporting multiple collaborative research projects involving UCI faculty, staff, and students.

UC Irvine quadrupled the amount of green power it generates on-site with the addition of solar photovoltaic canopies on three campus parking structure roofs. More than 11,700 newly placed solar panels generate up to 2.6 megawatts of power, the amount needed to meet the electrical needs of 1,600 homes. UCI is installed the solar PV systems under a 25-year power purchase agreement with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources LLC.

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.