Glendale Water & Power signs contract tied to C&I energy efficiency program

Glendale Water & Power (GWP) has signed a contract with Lime Energy for energy efficiency that aims to support the California public power utility’s clean energy transformation.

Under the $18 million, seven-year contract, Lime Energy will deliver 36,500 megawatt hours (MWh) in energy savings by providing a combination of targeted energy efficiency technologies, upgrades, and services for small and large businesses in Glendale.

GWP projects it will have 964,352 MWh of retail energy sales in its 2021-2022 fiscal year, rising to 940,282 MWh in fiscal year 2030-2031.

The contract institutes a pay-for-performance program that is designed to provide energy efficiency upgrades to commercial and industrial (C&I) businesses in the utility’s service territory. The program will use the direct install energy efficiency program model, which is designed as a turn-key process for C&I customers.

“We are committed to accelerating and ramping up our sustainability efforts by providing a turnkey upgrade program for our commercial and industrial business customers,” John Takhtalian, interim general manager of Glendale Water & Power, said in a statement. “This program helps our customers meet their energy efficiency goals and helps GWP take more steps toward a clean energy future.”

Among the services Lime Energy, subsidiary of Willdan Group, will provide GWP are marketing, sales, engineering, project implementation, and customer support for a range of energy efficiency practices and technologies. The technologies covered under the program include lighting, refrigeration, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).

The contract with Lime Energy is not GWP’s first energy efficiency program. “GWP has a long history of providing energy efficiency programs for our customers,” Atineh Haroutunian, the utility’s public benefits marketing manager, said via email. GWP has invested over $50 million in multiple energy efficiency programs, for both residential and business customers, since 2000, she said.

GWP has provided most, if not all, of those energy efficiency programs through outside contractors. “Using outside contractors is the most cost-effective and efficient why to provide these kinds of services to our customers,” Haroutunian said. “It allows us to provide the most variety in program offerings and gives our customers access to more cutting edge energy efficiency products and services.”

The program with Lime Energy was developed in response to City Council recommendations to develop clean energy programs as part of the utility’s plan to repower its Grayson power plant.

GWP is repowering the Grayson plant with a combination of renewable energy resources, energy storage and a limited amount of thermal generation. The plan includes a 75 MW, 300 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system, as much as 50 MW of distributed energy resources that include solar photovoltaic systems, energy efficiency and demand response programs, and 93 MW of thermal generation from up to five internal combustion engines.

The Lime Energy program is part of GWP’s Clean Energy Program suite. Another element of the utility’s Clean Energy Program was its launch in April of its Peak Savings demand response program for residential and commercial customers. The program provides incentives for reducing demand on the electric grid on days when demand is highest and is being run by Franklin Energy.