CitySmart Quick Start Program
Program Manual - November 2007
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PROGRAM OVERVIEW
“Quick Start” PROGRAMS TO REDUCE PEAK DEMAND LOAD
In September 2007, the Arkansas Public Service Commission (APSC) ordered all
investor-owned regulated utilities within Arkansas to offer energy-saving
programs to their customers. In Docket No 07-085-TF, Order No. 8, the APSC
approved the Entergy Arkansas, Inc. energy efficiency programs.
The first three years of the programs are called the “Quick Start” period.
During this time, Entergy Arkansas* is offering a variety of programs, which
are limited in nature, with the intention of gaining market knowledge and
preparing to potentially provide future programs to additional customers. As a
result, the programs are limited in scope, the funds available, and the number
of customers who may participate.
One of these approved Quick Start programs, the CitySmart Quick Start Program,
is detailed below.
CitySmart Quick Start PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
The CitySmart Program is designed for retail electric service to local public
entities in the Entergy Arkansas territory. The program will help senior
managers and facility managers at local public entities operate their
buildings more efficiently by understanding the technical and financial
benefits of investing in energy efficiency and developing a plan to make
energy efficiency improvements. Customers enrolling in the program, referred
to as partners, will receive technical and energy management assistance to
help them make decisions about cost-effective investments in facility energy
efficiency and will receive direct cash incentives for completed energy
efficiency projects.
Program benefits include energy benchmarking, creating an energy master plan,
technical assistance, communications support, and cash incentives.
The program does not prescribe technologies or end uses, but it does provide a
framework through which the customer can receive incentives for implementing
and installing a wide range of measures at their sites.
*Entergy Arkansas, Inc.
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PROGRAM ELIGIBILITY
Any local public entity customer that receives retail electric service from
Entergy Arkansas is eligible for the CitySmart Program. A customer is defined
by a single Tax ID number. Originations with multiple locations are thereby
considered a single customer, regardless of how many Entergy Arkansas account
numbers they may have.
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INCENTIVES
WHAT IS THE INCENTIVE PRICING?
The incentives for eligible energy efficiency measures are $144/kW for peak
demand reductions.
INCENTIVE BASIS
Funding is available to pay incentives for eligible energy efficiency projects
in local public entity facilities, which are paid on kW reductions. Deemed
savings are the standardized savings values or simple formulas for a range of
measures in representative building types. Deemed savings do not require
measurement and verification (M&V). Customers may also submit suggested
measures not deemed savings measures, along with a suggested M&V approach. As
long as the approach includes adequate calculations or monitoring to justify
savings as determined by the Program Administrator, the measures may be
eligible for incentives under this program.
FUNDING LIMITATIONS
To ensure incentives are available for multiple projects, no program partner
and its affiliates may receive more than 20 percent of Entergy Arkansas’
program incentives budget in any funding year. Funds for each year are paid on
a first-complete, first-paid project basis. As a result, partners are
encouraged to complete their projects as early as possible to ensure they
receive the full project incentive. Depending on funds that remain available
in the program at the time of the project completion, the participant may be
paid in that year only as much as the remaining funds allow.
HOW ARE INCENTIVES PAID?
A project will utilize primarily-deemed savings to calculate peak demand
savings, and it will receive an Installation Payment representing 100 percent
of the total estimated incentive payment after the project is installed,
documented and accepted by Entergy Arkansas.
Incentives are paid by check directly to the Entergy Arkansas retail electric
customer after the project is completed and verified (post inspected if
necessary). Checks will be delivered no later than December 31, 2008.
NOTES
Under no circumstances will Entergy Arkansas make a total incentive payment
more than 100 percent of the total estimated incentive payment specified in
the CitySmart project application. No customer has an unconditional
entitlement to the CitySmart incentive funds.
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PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS
The CitySmart Program involves a Program Administrator consisting of Entergy
Arkansas and its implementing contractor, CLEAResult Consulting, and Entergy
Arkansas. The program also involves qualified Entergy Arkansas customers as
described in the eligibility section.
PROGRAM ADMINISTRATOR
The program administrator’s responsibilities include:
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Conducting outreach to potential program partners
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Securing and reviewing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) from the partner
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Providing benchmarking, master planning assistance, technical assistance, and
communications support
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Reviewing Project Applications and Project Completion Reports
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Performing pre- and post-construction inspections
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Authorizing and issuing incentive payments
LOCAL PUBLIC ENTITY PARTNER
Any local public entity receiving retail service from Entergy Arkansas is
eligible for the CitySmart Program. To participate in the program, a local
public entity partner must:
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Commit to the terms of the MOU;
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Provide energy use and building characteristics data for use in Energy
Performance Benchmarking;
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Attend an Energy Master Planning Workshop;
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Complete an Energy Management Performance Scorecard and write an Energy Master
Plan;
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Commit adequate personnel and resources to take advantage of the program
benefits;
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Submit a Project Application to get pre-approval for incentives for qualifying
energy efficiency projects. Application approval is required before a
reservation of incentive money for that project is determined;
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Exert their best efforts to approve, fund, install and report projects before
the end of 2008;
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Submit a Project Completion Report when projects are completed;
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Provide access to Program Administrator staff to project facilities both
before and after project completion for inspection of the baseline and
post-retrofit condition.
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PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
WHAT IS A PROJECT?
A project is defined by a set of proposed peak demand savings measures
included in a single application. Comprehensive projects that include a range
of measure types are encouraged.
All projects must meet the following requirements:
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Minimum Project Size: Each project must include a total estimated demand
reduction of at least 20 kW during the summer peak period, defined between 11
a.m. and 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, for the months of May through
September, excluding holidays.
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Multi-Site: One project may involve the installation of measures at more than
one customer site, if the customers and sites are similar. For example,
installation of measures at libraries may include more than one location but
may constitute a single project. Combining similar measures/sites into a
single project reduces administrative costs for performing review of
applications and pre- and post-construction inspections.
ELIGIBLE ENERGY EFFICIENCY UPGRADE PROJECT MEASURES
The energy efficiency upgrade measures in the list below are based on deemed
savings calculations and are eligible in the CitySmart program.
The savings from these measures—based on the “Arkansas Deemed Savings Quick
Start Program Draft Report - Commercial Measures”—apply where no unusual
conditions exist. For example, chiller loads must not be more than 20 percent
process-related, and projects must not incorporate significant deviations from
typical chiller operation practices (e.g. non-standard chilled water or
condenser water set points, ice production during off peak hours, changes in
chiller sequencing, etc.). These measures require no short-term testing or
long-term metering. If a customer has a measure not specified in the list
below or with unusual conditions, such that the measure does not qualify for
deemed savings, the customer may choose to consider the eligibility
requirements in Entergy Arkansas’ Large C&I Standard Offer Program, which
includes options for measures requiring measurement and verification (M&V).
Alternatively, the customer may choose to submit the measure to this program
with a suggested M&V approach. As long as the approach includes adequate
calculations or monitoring to justify savings, the measures may be eligible
for incentives under this program.
1. LED TRAFFIC SIGNALS
2. LIGHTING EFFICIENCY
2.1. Lamp and Ballast Replacements
2.2. HID Fixture Replacements
2.3. Hard-Wired CFLs
3. PREMIUM EFFICIENCY MOTORS
4. UNITARY AC AND HP EQUIPMENT
4.1. Air Conditioners—Air Cooled
4.2. Air Conditioners—Water and Evaporatively Cooled
4.3. Heat Pumps—Air Cooled
5. WATER CHILLING EQUIPMENT (CHILLERS)
5.1. Screw—Air Cooled
5.2. Reciprocating—Air Cooled
5.3. Reciprocating—Water Cooled
5.4. Rotary/Screw/Scroll—Water Cooled
5.5. Centrifugal—Water Cooled
Measures must also meet the following requirements:
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Produce demand savings through an increase in energy efficiency;
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Produce a measurable and verifiable electric demand reduction during the peak
summer period and must reduce electricity consumption;
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Have a useful life of at least 10 years; and
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Exceed minimum equipment efficiency standards.
EFFICIENCY STANDARDS
Entergy Arkansas has designed the CitySmart Program to encourage electric
energy efficiency improvements that go above and beyond the efficiency gains
typically achieved in retrofit or replacement projects. Accordingly, demand
savings credit will be based only on reductions that exceed current industry
accepted minimum efficiency standards where applicable. The equipment
efficiency standards listed below will be used to determine the baseline
efficiency:
INELIGIBLE MEASURES
Excluded from consideration in the program are the following measures that:
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Receive an incentive through any other energy efficiency program offered by
Entergy Arkansas
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Involve fuel switching
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Involve self-generation or cogeneration
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Rely on changes in customer behavior
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Require no investment
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Result in negative environmental or health effects
NOTES
Entergy Arkansas will not directly market any energy efficiency-related
product or service to its customers and makes no representation of the
benefits of any particular technology or energy efficiency measure eligible
for incentives under this program. The selection of an energy efficiency
measure is at the discretion of the individual customer and their energy
efficiency service provider.
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PROGRAM PROCESS
To join CitySmart, the local public entity executes a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with Entergy Arkansas. The MOU describes program
commitments on the part of Entergy Arkansas and the CitySmart partner. In the
MOU, the customer will accept the program rules and commit to exert their best
efforts to participate in the program and implement cost-effective energy
efficiency measures. Program staff will contact customers who submit the MOU
to provide the customer with details on program participation, benefits and
requirements and to begin the program process to complete benchmarking and
developing an energy master plan.
Under CitySmart, the program provides the following services:
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Energy Performance Benchmarking - Entergy Arkansas benchmarks current
energy use with the U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® tool. Portfolio
Manager provides a rating for the performance of buildings on a scale of one
to 100 relative to similar buildings. Other benchmarking metrics include cost
per occupant, cost per square foot, etc.
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Energy Master Planning - Entergy Arkansas provides each program partner
with training and guidance for developing its own Energy Master Plan (EMP).
EMPs are designed to overcome entrenched institutional problems by preempting
them before they occur and replacing them with better procedures that help
eliminate counterproductive practices (such as installing low-first-cost
systems).
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Technical Support - Entergy Arkansas provides technical support to help
local public entities assess and evaluate various energy upgrade scenarios to
determine the best in terms of life-cycle costs.
Once customers define potential projects, they complete and submit an Initial
Project Application to indicate their intention to complete a project and
receive and incentive. Entergy Arkansas will provide the application form.
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Financial Incentives and Education - CitySmart provides financial
incentives, based on peak demand reductions the partner achieves during the
program year. These incentives help the partner to “buy down” the incremental
cost of purchasing more energy efficient equipment, reducing operating costs
over the life of the systems and serving to make a project’s simple payback
period shorter. While local public entities may choose to fund their upgrades
with traditional funding sources, CitySmart also educates senior decision
makers on how to leverage outside sources of funds through performance
contracts, lease-purchase agreements and third-party financing.
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Recognition - CitySmart provides news releases and other communications
support to inform each community about the steps their local public entity is
taking to improve the energy performance of their facilities, reduce operating
costs and use budget dollars more efficiently.
Under CitySmart, the local public entity partner agrees to do the following:
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Identify and assess energy efficiency measures.
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Develop and adhere to an Energy Master Plan outlining administrative and
financial decision-making criteria for energy efficiency improvements,
installation of energy efficiency measures and maintenance and operation
procedures in order to succeed in implementing a cost-effective energy program
in a timely manner.
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Identify and assess capital-intensive energy projects which will produce
energy cost savings.
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Identify funding sources with which to complete projects, using Entergy
Arkansas' incentives as a means to help offset the capital cost of projects.
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Submit an Initial Project Application to get pre-approval for incentives for
qualifying projects.
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Implement energy efficient projects.
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Submit a Final Project Application with documentation on projects completed.
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Allow Entergy Arkansas program personnel access to the site(s) to conduct pre-
and post-construction inspections.
Further details about Entergy Arkansas' commitments and the local public
entity’s commitments can be found in the CitySmart MOU.
NOTES
Entergy Arkansas will not reimburse any program partner for any costs incurred
by participating in the CitySmart Program, including costs of collecting
energy use and building characteristics data, developing an Energy Master Plan
or documenting and reporting energy efficiency measures.
PROGRAM PROCESS DIAGRAM
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PROGRAM ENROLLMENT
Entergy Arkansas will invite local public entities to participate in the
CitySmart Program.
Experience has shown it takes a local public entity the size of at least
10,000 in population to receive enough benefit from the program relative to
the time invested.
The program target date to begin to accept MOUs is January 18, 2008. However,
local public entities interested in enrolling in the program before then
should contact their Entergy Arkansas Customer Service Manager. Local public
entities should focus on submitting completed MOUs by February 29, 2008. Click
here to download a sample Memorandum of Understanding agreement. Local
public entities may get a customized agreement by contacting their Customer
Service Manager or by e-mailing the Program Administrator at CitySmartEAI@clearesult.com. Please
indicate how your organization should be referenced in the document.
To enroll in the program, the local public entity executes an MOU and submits
it to:
Program Administrator – Entergy Arkansas, Inc. Quick Start Programs
CitySmart
Program
6929 JFK Blvd., #20-167
North Little Rock, AR 72116-5339
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NEXT STEPS
After the CitySmart partner has joined the program via a signed and submitted
MOU, they complete energy benchmarking, master planning and identify energy
efficiency upgrade projects they wish to undertake. The next steps include:
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Initial Project Application Submittal;
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Application Review;
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Pre-Construction Inspection;
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Project Installation;
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Final Project Application Submittal;
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Post-Construction Inspection; and
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Incentives Processing.
INITIAL PROJECT APPLICATION SUBMITTAL
To initiate the project, the customer submits an Initial Project Application
comprised of Microsoft® Excel® worksheets. Not all of the worksheets are
required for every project; and there are instructions on the forms to learn
which are mandatory and which are not. The Initial Project Application should
be submitted in both electronic and hard copy formats.
Electronic copies of the Initial Project Application may be e-mailed to:
CitySmartEAI@clearesult.com
A complete hard copy, along with supplemental materials and signatures, should
be sent to the following address:
Program Administrator – Entergy Arkansas, Inc. Quick Start Programs
CitySmart
Program
6929 JFK Blvd., #20-167
North Little Rock, AR 72116-5339
APPLICATION REVIEW
Entergy Arkansas will review each Project Application for completeness,
accuracy and whether the listed measures qualify for incentive funding under
the CitySmart program. Entergy Arkansas will communicate with the CitySmart
partner regarding necessary corrections and/or modifications to the
application. Once reviewed and accepted, Entergy Arkansas will notify the
CitySmart partner of the amount of incentives for which the partner qualifies.
PRE-CONSTRUCTION INSPECTION
The customer notifies Entergy Arkansas a minimum of 15 working days before
project construction is to begin. Entergy Arkansas will send an inspector to
the site or sites to visually document the existence and condition of the
equipment to be replaced, including make, model and serial number where
applicable. The customer will provide a representative to conduct the
pre-construction inspection with the Entergy Arkansas inspector.
PROJECT INSTALLATION
Upon completion and approval of the pre-construction inspection, the customer
proceeds with the project installation.
FINAL PROJECT APPLICATION SUBMITTAL
Within 30 days of the completion of installation, the customer submits a Final
Project Application. The Final Project Application is a revised Initial
Project Application, with documentation on the measures actually installed and
any changes, adjustments or scope changes to the project since the approval of
the Initial Project Application.
Electronic copies of the Excel® worksheets may be e-mailed to:
CitySmartEAI@clearesult.com
A complete hard copy, along with supplemental materials and signatures, should
be sent to the following address:
Program Administrator – Entergy Arkansas, Inc. Quick Start Programs
CitySmart
Program
6929 JFK Blvd., #20-167
North Little Rock, AR 72116-5339
POST-CONSTRUCTION INSPECTION
Once the project is completed, the customer notifies Entergy Arkansas and
schedules a post-construction inspection. Using the Final Project Application,
Entergy Arkansas’ inspector will again visit the site or sites to visually
verify the equipment has been replaced as indicated in the Final Project
Application. The inspector will document the type of equipment installed
including make, model and serial number where applicable. The customer will
provide a representative to conduct the post-construction inspection with the
Entergy Arkansas’ inspector.
INCENTIVES PROCESSING
Using the results of the post-construction inspection, Entergy Arkansas will
calculate the peak demand savings for the project and determine the amount of
incentives due to the customer. The incentive check will be delivered no later
than December.
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FAQs
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What is the CitySmart Quick Start Program?
The CitySmart Quick Start Program is designed for local public entities that
receive retail electric service in the Entergy Arkansas territory. The program
will help senior managers and facility managers at local public entities
operate their buildings more efficiently by understanding the technical and
financial benefits of investing in energy efficiency and developing a plan to
make energy efficiency improvements.
-
Who is eligible for the CitySmart Program?
Any local public entity customer receiving retail electric service from
Entergy Arkansas is eligible for the CitySmart Program. A customer is defined
by a single Tax ID number. Multiple locations of an organization are thereby
considered a single customer, regardless of how many Entergy Arkansas account
numbers they may have. In general, cities having more facility square footage
and higher energy usage receive greater program benefits.
-
How does a customer enroll to participate in the program?
To join CitySmart, the local public entity executes a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with Entergy Arkansas. The MOU describes program
commitments on the part of Entergy Arkansas and the CitySmart partner. Program
staff will contact customers who submit the MOU to provide the customer with
details on program participation, benefits, and requirements and to begin the
program process.
-
What are the next steps after enrollment in the program?
After the CitySmart partner has joined the program via a signed and submitted
MOU, they complete energy benchmarking, master planning and identify energy
efficiency upgrade projects they wish to undertake.
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Who decides what energy efficiency technologies to install or who is to
install them?
The partners are the sole determinant for what energy efficiency measures they
decide to implement and how they are implemented. The program does not provide
any installation of energy efficiency measures and is neutral on whether the
participant performs the work in-house or uses a contractor.
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What is energy benchmarking?
Benchmarking the energy performance of the participants is done through the
use of US EPA’s Portfolio Manager tool. Information is entered into the tool
along with the energy use of the facility, where the facilities are located
geographically, the number of occupants in the building and some information
about certain types of equipment within the facilities. Once this information
is completed and submitted as inputs to the tool, the output is a numerical
score from one to 100. The higher the benchmark score, the better the energy
performance; conversely, the lower the score, the poorer the energy
performance. Once the scores are revealed, participants in the program can
start to determine the energy efficiency opportunities in their facilities and
prioritize their efforts.
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What is the Energy Master Plan?
The energy master plan is a document developed by the participant focusing on
short-term and long-term strategies for managing and reducing energy usage for
the participant. This is developed after a workshop in which the best
practices in the industry are reviewed, and the participant can select the
practices they feel are in their best interest to pursue.
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How are the energy efficiency opportunities determined?
The program works with the individual participants to utilize their energy
benchmarking scores and identify the areas of need for energy efficiency
opportunities within their facilities. Once the areas of need are identified,
the program works with the participant to find the right resources to assist
the partner.
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How much time should participants expect to invest in the program?
We expect participants in the program to spend 30-50 hours on program
functions over the course of a year. It has been our experience that the
amount of time participants are engaged in the program is directly related to
the benefit participants realize. The bottom line is it is up to the
individual participant to determine the amount of time to invest based on the
results they expect to achieve.
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How does Entergy Arkansas decide which projects to fund?
Entergy Arkansas reviews Initial Project Applications for customer and measure
eligibility. Funds are reserved on a first-come, first-served basis until they
are fully allocated.
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What are the incentives?
The default incentives for eligible energy efficiency measures are based on
$144/kW for demand reductions. The kW reductions are based on “deemed
savings,” which have been submitted to the Arkansas Public Service Commission.
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PROGRAM CONTACTS
Entergy Arkansas Program Manager
Richard Smith
Entergy Arkansas
Program Implementation Contractor
CLEAResult Consulting
ProgramAdminEAI@clearesult.com
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