Seattle Expands Energy Efficiency as a Service Program
Two New Solicitations with Expanded Eligibility Criteria Are On the Horizon
Seattle City Light (City Light) has announced that it will significantly expand its “Energy Efficiency as a Service” (EEaS) pilot program in 2021. As we have described in more detail here and here, City Light’s program leverages the success of the Metered Energy Efficiency Transaction Structure (MEETS) modeled at Seattle’s Bullitt Center, widely recognized to be one of the world’s greenest buildings. The MEETS/EEaS financing model provides a new revenue stream for building owners by allowing them to capitalize on the energy efficiency potential of their buildings. It also creates incentives for deeper energy efficiency retrofits and financing over a much longer term than standard energy efficiency programs.
City Light has announced two new rounds of solicitation for projects to participate in the EEaS program. In January 2021, City Light will initiate Phase 2 of EEaS, which will remain open for three months and will seek 10 additional buildings to participate in its EEaS pilot program. City Light will, in addition, open a Phase 3 solicitation seeking an additional 15 buildings to participate in the program, although the utility has not yet settled on the timing of Phase 3.
City Light will also expand the types of buildings that are eligible to participate in the EEaS program. While the first round of solicitations was limited to buildings with landlords and tenants, City Light will now consider new buildings and existing commercial buildings without a landlord/tenant leasing structure.
The EEaS program, along with recently-enacted legislation permitting Property Assessed Clean Energy and Resiliency financing, offers building owners in Washington innovative new ways to finance the measures that will be needed to comply with major new mandates requiring significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.
Beveridge & Diamond's Electric Power industry group advises and represents conventional and renewable power producers on environmental and natural resource matters to help them build new capacity. For more information, please contact the author.
