Dive Brief:
- The U.S. General Services Administration announced Wednesday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with El Paso Electric to supply federal facilities in West Texas and southern New Mexico with carbon pollution-free electricity.
- Under the MOU, GSA and EPE aim to develop a roadmap for federal agencies in the electric provider’s service area to increase their purchase of carbon-free electricity, the GSA said in a news release.
- By 2030, this effort is expected to ensure that the electricity consumed by federal customers in EPE’s service territory is 100% carbon emissions-free on a net annual basis and that at least half of the electricity used by these federal facilities is sourced from carbon-free resources on an hourly basis, such that there is a consistent supply of clean energy round the clock, according to the MOU.
Dive Insight:
With over 300,000 buildings and 600,000 vehicles, the federal government is the largest energy consumer in the U.S., the GSA noted. In the Biden Administration’s proposed fiscal 2025 budget, the agency would be allocated $425 million to right-size its real estate footprint, with an additional $10.7 billion requested by the GSA’s Public Buildings Service arm to address its deferred maintenance liabilities. The PBS said this money would support the transition to 100% carbon pollution-free electricity governmentwide.
The MOU, signed last week, aligns with President Biden’s Federal Sustainability Plan, which sets a target for the government to transition to 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2030, with locally supplied clean energy accounting for at least half of that electricity to meet an hourly-matched demand 24/7, per the release.
Federal agencies are also encouraged to ensure there is enough land available for building facilities that will generate carbon pollution-free electricity.
Alongside the federal government’s efforts, EPE has pledged to achieve 80% carbon-free energy supply by 2035, per the MOU.
The plan has four key areas of focus: developing a roadmap for the federal government’s electricity needs in EPE’s service area to meet carbon pollution-free electricity targets; designing and filing a carbon pollution-free electricity tariff to help the federal government and other participating customers reach their clean energy goals in EPE’s service territory; identifying an initial carbon-free electricity offering for delivery by 2026; and constructing and acquiring carbon-free electricity resources required to generate more electricity and associated energy attribute certificates entirely sourced from carbon pollution-free sources.
The MOU says additional elements of the plan may include enabling federal agencies and other participating customers to eventually subscribe to a carbon-free electricity tariff; assessing the prospect of EPE constructing, owning and operating a carbon-free electricity generation facility or energy storage systems in federal facilities across its service territory and developing additional tariffs for dispatchable carbon-free electricity generation, battery storage and flexible demand response to achieve 100% carbon-free electricity 24/7.
GSA and EPE will also evaluate opportunities to electrify and create grid-efficient buildings on federal sites in EPE’s service territory, with a possibility of EPE providing open-source hourly generation data through a dashboard created by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory to validate the 24/7 hourly match in clean electricity.
“This is GSA’s fifth MOU with a utility company and it’s the latest example of how the federal government is leading by example in addressing climate changes,” GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan said in a statement, noting that such partnerships with energy providers can help save taxpayer money and create more jobs.
The GSA said it will continue to engage with EPE and other utilities to explore more options for clean electricity.
