| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69.24 |
| Liaison | Rob Andrejewski |
| Submission Date | March 4, 2022 |
University of Richmond
OP-6: Clean and Renewable Energy
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.90 / 4.00 |
Rob
Andrejewski Director of Sustainability Office for Sustainability |
Total energy consumption, performance year:
Clean and renewable electricity (report kilowatt-hours):
| kWh | MMBtu | |
| Imported electricity from certified/verified clean and renewable sources (i.e., bundled green power purchases) | 41,309,000 Kilowatt-hours | 140,946.31 MMBtu |
| Electricity from on-site, clean and renewable sources (rights retained/retired) | 237,000 Kilowatt-hours | 808.64 MMBtu |
A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable electricity:
The University of Richmond matches 100 percent of its electricity needs with a single solar power source. Spider Solar is a 20-megawatt solar energy facility that replenishes the electric grid with the same amount of renewable solar energy that the campus uses to run day-to-day operations. The 47,000-panel solar array began operating on Dec. 31, 2020, and will produce 41,000 megawatt-hours of solar energy annually, equivalent to the annual electricity use of 5,000 homes. Spider solar will allow University of Richmond to eliminate Scope 2 emissions, putting us in a great position to aim for carbon neutrality.”
Spider Solar is located in Spottsylvania County, about an hour north of campus. It was built by sPower and is operated by AES as part of a utility scale power purchase agreement. Spider Solar is UR’s second power purchase agreement. In 2016, the university constructed the first solar array in the Commonwealth under Virginia’s PPA pilot program, installing 749 solar panels on the roof of the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness.
A brief description of the on-site renewable electricity generating facilities/devices:
In Spring 2016, the University of Richmond completed installation of a 204.8 kW solar array on the roof of the Weinstein Center for Recreation and Wellness. 749 panels cover roughly 22,000 square feet of the rooftop. 76% of the panels are bifacial, allowing them to collect direct solar energy from the front and ambient energy from the back. The array also utilizes two different kinds of inverters and the two types of panels are also installed on both gravel and white TPO roofs. All of these factors enable classes to use the Weinstein Center array as a living lab, conducting research on how different types of panels, roofing, and inverters impact energy production.
This solar photovoltaic system is designed to genrated 283,400 kilowatt hours of electricity in 2017, exceeding it's expected capacity by 17%.
University of Richmond partnered with Secure Futures, a solar energy development company, under the Virginia Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Pilot Program to install this array. According to the PPA, Secure Futures will install, maintain, and own the solar photovoltaic array on top of the Weinstein Center.
Photovoltaic solar panels are installed on apartment building serving one apartment. The array is capable of providing 2kW under ideal solar conditions and is estimated to produce 2 kWh annually. Each of the ten solar panels in the array has a micro inverter that isolates it from the rest of the array, which is beneficial during overcast conditions.
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:
A brief description of the certified/verified sources of clean and renewable thermal energy:
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:
Total clean and renewable energy generated or purchased:
Percentage of total energy consumption from clean and renewable sources:
Website URL where information about the institution’s support for clean and renewable energy is available:
Electricity use, by source (percentage of total, 0-100):
| Percentage of total electricity use (0-100) | |
| Biomass | 2.70 |
| Coal | 15.90 |
| Geothermal | 0 |
| Hydro | 2.10 |
| Natural gas | 37.10 |
| Nuclear | 38.80 |
| Solar photovoltaic | 2.80 |
| Wind | 0.40 |
| Other (please specify and explain below) | 0.20 |
A brief description of other sources of electricity not specified above:
Using eGrid SRVC: https://www.epa.gov/egrid/power-profiler#/
oil is 0.2
2020 Virginia Integrated Resource Plan
https://cdn-dominionenergy-prd-001.azureedge.net/-/media/pdfs/global/2020-va-integrated-resource-plan.pdf?la=en&rev=9f349ea1db1c4dc19855d70a8519c9d5
Energy used for heating buildings, by source::
| Percentage of total energy used to heat buildings (0-100) | |
| Biomass | 0 |
| Coal | 0 |
| Electricity | 6 |
| Fuel oil | 2 |
| Geothermal | 0 |
| Natural gas | 92 |
| Other (please specify and explain below) | 0 |
A brief description of other sources of building heating not specified above:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.