DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA WATER AND SEWER AUTHORITY (DC Water) REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) RFI Date Issued 18-PR-DWT-05 November 1, 2017 Information Due Date and Time For Energy Partnership SodiHyHyklklHydHydroxide DC Water Point of Contact (POC): Name: Mr. Scott Kang Title: Sr. Sourcing Specialist Tel: (202) 787-7058 December 8,2017 4PM EST Submission Instruction: Submit your responses only by Email to DC Water POC. Do not submit printed hard copies. Timeline (Estimated)* RFI Published/Advertised November 1,2017 Deadline to Submit Questions November 13,2017 Response to Contractor Questions November 20,2017 RFI Response Due December 8,2017 Vendor Presentation (if required) Commodity Codes Solar Energy Systems (290-82) Energy Collecting Equipment (936-28;981-32;290-00) Recycled Energy Collection Equipment (290-17) Energy Comprehensive Performance (961-31) Energy Conservation Consulting (918-41) Energy Conservation Services (910-16) Energy Conservation; New Energy Source (906-28) Energy Management architectural (906-27) Construction, Energy Related (912-21) * Dates may change at DC Water s convenience Page 1 of 9
1. DC WATER INTRODUCTION In 1996, the District Government initiated the creation of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water), an independent authority of the District of Columbia providing services to the region. On April 18, 1996, following a 30-day Congressional review period, the District Council enacted DC Law 11-111, "The Water and Sewer DC Water Establishment and Department of Public Works Reorganization Act of 1996." DC Water is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of 11 principal and 11 alternate members. The Board is composed of six District of Columbia representatives, two each from Montgomery and Prince George s counties in Maryland, and one from Fairfax County in Virginia. At DC Water, we care about our community. We often travel throughout our city, meeting those who live or work in Washington, D.C., so we can better understand their concerns and share our latest news on neighborhood water and sewer services. DC Water's service area is approximately 725 square miles providing retail water and wastewater (sewer) service to the District of Columbia. Additionally, DC Water provides wholesale wastewater treatment service to Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland and Fairfax and Loudoun counties in Virginia. The Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant is the largest advanced wastewater treatment plant in the world, with a capacity of 370 million gallons per day (MGD), a peak capacity of 1.076 billion gallons per day and covering 150 acres. To distribute water and support the distribution system, the DC Water operates over 1,200 miles of pipes, five pumping stations, five reservoirs, four elevated water storage tanks, 36,000 valves and more than 9,000 public hydrants. To collect wastewater, the DC Water operates 1,800 miles of sanitary and combined sewers, 22 flowmetering stations, nine off-site wastewater pumping stations, and 16 storm water pumping stations within the District. For more information about DC Water, please visit www.dcwater.com Page 2 of 9
2. RFI INTRODUCTION The District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) issues this Request for Information (RFI) for the purpose of obtaining industry input for system wide energy partnership, joint innovation and business development opportunities. Listed within this document are opportunities identified by DC Water for optimization, future direction, resource recovery, and research. DC Water desires a partner in these efforts to help strive toward financial and environmental sustainability for the organization. DC Water recognizes there are underutilized assets and available opportunities in our non-core business area, and is seeking to demonstrate innovative solutions within its service area and then jointly develop it as a service offering to other geographic locations. We greatly appreciate your participation in this process. 2.1 GENERAL INFORMATION This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute an Invitation for Bids, Request for Quotations. Please note that responding to this RFI is not a prerequisite for responding to any future solicitations related to this project and a response to this RFI will not create any contract rights. Responses to this RFI will become property of DC Water. The information gathered during this RFI is part of an ongoing procurement. In order to prevent an unfair advantage among potential respondents, the RFI responses will not be available until after the completion of evaluation of any responses, proposals, or bids resulting from a request for qualifications, request for proposals, and invitations to bid or other procurement method. In the event that DC Water chooses not to go further in the procurement process and responses are never evaluated, the responses to the procurement including the responses to the RFI, will be considered confidential by DC Water, subject to all requirements of applicable law. 2.2 BACKGROUND DC Water is in the planning stages for an installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to produce clean renewable electricity behind the meter. We are also 2.5 years into operations of a new digestion/combined heat and power (CHP) project, which produces approximately 10 MW of clean, green, renewable power. There are several other opportunities throughout our fresh water distribution, and wastewater collection and treatment systems we believe have untapped potential to reduce carbon footprint and generate revenue. We request input from potential providers of energy solutions who have the ability to finance capital projects and who can offer alternative delivery and financing methods. 2.3 PROJECT OBJECTIVE DC Water owns and operates the Blue Plains AWTP, several reservoirs in DC, the water distribution system, and the sewer collection and pumping stations, among other assets in DC. DC Water developed a preliminary Energy Opportunity Map shown in Figure 1 (and the attached map fact sheet) to illustrate where we felt there were opportunities worth exploring. Some are feasible and ready for implementation now, others are aspirational, and most are somewhere in between. We would like to partner with a provider who is interested in helping to identify, Page 3 of 9
prioritize, study, finance, and implement the most feasible of these projects, and then partner in marketing successful projects to other cities or municipalities. Information gathered from this RFI, will be used in the preparation of procurement documents to select a partner for the purposes outlined above. For the purposes of this procurement, DC Water is interested in: An assessment of DC Water s authority-wide energy production opportunities, now and into the future for capital planning. Assistance with evaluating future energy pricing. Assistance with determining the optimal energy procurement method. Assistance with identification of energy efficiency opportunities, including smart technology and optimization analytics development. Assistance with prioritization of energy opportunities, including but not limited to all the items on Figure 1. Assistance with Tier 1 and solar renewable energy credit (REC) sales and optimization. Assistance with research of current and future energy opportunities for the water sector with an intent to develop IP s and commercialize. Review of optimal financing structure for various project implementation. Commercialization and marketing strategy development. DC Water s primary interest in this project is to find substantial financial benefit in energy conservation and production. Objectives for this initiative include: Optimization of energy use and production. Cost savings over current energy purchases. Revenue generation from sales of energy products, services, and RECs. Marketable, replicable technologies suitable for the water sector. Page 4 of 9
Figure 1. DC Water Energy Opportunities Map As examples of the initiatives DC Water has already undertaken (Figures 2 and 3). The Blue Plains AWTP campus is roughly 157 acres. Figure 2 shows a photo of our newly constructed (2.5 years ago) thermal hydrolysis, anaerobic digestion, CHP project, which converts organic matter recovered from Page 5 of 9
the sewer system to methane gas and burns it in turbines to produce electricity and steam. The decision to produce electricity was made in an effort to hedge against future energy price increases. Figure 2. Blue Plains Thermal Hydrolysis/Digestion/CHP Project Figure 3. Blue Plains Solar PV System Conceptual Layout Page 6 of 9
In Figure 3, conceptual layouts of solar panels are shown in black. The sedimentation basins outlined in green below constitute approximately 40 acres and in total are projected to provide a solar power production value of at least 10 MW alternating current (AC). A sedimentation basin is a large rectangular tank with an open water surface, over which a canopy style system will need to be installed to rack the solar panels. The rooftops systems, ground mount systems, and carports are labeled accordingly and are projected to provide solar power production values of at least 1 MW AC, 0.5 MW AC, and 2 MW AC, respectively. 2.4 QUESTIONS AND INFORMATION REQUESTS 1) Describe your firm s interest in the project, including a summary of your firm s capabilities to serve as the provider. Please note that this is not a request for qualifications and responses will not be evaluated on a competitive basis. At this stage, we are interested only in understanding your perspective for further evaluating the requested information. 2) Please provide your perception as to the financial feasibility of the overall project concept. What do you perceive to be the key financial challenges? Please also comment specifically on the financial feasibility of showcasing and marketing projects proven successful at DC Water. 3) What would be your approach to financing capital and operating expenses for project implementation? Please describe your preferred structure. 4) For the list of energy opportunities on Figure 1, estimate time necessary to evaluate and prioritize the opportunities collectively. 5) Describe any critical energy associated local or federal laws and regulations, and any imminent changes to them which may present risk or constraints to this concept. 6) List any anticipated issues related to power distribution from individual localized projects and your approach and time needed to identify these issues. DC Water does not expect to export energy generated at Blue Plains to the grid, but DC Water may have to export power at other locations that do not require the load generated by the implemented technologies. Please speak to the feasibility of energy storage at sites as well. 7) What information is needed from DC Water in order for you to prepare and submit a binding, competitive proposal? Include what level of evaluation and/or design could be expected at proposal submission. 8) What risks have you encountered or foresee in projects similar to Figure 1 energy opportunities in procurement, design, construction, and on-going maintenance? How would you expect to see these risks allocated? 9) Describe how we might structure the financial agreement to maximize the risk-adjusted net present value (NPV) of capital investments for both parties. 10) What project delivery methods [e.g., Design-Bid-Build (DBB), Design-Build-Finance-Operate (DBFO), Engineering-Procurement-Construction-Management (EPCM), Design-Build-Own- Operate-Transfer (DBOOT), Energy Savings Performance Contract (ESPC), Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), etc.] do you propose for these types of projects with the benefits and Page 7 of 9
drawbacks of each clearly identified and their impact to the risks for each party and the financing approach? 11) Your proposal for a successful partnership with DC Water to develop products and service for marketing. 12) Any additional comments, concerns, and recommendations you feel might help DC Water achieve a successful energy plan implementation? 3. GENERAL REQUIREMENT FOR SUBMISSION 3.1 DC Water Point of Contact (POC) and Communication: A. All inquiries or communications regarding procurement, general questions, clarifications, or any aspect of this RFI must be directed via email to the DC Water POC identified on the Cover page of this RFI. B. No calls or correspondence or contacts shall be made to anyone other than this DC Water POC about this RFI. 3.2 Response Submission Method: a. Response Preparation and Electronic Submission Vendor s response shall include the following filled-out and executed documents (in PDF format) and digital files (in MS Office format). Vendor shall not include copies of brochures or other company collateral or advertisement. Responders are to submit one (1) original copy of the responses via e-mail no later than due date and time to scott.kang@dcwater.com b. Vendor must save each proposal document using the following naming convention: i. Your company name_rfi #_Document name_mmddyy ii. (Example: Acme RFI 18-PR-DWT-05 Energy Partnership_DC Water) c. Email and any digital media must not contain files unrelated to this RFI and must be free from virus or other malware in order to be accepted. d. Registration In DC Water s Vendor Portal: Vendors are strongly encouraged to properly register with the Vendor Portal by visiting https://www.dcwater.com/procurement, especially including commodity codes that represent Contractor s service and product offerings. DC Water solicitations and their addenda are issued through the Vendor Portal with relevant codes, and vendors registering with matching codes are automatically notified of such Page 8 of 9
documents. DC Water is not responsible for vendors not receiving notice of addenda to this RFI if vendors are not properly registered in the Vendor Portal with appropriate commodity codes. The commodity codes used for this solicitation are as listed on the cover page of this document. 3.3 Questions and Answers Questions or comments regarding the meaning or interpretation of specifications and other response documents in this RFI must be submitted via email to DC Water POC by the Deadline to Submit Questions as stated in the RFI cover page. Only written questions and comments will be accepted. Vendor questions and DC Water responses shall be available to all responders. Oral communications between DC Water and any Vendor regarding the interpretation or meaning of any aspect of this solicitation shall not be binding for any purpose. DC Water will try to respond to all timely questions and comments that are properly submitted and deemed relevant and substantive in nature. 4. SPECIAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS 4.1 The RFI solicitation process is conducted in accordance with and subject to DC Water s procurement policies and procedures. 4.2 The RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) of a promise to issue an RFP in the future. 4.3 Any work and all costs incurred by responders in the preparation and submission of a information shall be at the vendor s own discretion and expense. DC Water will not be obligated for any vendor costs related to this RFI. 4.4 This RFI does not represent a commitment to purchase, lease or license any product or service and does not obligate any funds by DC Water. 4.5 It is the responsibility of each vendor to ensure DC Water has their correct business name, address, phone number, and email on file. 4.6 CONFIDENTIAL RFI DOCUMENTS. All contents of RFI documents are to be treated as proprietary and confidential information belonging to DC Water. By acceptance and delivery of this RFI, vendor agrees to hold the same in strict confidence and shall not disclose, copy, or distribute this RFI in whole or in part to persons other than the vendor s employees and agents who are required by nature of their duties to receive such information. 4.7 DC Water reserves the right to request for oral presentations from the responder and use the information derived from the oral presentation, if any, for future RFP. Page 9 of 9