Regional Renewable Energy Procurement (R-REP) Project

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Resource limitations and lack of expertise are two significant barriers to renewable energy adoption by local government. In an effort to help public agencies overcome these barriers, Alameda County, Joint Venture Silicon Valley and the Contra Costa Economic Partnership recently unveiled the Regional Renewable Energy Procurement Project (R-REP). This initiative utilized collaborative procurement to purchase renewable energy systems for public agencies throughout Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

Utilizing this successful model, regional collaboration provided public agencies the following benefits:

  • Reduced transaction costs & administrative time.
  • Competitive contract terms (buyout options, performance guarantees, termination options, etc.) compared to similar projects.
  • Standardized procurement documents, financing, and process.
  • Accelerated financing and deployment.
  • Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Local economic activity and job growth.

The R-REP solicitation included 19 public agencies for a total of over 180 renewable energy sites totaling 30 MW throughout Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

For a map of locations included in the project, visit the Alameda County R-REP web page.

Roles

Collaboration Works

R-REP is based on the model developed through the Silicon Valley Collaborative Renewable Energy Procurement Project (SV-REP), under which nine Silicon Valley public agencies came together using a collaborative procurement model to drive down the costs of solar power for public agencies at 43 locations. The SV-REP proved that the collaborative procurement model works.

Results included:

  • Participants saved 75% - 90% in upfront costs.
  • Volume and competitive pricing yielded 10% -14% cost reductions.
  • Electricity consumption completely offset for 25% of sites.
  • Reliable cost of electricity over 20-year term.
  • Projected to generate $70M+ in local economic activity and 300+ jobs.
  • Over $30M in federal tax benefits captured via power purchase agreements (ITC + depreciation), which led to lower pricing.
  • Systems were placed at a variety of locations, including libraries, fire stations, office buildings, community centers and clinics.

Learn more about SV-REP.
Download a copy of the Best Practices Guide for Collaborative Solar Procurement.

R-REP Documents & Resources

For R-REP documents and additional resources for implementing the collaborative procurement model, visit the Alameda county R-REP web page.

Related Publications

Where do I find out more?

To find out more, please visit the Alameda County R-REP site at acgov.org/rrep.

You may also contact Kayla Platt at for information regarding R-REP or Rachel Massaro at for information regarding SV-REP.

To register for future Alameda County contracting opportunities, click here.

Climate Prosperity

Joint Venture’s Climate Prosperity program united local governments, businesses and institutions in defining and deploying initiatives that addressed the long-range environmental challenges facing our region and our world. Some of the initiatives that resulted from this program included: the Smart Energy Enterprise Development Zone (SEEDZ) and our solor procurement projects (R-REP and SV-REP).