by Shane Henson — November 20, 2013—Pepco Energy Services Inc., a provider of energy-savings performance contracting, announced earlier this week plans to install more than $5.5 million of energy efficiency improvements at nine school facilities within the Spartanburg County School District Three in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Pepco Energy is a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (PHI), and is not the same company as Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco), the regulated utility.
The work will be completed under an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) the company signed with the district. Through the upgrades, Pepco Energy expects the district will save more than $185,000 annually and $3.5 million over the term, while also addressing critical infrastructure needs.
“For the past five years, District Three has been in budget survival mode, not budget development,” said Greg Mack, assistant superintendent for finance and operations. “We are proud to have developed this project with Pepco Energy, and these infrastructure improvements will certainly help us provide a much higher quality learning environment to our students while reducing overall expenses to the schools.”
The energy efficiency measures include building automation system installations, interior lighting retrofits, light-emitting diode (LED) exterior lighting retrofits, and water conservation measures. In addition, upgrades to the 35-year-old heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and plumbing systems that were originally installed in the facilities will also be made. The contract also calls for the installation of a solar photovoltaic (PV) system after a grant from Palmetto Clean Energy is received, says Pepco Energy Services.
The project is expected to reduce the school district’s energy usage by 25 percent below year 2000 levels. After implementation of this ESPC, the school district will reportedly exceed the energy efficiency requirements established by South Carolina energy efficiency law, which set a goal of reducing all state agency and public school districts energy usage by 20 percent relative to year 2000 levels by July 1, 2020.
In addition, this project is expected to reduce the district’s annual carbon footprint, with 1,703,372 kWh in electric savings and 2,252,000 gallons of water saved annually. This will decrease the amount of CO2 produced by 1.15 million pounds per year, which would reportedly be the equivalent of the district planting 381 acres of trees.
