RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECTS AT NO COST TO THE GOVERNMENT REQUEST FOR INFORMATION This is a Request for Information (RFI) as defined in FAR 15.201(e). The Government is requesting information regarding renewable energy projects available at no cost to the Government. The Government does not presently intend to award a contract, but wants to obtain capabilities for planning purposes. Responses to this RFI are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. Information received in response to this RFI will be safeguarded from unauthorized disclosure in accordance with FAR 15.207(b); nevertheless, submitters must properly mark their response in accordance with FAR 15.215-1(e) if it contains information the submitter does not want disclosed to the public for any purpose. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expense associated with responding to this RFI. Interested parties should reply no later than 06 May, 2011 to: Brian Jackson, Contract Specialist
[email protected] 760-725-8142 On 5 Oct 2009, the President of the U.S. signed Executive Order 13423, which requires federal agencies to reduce diversion of non-hazardous waste to landfills by 50% by 2015 and reduce fleet petroleum use by 30% by 2020. On 14 October 2010, the Secretary of the Navy issued energy goals for facilities under his cognizance, requiring that 50% of shore based energy be generated from renewable sources by 2020. Installations are required to program (request budgetary authority to acquire) projects that reduce energy intensity and divert waste from landfills, as well as develop renewable energy resources in order to meet this goal. However, there is currently no funding available to pursue these executive and legislative mandates. To comply with these required energy conservation, efficiency and renewable mandates, Camp Pendleton is exploring all possibilities in the renewable energy project arena. Due to the lack of funding, the only projects we are able to consider for immediate implementation are those from offerors who are willing and able to provide the technology and systems at no cost to the Government. We will consider all such projects offered, and we remain open to projects that are outside the scope of our analysis below. Our analysis indicates that, for Camp Pendleton, there are only two viable renewable energy schemes with the potential to meet our long term energy needs: solar and waste to energy. Other schemes, such as geothermal, wind, and wave energy, are either not cost effective or interfere with the primary mission of the base as a training installation. We have already installed more than 2 MW of solar power systems and plan to install more solar power. However, the size of the systems required and the lack of large and cost effective storage systems make solar energy incapable of meeting our energy needs during the night. For these reasons, we believe waste to energy systems offer several advantages. They will allow us to avoid costs associated with operating a landfill, meet our landfill reduction/diversion requirements, and hopefully provide us with energy in the form of electricity or syngas that is cost effective and meets our energy security needs by providing energy in all weather conditions, at night, and when power from the grid is interrupted whether from natural or manmade events. The waste to energy systems we have investigated over the last few years have not been cost effective without huge tipping fees due to the low return on energy output against energy input. Any waste to energy system must be a modular or scalar system capable of handling sludge, MSW, and bio-waste and be cost effective to operate without tipping fees, and must be provided at no cost to the government. We will consider all information submitted in response to this request for information. Any future acquisition will be conducted based on the needs of the Government at the time of the acquisition and the availability of funding. Participation in a demonstration project does not guarantee that the project will subsequently be the subject of a funded acquisition, nor does it necessarily give a vendor a more favorable position in any future procurement. However, since this is an area of rapidly developing technology, it is possible that a demonstration project could become a model for other installations, the Marine Corps, or the Department of Defense.