Climate Challenge Participation Accord

DOE's Energy Partnerships for a Strong Economy

The Climate Challenge Program is a joint, voluntary effort of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) and the electric utility industry undertaken in pursuit of the President's goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The framework of the Climate Challenge Program was established in the Climate Challenge Memorandum of Understanding dated April 20, 1994 (Climate Challenge MOU) (see Attachment A to this Participation Accord)

This Participation Accord describes the actions that Salt River Project (SRP) and DOE have committed to undertake under the Climate Challenge Program. SRP's commitments include specific activities and efforts to reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions. DOE's commitments include specific actions designed to assist SRP in achieving its Climate Challenge commitments.

I. SRP Commitments

A.
Consistent with paragraph II.B.l.c (Attachment A) and Exhibit B of the Climate Challenge Program MOU, SRP commits to stabilize its annual greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000. The emission levels and business activities which constitute the 1990 base-line levels are described in Attachment B, and the base-line levels amount to a total of 18.0 million tons of carbon dioxide. Activities which have already been undertaken or have been committed to achieve this stabilization include the following:
1.
Implement heat rate improvement projects at the power plants as shown in Attachment C. These, combined, will yield an estimated annual carbon dioxide reduction of 327,400 tons
2
Switch from residual fuel #6 to distillate (diesel) fuel #2 at all SRP steam plants using fuel oil as a backup or startup fuel. This will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 2800 tons/year.
3.
Implement Demand-Side Management Programs as described in Attachment D. These will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 174,000 tons/year by year 2000.
4.
Achieve 10% reduction per year in employee-commuter miles in Maricopa County through SRP's ongoing Travel Reduction Program, which includes measures such as alternate transportation incentives, carpool matching, subsidized employee van pools, SRP-sponsored bus passes, alternate work weeks, and telecommuting. By the year 2000, approximately 4000 tons of carbon dioxide will be saved annually.
5
Deploy a 2 MW fuel cell within SRP service area to offset thermal carbon fuel-based capacity by the year 2000. This is intended to provide a savings of approximately 7000 tons per year.
6.
Implement SRP's Pollution Prevention Program, which involves significant reduction in the use, storage, disposal, and incineration of carbon-content hazardous wastes. At present SRP produces about five tons per year of carbon-content wastes.
7
Continue implementation of energy conservation programs at all SRP facilities, which include measures such as installation of motion-sensing light switches, timers to control HVAC equipment, energy-efficient lighting, and "power saver" personal computers This is an important part of SRP's "Green Lights" program which is currently saving 7000 tons per year of carbon dioxide
8.
Participate in other Public Power Climate Challenge initiatives as applicable and cost-justified. These will include (i) purchase at reduced cost of amorphous core transformers, (ii) participation in Joint Implementation projects, and (iii) development of energy-saving industrial electrification conversions.
A l.
All of the above activities currently add up to a savings of about 522,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually. As these programs are implemented in stages over the next several years, the estimated cumulative reductions through the year 2000 will be over 950,000 tons of carbon dioxide. It is anticipated that further application of these, along with selections from the following list, will provide the total reduction goal of 2.2 million tons per year. SRP will report the more specific details of its achievements at its first interim meeting in February 1997 (see section I.C): 1
Employ additional fuel switching strategies to reduce carbon dioxide output
2.
Include advanced combustion turbines and other efficient generating technologies in SRP's resource plan.
3
Include additional solar generating capacity and other renewable resources in SRP's resource plan
4.
Expand SRP's role in the research and development of halophyte technology and expand to full scale production in North America or other desert coastal areas in the world.
5
Employ transmission and distribution efficiency improvement technologies (e.g. low-loss transformers, conductors, and other system apparatus) where economically justified .
6.
Increase the portion of electric vehicles in the composition of SRP's vehicle fleet
7.
Participate in the American Public Power Association's Tree Power Program
8.
Implement other strategies to reduce, avoid, or sequester greenhouse gas emissions as appropriate.
A.2
All commitments made by SRP are subject to approval by SRP's governing bodies and management, as applicable, and all commitments are subject to oversight, review and revision at any time by SRP's governing bodies and management. It is understood and agreed that SRP's commitment set forth in Section I.A. and I.A.l of this Participation Accord is made in good faith based upon current information and load forecasts which are subject to change and uncertainty.
B.
SRP will report to DOE annually on activities and achievements under the Climate Challenge Program. Results achieved during each year shall be put in a narrative format and reported in a clear and understandable manner that is consistent with the guidelines adopted pursuant to subsection 1605(b) of the Energy Policy Act and the model accounting protocols in Exhibit B of the Climate Challenge MOU and which will highlight success stories. The first such report may include a description of SRP's activities and achievements prior to becoming a participant in the Program, expressed on an annual basis to the extent possible.
C.
At reasonable intervals upon request, but no later than February 27, 1997, SRP will meet with DOE regarding SRP's participation in the Climate Challenge Program. The purpose of such meeting will be to evaluate SRP's progress towards achieving the Climate Challenge Commitments and possible adjustments to these commitments based on the availability of reasonable, cost-justified activities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 1997 SRP will review the entire program to determine whether or not to make changes. D. The Climate Challenge Representative for SRP will be Ms Kate Brown Maracas, P.O. Box 52025, Phoenix, AZ 85072- 2025. SRP will notify DOE prior to, or in any event, no later than 30 days after any change in the contact.

A.
DOE will perform the actions and fulfill the commitments set out in section III of the Climate Challenge MOU.
B.
The Climate Challenge Representative for DOE will be Allan Hoffman. DOE will notify SRP prior to, or in any event, no later than 30 days after any change in representative.
C.
DOE will meet with SRP upon request regarding possible adjustments of the Climate Challenge commitments set forth in subsection I.A. of this Participation Accord.
D
DOE will consider requests to intervene in proceedings of federal, state, and local commissions and boards on issues pertinent to the Climate Challenge Program. Before DOE intervenes in regulatory and other proceedings pertaining to SRP for purposes of addressing Climate Challenge Program issues, it will provide notice to SRP.
E.
To the extent permitted by applicable law and regulations and by the availability of funds, DOE will consider SRP's participation in Climate Challenge as a factor to be weighed positively in evaluating applications for financial and other assistance submitted to DOE in support of commitments made by SRP under this Participation Accord .
F.
DOE agrees to provide public recognition to SRP for its Climate Challenge activities DOE will, among other things, prepare an annual report summarizing results achieved under Climate Challenge and highlighting any outstanding achievements or innovative approaches of SRP.

A.
Use of DOE-developed materials by SRP will be governed by the provisions of section IV of the Climate Challenge MOU .
B.
In addition to the foregoing provisions, DOE and SRP agree to act in accordance with the principles set out in section I of the Climate Challenge MOU and the general provisions set out in subsections V.A. - V.D., V.F. and V.G of the Climate Challenge MOU, which are hereby incorporated by reference.
C
Either party may withdraw from this Participation Accord or any of its activities under the Climate Challenge Program without penalty and without being subject to remedies at law or in equity.

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Salt River Project                                   Date 




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United States Department of Energy                   Date

To calculate the emissions from the power plants, we used EIA- 767 data to provide the monthly use of fuels, and developed the factor relating carbon dioxide to fuel burned from the available few measurements of carbon and heat rate in the fuels For jointly owned plants we assumed that the emissions were allocated according to the ownership fractions of each plant. This resulted in a power plant emission value for 1990 of 13.84 million tons of carbon dioxide.

SRP's fleet burned 429,763 gallons of gasoline and 698,995 gallons of diesel fuel which produced 3868 tons of CO2 from the gasoline and 6920 tons of CO2 from the diesel. We estimated that the SRP employee commuting amounted to an average of 3000 miles per year from 440 employees, which burned an estimated 880,000 gallons of gasoline and produced about 8000 tons of CO2.

SRP's usage of electricity amounted to 71.65 mmkwh during 1990. At the same time, SRP collects between 90 and 120 cubic yards of weeds/moss/algae per month, which are disposed of in landfills. Finally, there were no tree planting or trimming activities during 1990. Estimates of emissions of other greenhouse gases were made for SRP's largest operated power plant which emitted about 2500 lbs per year of CFC, and 60 lbs per year of Halon (these are the totals, rather than the SRP allocated values).

Thus, the total of all the impacts enumerated above is 13.9 millions tons. To this we have added the 1990 Navajo Generating Station emissions allocated to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD), as in recent months those have come under SRP's control. Those emissions amounted to another 4.1 million tons, so that the total target for the year 2000 is not to exceed 18.0 million tons of carbon dioxide. Internal planning estimates have shown that without consideration of carbon dioxide constraints SRP's emissions would amount to an additional 2.2 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Therefore, the current plan is to equal or exceed the reduction of emissions by this amount.

Please send comments to:
Lawrence.Mansueti@hq.doe.gov