A strategic energy plan for Denver's municipal facilities to run on 100% renewable electricity

Denver City’s Climate Action Plan published in July 2018, calls for deep cuts in city‐wide energy consumption and increased renewable energy production to achieve significant greenhouse gas emission reductions needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. This plan includes a specific goal for municipal facilities to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2025.

Together with the company Xcel Energy, the city developed a Strategic Energy Plan to achieve 100% renewable electricity for the 256 municipal buildings by 2025. Building from this strong foundation of energy management, the plan contains eight strategies to achieve the objective. The strategies are organised into three focus areas to reduce energy use in existing buildings, mitigate load growth from new buildings, and supply electricity through renewable sources.

Energy efficiency strategies are expected to deliver 12.6 GWh of electricity savings (11% of baseline electricity use) and will result in over $1 million per year of electricity savings. To achieve these savings, $26 million in investment is required, $1.4 million of which would come from Xcel Energy DSM incentives.

Achieving the 100% renewable electricity goal for these buildings would reduce the City and County of Denver’s annual carbon footprint by 62,000 MTCO2e, approximately equivalent to the carbon emitted from 13,400 passenger vehicles per year. Natural gas, steam, and chilled water savings are also expected to occur from implementing the efficiency strategies identified in this plan.