By Vvon Engineering Team | Published | Updated
How to assess solar within the applicable LEED or other certification programme, document generation and environmental attributes, and avoid promising a certification outcome.
Solar EPC & street lighting RFQ checklist (TXT)
A buyer's sourcing team asks about the factory's certification status, and somebody in the meeting says the roof is going solar. It is a reasonable answer and an incomplete one. Solar contributes to a green building rating, but it contributes in one specific place on a long scorecard, and the parts of the rating that decide whether a factory certifies at all are usually elsewhere.
On-site renewable generation may contribute to energy-related credits, depending on the registered LEED version, rating system, calculation rules and ownership of environmental attributes. Have the project's LEED professional identify the applicable requirements before promising a score.
That contribution scales with the share of the building's energy the plant actually covers, which is why an office block can earn more from a modest array than a factory earns from a full roof. On an industrial site the roof is large and the process load is larger still, and the percentage that goes into the scorecard is correspondingly small.
There are second order benefits that matter to a factory owner as much as the points do. Metered generation data is a documented, auditable number for reporting to buyers. It reduces purchased grid electricity, which is the largest line in most factories' Scope 2 emissions. And it is visible, which is not nothing when a customer walks the site.
The energy from a rooftop plant carries an environmental attribute separate from the electricity itself. If the plant is owned by a third party under an ESCO or lease arrangement, that developer may retain those attributes unless the contract says otherwise, and a factory that only bought the electricity may not be entitled to claim the renewable generation in its own reporting or in a certification submission.
Settle environmental-attribute ownership, reporting rights and access to exportable generation records in the agreement. Later amendments may be possible, but require the other parties' agreement and may affect cost or eligibility. Retain the documents a certification reviewer or buyer's auditor will need.
Keep the paperwork that goes with it too. The commissioning report, the single line diagram, the meter details, the utility approval and the monthly generation records are what turn a plant into evidence. Factories that install first and think about documentation two years later usually find that the early data is gone and the drawings were never updated after the last modification. Buyers ask about certification because their own disclosure obligations now reach into their supply chains, and what they need from you is a number they can stand behind.
Consult the relevant edition and the documents for the exact equipment and site: USGBC: LEED rating systems and certification requirements.
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