Renewable Energy Demonstration Project by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the General Services Administration

The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPACT) requires the General Services Administration (GSA) to implement a solar energy program to demonstrate and evaluate the performance of available technologies expected to have widespread commercial application. The GSA decided to carry out the project at the Denver Federal Center because of its proximity to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Thelocation was thought to be of mutual benefit to NREL and the GSA: it provides NREL an opportunity to deploy technology and it provides the GSA an opportunity to gain a hands-on learning experience with renewables. The GSA plans to document their experience and use it as a case study in part of a larger training effort on renewable energy. This paper describes the technology selection process andprovides an update on the status of the project.