Strategy and methodology for rank-ordering Virginia State agencies regarding “solar attractiveness” and identification of specific project possibilities

This paper describes the strategy and computer processing system that NREL, the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), USA, and the State Energy Office, are developing for computing “solar attractiveness” scores for state agencies and the individual facilities or buildings within each agency. In the case of an agency, “solar attractiveness” is a measure of that agency´s having a significant number of facilities for which solar has the potential to be promising. In the case of a facility, “solar attractiveness” is a measure of its potential for being good, economically viable candidate for a solar water heating system. Virginia State agencies are charged with reducing fossil energy and electricity use and expense. DMME is responsible for working with them to achieve the goals and for managing the state´s energy consumption and cost monitoring program. This is done using the Fast Accounting System for Energy Reporting (FASER) computerized energy accounting and tracking system and database. The computer processing system described in this paper computes numerical “solar attractiveness” scores for the state´s agencies and the individual facilities using the energy use and cost data in the FASER system database and the state´s and NREL´s experience in implementing, testing and evaluating solar water heating systems in commercial and government facilities