Private Sector GIS Expertise Key in Making Solar Energy Accessible to Program Cities
Denver, Nov. 15, 2011 – Critigen, a leading spatial enterprise solutions and cloud managed services provider, and CH2M HILL, a global full-service consulting, design, construction, and operations firm, announced the completion of a 3-year $6.5 million contract to provide technical assistance and program management services to the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar Energy Technology Program (SETP). Critigen and CH2M HILL teamed to deliver more than 40 task orders providing:
• 11 web-based solar maps and solar financial calculators to Solar America Cities
• A new method for measuring city/county-level solar markets
• Four years of data for the 25 Solar America Cities and for five control cities
• A model of the convergence of solar-electric costs and traditional electricity costs (http://pvcostconvergence.org/)
• Guidance for cities considering economic development strategies based on solar installation, manufacturing, and other solar-related enterprises (http://www1.eere.energy.gov/solar/pdfs/51190.pdf)
• Program management services including coordination among cities in similar geographic or climactic areas.
Critigen program manager Ty van den Akker described the completed work as a milestone in raising the profile of local jurisdictions in the campaign to develop clean solar energy and solar jobs. "The Solar America Cities Program has developed a network of cities and counties across the country that actively works to reduce market barriers to solar energy deployment. The program challenged cities to identify and reduce market barriers and the cities have responded with hard work, creativity, and success."
Through aerial imagery and advanced 3-D modelling, Critigen and CH2M HILL provided GIS data analysis through solar mapping portals for the DOE Solar America Cities. The portals enable residents and building owners to determine the solar energy potential, impact on electricity consumption, and federal, state, and city incentives. In some instances, municipalities leveraging solar maps have seen installations more than double in their communities and PV potential almost triple.
CH2M HILL, as prime contractor to the Department of Energy, also provided overall program administration services in addition to energy engineering consulting services and management consulting services to several of the Solar America Cities.
About Critigen
Critigen is a global leader in information technology consulting and IT outsourcing. The company delivers more than 1,500 engagements each year, leveraging spatial intelligence, business analyses, and award-winning managed services to improve processes, expand capability and turn data into visual insight for public and private sector clients. Critigen’s innovative solutions for its global client base integrate mature and emerging technologies such as the cloud, ground breaking mobile-based applications, data management, GIS, and mapping solutions. Learn more about Critigen: critigen.com.
About CH2M HILL
Headquartered near Denver, Colorado, USA, employee-owned CH2M HILL is a global leader in consulting, design, design-build, operations, and program management for government, civil, industrial and energy clients. The firm’s work is concentrated in the areas of water, transportation, environmental, energy, facilities and resources. With US$7 billion in revenue and 30,000 employees, CH2M HILL is an industry-leading program management, construction management and design firm, as ranked by Engineering News-Record and named a leader in sustainable engineering by Verdantix. The firm has been named a FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For five times. Visit us at http://www.ch2mhill.com, twitter.com/ch2mhill and facebook.com/ch2mhill.
About the U.S. DOE SETP
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Program (SETP) works to improve America’s security, environmental quality, and economic prosperity through public-private partnerships that bring reliable and affordable solar energy technologies to the marketplace. The DOE established the Solar America Cities partnerships as a means of enabling cities to be the instruments of change in the advancement of local solar energy markets. The Solar America Cities program includes 25 Solar America Cities selected in 2007 and 2008.