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U.S. Department of Energy Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Energy Incentive Programs, Delaware

Updated December 2011

What public-purpose-funded energy efficiency programs are available in my state?

Delaware's restructuring legislation mandated the creation of a systems benefit charge to fund low-income, energy efficiency, and renewable energy programs. The state recently created the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility, a non-profit corporation funded from bond issues, proceeds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), and federal government stimulus monies. The SEU handles all its commercial/industrial incentives through the Efficiency Plus Business Program. Funding for prescriptive and custom incentives has been exhausted, but low-interest (currently 1.99%) energy-efficiency financing is available.

What utility energy efficiency programs are available to me?

No conventional utility energy efficiency programs are currently available to federal customers. See the section above for information on the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility.

What load management/demand response options are available to me?

The PJM Interconnection (PJM), a regional transmission organization (RTO), offers several demand response programs. Two specific programs may be attractive to federal facilities in the PJM footprint:

  • The Economic Load Response program allows electricity users to provide load reductions in exchange for a payment based on hourly wholesale electricity prices. Participation is fully voluntary. Customers start by submitting load reduction bids through their curtailment service provider (any existing PJM member, such as their utility, a third-party electricity supplier, or a specialty CSP) of at least 100 kW into the day-ahead energy market. Participants whose bids are accepted are paid for their load reductions based upon the day-ahead, hourly electricity market prices (the day-ahead "locational marginal price," or LMP). Reductions are figured based on a customer baseline load (CBL), which is essentially the average load levels for the same hours in four of the facility's previous non-responding days. Regardless of which type of firm it is, the CSP will generally offer to split the revenues with the customer at a pre-determined percentage.

  • PJM's emergency "capacity" program allows demand resources to participate in PJM's Reliability Pricing Model (RPM) forward capacity market via a CSP. Participants pledge to either reduce their load by a specified amount (guaranteed load drop, GLD), or to a specific kW level (known as firm service level, FSL), within one or two hours of an event notification. Load reductions are mandatory and may occur up to ten times per year, lasting up to six hours per event. Penalties for non-compliance are substantial. Remuneration is based on the results of the annual RPM capacity auctions in various PJM regions. Remuneration levels for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 PJM years (which begin June 1, 2012 and June 1, 2013, respectively) for Delaware are in the $50,000 to $90,000 range. Participants are also eligible to receive energy payments for actual reductions, though, if and when the program is called.

In both programs, participants can provide load reductions either through curtailing electricity use or operating on-site generation consistent with local environmental regulations and permits.

What distributed energy resource options are available to me?

The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE) provides information on programs that offer incentives for renewable distributed generation. The following programs may be of interest to federal customers:

  • Delaware's Green Energy Program provides grants for 25 to 50% of the installed cost of qualifying photovoltaic, solar water heating, wind turbine, and geothermal heat pump systems. Delmarva Power and Light (the state's lone investor-owned utility), the Delaware Electric Cooperative, and the state's municipal utilities all have their own programs, but each is similar and all three are administered by the state's Division of Energy and Climate.

  • Delaware's Renewable Portfolio Standard, requiring retail suppliers to provide 25% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2026, includes a solar PV set-aside. Solar renewable energy credits, which must be sourced from PV installations within the state, have recently (Fall, 2011) traded at about $0.10/kWh.

Are there energy efficiency programs sponsored by state government?

Delaware's Division of Energy and Climate administers the Delaware Energy Efficiency Investment Fund Program, through which grants (up to 30% of project cost) and low-interest loans may be available to commercial-scale facilities for pursuing energy efficiency work.

What additional opportunities are available to me?

Federal customers whose utilities have area-wide supply contracts through GSA (e.g., Delmarva Power & Light), may be able to take advantage of 3rd-party financed energy efficiency projects called utility energy services contracts (UESCs). Information is available on GSA's Energy Center of Expertise Library Page. Federal facilities should contact their account executive to determine the level of each utility's participation.

PJM (see above in the demand response section) now allows energy efficiency projects to participate in its forward capacity markets, based on its Reliability Pricing Model (RPM). To be eligible, EE projects must reduce load continuously by at least 100 kW during peak summer hours, and not be dispatchable. This load reduction can be bid into PJM's annual (for three years in advance) and "residual" (nearer-term) capacity auctions, and if selected will receive the auction clearing price. Interested customers can participate through energy service companies conducting ESPCs or utilities executing UESCs at their sites.