Early Engagement Path Incentive Rates and Requirements

Early Engagement Path:

Incentive Rates and Requirements

The Early Engagement Path offers early engagement, design, construction and performance incentives.

Requirements

To receive the early engagement incentive: 

Projects must complete a design charrette to discuss energy efficiency options for the building.  At a minimum, the owner, architect and a NCMR program representative must be present. 
Projects must still have flexibility in their design, projects cannot be past the design development stage.

To receive the construction incentives: 

The program will conduct a site visit to verify that the energy efficiency measures included in drawings were installed.
After the verification stage, the Program will issue a Savings Verification Report with the final incentive value, and the construction incentive will be issued.  
The building must perform better than code baseline to receive the incentive.

To receive the design incentive: 

Project must have received an early engagement incentive. 
The incentive recipient must submit at a minimum, the architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing permits or construction drawings for energy modeling. COMchecks are recommended but not required.    
Projects are welcome to submit their own energy models as long as they meet the following requirements: provides an energy code baseline compared to the proposed building design so the program can determine the building’s energy savings, includes a report of energy model inputs and the energy modeling tool used must be NEO or comply with ASHRAE 140. Common ASHRAE 140 compliant programs include eQuest, IES VE, Trane Trace 700, Carrier HAP and EnergyPro.   
The design incentive will be issued after the Program provides a Savings and Incentive Report with the initial construction incentive estimate.   
Projects receiving a 179D compliant energy model will receive the model in lieu of a design incentive.

To receive the performance monitoring incentive:  

Projects may receive the performance monitoring incentive after they have collected a year’s worth of meter data.  
The building must not exceed more than 10% of the modeled yearly energy usage to qualify.  
The project has a total of two years to produce one year’s worth of meter data aligning with the energy model. Energy monitoring can start after the building is occupied. The implementor will provide the energy usage data compared to the buildings modeled performance in quarterly reports to the customer.

Incentive Rates

Incentive	Eligibility Requirements	Small <20,000 SF	Medium 20,000–75,000 SF	Large >75,000 SF
Early Engagement	Must engage with Rocky Mountain Power at or before design development. Incentive is paid to company that brings the project to RMP and sets up design charrette.	$1,500	$2,000	$2,500
Design	Must submit permit drawings or construction drawings. Incentive is paid to company serving as the energy model lead.	$0.35/SF	$0.25/SF ($15,000 max)	$0.15/SF ($15,000 max)
Construction - Building with Standard HVAC Systems	Projects installing a gas boiler chiller system, standard heat pumps, PTACs, and other code-standard HVAC systems. Incentive is paid to building owner.	$0.17/kWh	$0.15/kWh	$0.12/kWh
Construction - Building with Gas Unit Heaters and Gas-fired RTUs	Projects installing gas unit heaters and gas-fired RTUs as the primary source of heat for a project. Incentive is paid to building owner.	$0.09/kWh	$0.07/kWh	$0.06/kWh
Construction - Building with Combined Electric HVAC Systems and Gas HVAC systems	Projects installing electric HVAC systems in one part of the building and gas HVAC system in another part of the building. Common example includes a building installing VRF in the office space and unit heaters in the manufacturing space. Incentive is paid to building owner.	$0.20/kWh	$0.17/kWh	$0.15/kWh
Construction - Building with Electric HVAC Systems	Must install primarily electric HVAC systems in the building, such as VRF or ground source heat pumps. Gas backup and gas DOAS are acceptable. Incentive is paid to building owner.	$0.55/kWh	$0.50/kWh	$0.45/kWh
Additional Construction Incentive for Early Engagement	Additional incentive for projects that have completed construction and received the Early Engagement Incentive. Incentive is paid to building owner.	$0.04/kWh	$0.03/kWh	$0.02/kWh
Performance Monitoring	Must commit to meter-based verification of savings to not exceeding 110% of modeled target savings. Incentive is paid to building owner.	$0.05/kWh ($75,000 max)	$0.05/kWh ($75,000 max)	$0.05/kWh ($75,000 max)
Green Building Certification	Must provide a copy of green certification (LEED, Living Building Challenge, Green Globes, Energy Star, etc.). In addition, the project must have received the Early Engagement Incentive. Incentive is paid to building owner.	$0.20/SF	$0.15/SF	$0.10/SF ($15,000 max)