Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, and the Chicago Department of Assets, Information and Services (AIS), have released a request for proposals (RFP) for a contract to purchase renewable energy for all city-owned buildings. The contract will provide all city-owned buildings, streetlights, and other facilities with reliable, renewable electricity supply for at least five years beginning in 2022. As the current cost of powering just city-owned buildings is about $40 million annually, the contract has an estimated value of $200 million for the vendor.
AIS has already purchased 95,000 Green-e Certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from Midwestern wind farms to secure a renewable energy supply for several of Chicago’s municipal buildings. The purchase covers nearly 180 facilities citywide, including many neighborhood buildings such as libraries and fire stations.
“The city is looking forward to securing a renewable energy supplier that will help Chicago achieve its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2025,” said AIS commissioner, David Reynolds. “It is especially important for the city to give a boost to the local green economy, create green jobs and expand renewable energy infrastructure in all of our communities.”
One of the aims of the project is to reinforce Chicago’s commitment to addressing climate change. The city has previously pledged to have 100% renewable energy providing all of the electricity used in municipal buildings by the year 2025 and to have the entire city running on renewable energy by the year 2035.
The renewable energy supply RFP will be live on chicago.gov/bids on Friday, September 4, 2020. Applications are due by November 6, 2020, and the city plans to announce the chosen vendor for this contract in January 2021.