1. Main Headquarters: 120 Water Street, Suite 350, North Andover, MA 01845 With offices in: NY, ME, TX, CA, OR www.ers-inc.com
PRE-INSTALLATION EVALUATION OF
INDUSTRIAL PROJECTS
Jonathan B. Maxwell and Betsy Ricker, ERS
Carley Murray, NYSERDA*
*Any opinions expressed, explicitly or implicitly, are
those of the authors and do not necessarily represent
those of the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority

2. IEPEC Chicago August 2013
Pre-Installation Evaluation of
Industrial Projects
Jonathan B. Maxwell and Betsy Ricker, ERS
Carley Murray, NYSERDA*
*Any opinions expressed, explicitly or implicitly, are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the New York State Energy Research
and Development Authority

3. OBJECTIVES
Primary
 Discuss methods, advantages, and
disadvantages of very early impact
evaluator involvement in a large industrial
process program
Also share
 Procedure
 Case studies of pre-retrofit activity

4. WHAT IS PRE-INSTALLATION IMPACT
EVALUATION?
 Core activity: Project engineering review before savings
claims are finalized
 Pre-installation savings calculation review
 Baseline characterization
 Pre-installation metering
 Also/possibly:
 Early free ridership assessment
 Early post-retrofit review & metering
 Training PA and their technical advisors

5. WHY DO IT?
 Benefits for evaluators
 Evaluator inspection in pre-retrofit state
 Input regarding administrator M&V plan
• Opportunity for independent direct M&V
 Baseline perspective at time of decision-
making
 Evaluator-administrator convergence/training
 Bottom Line:
 Increased engineering rigor
 less variability, greater confidence in results

6. WHY DO IT?
 Benefits for program administrators
 Evaluator-administrator convergence/training
 Adjustment to savings estimates prior to incentive
calculation
 Increased depth of engagement with facilitators
 Less disturbance to customers
 Bottom line:
 Better realization rates
 Fewer surprises

7. WHY NOT DO IT?
 Added cost for evaluators and administrators
 Planning
 $2k to $10k per project evaluator cost; less but some admin
• Modest ex post savings later
 Sunk evaluation costs on projects that don’t matriculate
 Monthly meetings
 Risks added calendar time to processing
 Short notice rush analysis required
 Baseline can require research. Admin waits?
 Added bureaucracy before closing the deal

8. HOW IT WORKS
ID candidate projects
Evaluator review
Evaluator & administrator meet on
analysis, baseline, and proposed pre-
installation metering.
Pre-install site
visit. Possible
metering
Existing
facility
New facility
Evaluation review
memo
Evaluator &
administrator
meet
Post-install site
visit
Tracking

9. HOW IT WORKS – SCREENING
 Establish screening criteria in advance
Example:
 All over 5 GWh/yr or 10,000 MMBtu/yr
 All over intermediate size range and process,
complex baseline, capacity expansion,
controls, etc
 Sample others in intermediate range
 Evaluator or administrator can ID projects

10. HOW IT WORKS - VARIATIONS
 Are early evaluator findings advisory or
definitive to program?
 Is free ridership assessed? Is result
shared? Is it considered when setting
incentives?
 Formality of communication
 Who does the M&V?

11. CASE STUDIES
 Paper includes four case studies
Good
 Working together on M&V approach
 Evaluator influencing administrator on
baseline characterization, and vice versa
Bad
 Lost sunk costs
 No consensus on baseline
 Timing challenges

12. SUMMARY PRE-INSTALLATION IMPACT
EVALUATION
 Advantages:
 Better evaluation engineering & statistical quality
 Better realization rates
 Fewer bad surprises at end of evaluation
 Costs:
 More labor
 Calendar concerns