by Kyle Massey
The Arkansas Advanced Energy Association and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality are partnering to give energy service providers a forum for offering tips, exhibits and insights on energy conservation possibilities at state agencies, colleges, cities and municipal utilities.
The event, known as the Arkansas Energy Performance Contracting Summit, will be held Tuesday, June 19, at the headquarters of Heifer International in Little Rock, where exhibitors will include summit sponsors Entegrity, Johnson Controls, Performance Services, Bernhard Energy and Clean Energy, along with All Electric Supply, Harrison Energy Partners, LightWave Solar and Powers of Arkansas.
The AEPC program has saved Arkansas public entities more than $120 million in 13 executed projects since its inception in late 2014. The finance method allows public entities to put in place energy efficiency, capital infrastructure improvements and renewable energy measures at no upfront cost.
Katie Niebaum, executive director of the Arkansas Advanced Energy Association, was also pleased that this year’s summit will include a panel with solar energy experts for the first time. She said that panel acknowledges “that solar is a growing interest among public entities as with residential and commercial energy consumers.”
She noted that Johnson Controls and LightWave Solar were contractors on a 2,100-panel photovoltaic project to power the campus of Arkansas State University-Newport and an effort to save Pulaski County taxpayers money with LED lighting provided by Entegrity. Another efficiency construction project, by the McKinstry Co. of Seattle, is lowering Sebastian County’s energy bills.
The Arkansas Energy Performance Contracting program is overseen by the state Energy Office, now part of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality.