95-29020. Motor Challenge Showcase Demonstration Projects  

  • [Federal Register Volume 60, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 29, 1995)]
    [Notices]
    [Pages 61444-61447]
    From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
    [FR Doc No: 95-29020]
    
    
    
    
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    Part VI
    
    
    
    
    
    Department of Energy
    
    
    
    
    
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    Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
    
    
    
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    Motor Challenge Showcase Demonstration Projects; Notice
    
    Federal Register: / Vol. 60, No. 229 / Wednesday, November 29, 1995 / 
    Notices
    
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    DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
    
    Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
    
    
    Motor Challenge Showcase Demonstration Projects
    
    AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
    Energy.
    
    ACTION: Notice inviting participation.
    
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    SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is interested in obtaining 
    proposals from industrial electric motor system end users for projects 
    that are intended to demonstrate and ``showcase'' electric motor system 
    energy efficiency, productivity, and environmental improvement in 
    specific industrial facilities and settings. Projects selected by DOE 
    will become ``Showcase Demonstrations'' and are part of a larger, 
    Federally-sponsored (DOE) program that is an industry-driven 
    collaborative effort called MOTOR CHALLENGE. The experiences and 
    successful results to be gained from the Showcase Demonstrations will 
    be used to encourage other U.S. industrial companies with similar 
    applications to adopt efficient electric motor systems, and therefore, 
    to increase the market penetration of efficient electric motor systems 
    on a widespread basis within the U.S. Currently twenty-one Showcases 
    are underway, and DOE intends to build upon the initial set of 
    Showcases by now focusing on process industries.
    
    DATES: Proposals may be submitted between the receipt of this notice 
    and March 31, 1996. Proposals shall be considered as meeting the 
    deadline if they are either: (1) Received on or before the deadline 
    date or, (2) postmarked on or before the deadline date. Proposals which 
    do not meet the deadline will be considered late applications and may 
    not be considered. Acceptance will be done on a rolling basis. Within 
    four weeks of submittal, submitters will be notified regarding 
    acceptance, rejection, or a request for further information and/or 
    clarification. It is envisioned that selected projects will have a 
    duration of no more than 18 months, and therefore, projects are 
    expected to be completed (the project's costs and benefits defined and 
    validated) by September, 1997.
    
    ADDRESSES: Showcase proposals should be submitted to: Mr. Andrew J. 
    Szady, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2009, 9102-1, Oak Ridge, 
    TN 37831-8038, 423-576-0243, Fax 423 576-0493. If there are any 
    questions concerning Showcase proposals please call the above Motor 
    Challenge Program contact. For additional information on the MOTOR 
    CHALLENGE Partnership, or to obtain application forms for the 
    Partnership, call the MOTOR CHALLENGE Hotline at 1-800-862-2086.
    
    SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MOTOR CHALLENGE program is designed to 
    reduce greenhouse gas emissions through increased market penetration of 
    efficient electric motor systems. It is expected that industrial 
    participants will achieve increased electric motor system efficiency 
    through the system integration of a variety of technology and 
    application options including: energy efficient electric motors, 
    adjustable speed drives, and motor-driven equipment (e.g., pumps, fans, 
    and compressors) within industrial operations and processes. DOE is 
    carrying out the MOTOR CHALLENGE program with industrial and 
    manufacturing companies, municipalities, electric motor and drive 
    manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), distributors, 
    utilities, energy service companies, research institutes, other Federal 
    agencies, state energy agencies, public interest groups, and other 
    supporting organizations. DOE will be the Federal agency with the 
    responsibility of selecting Showcase Demonstration projects, and will 
    then develop an Agreement between the government and the respective 
    selected companies.
    
    Specific Aim of This Request
    
        The MOTOR CHALLENGE program was launched on October 19, 1993 by the 
    Federal government (DOE) and industry with the signing of the MOTOR 
    CHALLENGE Compact (dated October 13, 1993). As stated within the MOTOR 
    CHALLENGE Compact, DOE would issue an appropriate notice to solicit 
    participants in the MOTOR CHALLENGE Showcase Demonstrations. On October 
    7, 1994 DOE issued a request for Showcase proposals, and on May 23, 
    1995 twenty-one Showcases were selected and announced. These Showcases 
    are currently underway. This current request is for additional Showcase 
    Demonstrations (approximately 10) primarily directed at the following 
    industries:
    
    (1) Paper and Allied Products
    (2) Steel
    (3) Chemical
    (4) Glass
    (5) Aluminum
    (6) Refining
    (7) Metal Casting
    (8) Food Processing
    (9) Textiles
    (10) Federal Operating/Production Facilities
    
        Additional industries will be considered if, in the judgment of 
    DOE, the Showcase demonstrates energy and environmental savings 
    consistent with the tenets of the Motor Challenge Program, and the 
    industry is currently not represented in a Showcase.
        As one condition of proposing to be a Showcase Demonstration, DOE 
    requires that each company, organization, and/or agency of a proposing 
    team, be a member of the MOTOR CHALLENGE Partnership by submitting an 
    appropriately completed application. (The availability of application 
    forms is discussed in the ADDRESSES section above).
    
    Benefits of Industry Participation
    
        Industry will receive many benefits by participating as a MOTOR 
    CHALLENGE Showcase Demonstration project team. The principal benefit of 
    participation is for an individual company to achieve energy 
    efficiency, productivity, and environmental performance goals faster 
    than otherwise. This will primarily be accomplished by the adoption of 
    a ``systems approach'' in the way electric motor and drives are 
    utilized within industrial operations and processes. Participation in 
    the Showcase Demonstration projects provides leveraged access to 
    technical assistance, and more reliable information. Participants will 
    use the experiences of the Showcase Demonstrations to replicate 
    opportunities within similar applications. In addition, participants 
    will gain national recognition for taking a leadership role in a unique 
    industry/government partnership. A secondary benefit of participation 
    is to catalyze and to solidify strategic alliances among team members 
    that otherwise would be more difficult to initiate and/or to maintain.
        Specifically, the MOTOR CHALLENGE Showcase Demonstration project 
    teams will be provided the following technical assistance and special 
    access to DOE-funded activities:
        (1) Input to Development of Technical Tools and Best Practices. DOE 
    is supporting the development of design-decision tools, best practices, 
    and guidelines on various electric motor system application topics 
    (e.g., motors, adjustable speed drives, pumps, fans, compressors, 
    etc.). The Showcase teams will have the opportunity to provide input to 
    DOE to ensure that the tools, materials, and procedures developed, 
    appropriately meet industry's design and decision-making needs and 
    requirements.
    
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        (2) Performance Validation. DOE will pay for appropriate 
    engineering consulting assistance to advise Showcase Demonstration 
    teams on performance validation issues. Working jointly with individual 
    teams, the consultants will assist and advise teams on the development 
    and design of reliable experimental and performance measurement 
    techniques so that the demonstration's costs and benefits can be 
    validated. At the completion of each project an Independent Performance 
    Validation report will be completed.
        (3) Case Study Documentation and Dissemination. DOE will pay for 
    the development and documentation of a comprehensive case history for 
    each Showcase Demonstration, and will disseminate the case study 
    results subject to team member's and independent performance 
    validator's review and approval. Likewise, DOE will provide a 
    compendium of Case Study Briefs.
        (4) Access to Experts Group. Through the Oak Ridge National Lab, 
    DOE has assembled an Experts Group of consultants on electric motor 
    system optimization, specializing in high efficiency motors, variable 
    speed drives, fans, blowers, and pumps. Reasonable access to the 
    Experts Group will be provided to the teams to acquire technical 
    assistance and advice.
        (5) Participation in Showcase Demonstration Workshops. Team members 
    will be invited to DOE-sponsored workshops where all Showcase 
    Demonstration teams will be provided the opportunity to exchange 
    valuable information and to discuss common implementation experiences 
    with industry counterparts. These workshops will also serve to inform 
    participants of the latest available technology. The first workshop for 
    the Showcases currently underway was held on June 27 and 28, 1995.
    
    Benefits to the Government
    
        The knowledge and experiences of the Showcase Demonstrations will 
    be used in future DOE efforts to assist industry in replicating and 
    implementing efficient electric motor systems. DOE intends that the 
    long-term result of highlighting the exemplary and cost-effective 
    benefits of the Showcase Demonstrations is the accelerated and 
    increased market penetration of efficient electric motor systems within 
    U.S. industry. The deployment of efficient industrial electric motor 
    systems will contribute significantly to greater energy efficiency, 
    reduced primary/source energy consumption, deferred new power 
    generation capacity, improved industrial productivity and 
    competitiveness, and enhanced environmental protection for the United 
    States.
    
    Eligible Project Teams
    
        Only industrial ``end-users'' are eligible to submit project 
    proposals. ``End-users'' are defined as those companies who own and 
    operate the facility where the demonstration will take place. In 
    addition to end-user participation, a project team may involve other 
    partners including, but not limited to, motor and drive manufacturers, 
    original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), distributors, utilities, 
    energy service companies, state energy offices, research institutions, 
    etc. End-user proposers are encouraged to include such participation. 
    Other non-end user entities are also encouraged to catalyze and support 
    proposal submission by end-user project teams.
    
    Industry Showcase Demonstration Project Team Obligations
    
        Each proposing project team will themselves provide all the funding 
    to support necessary design, equipment specification, purchase, and 
    installation for the efficient electric motor systems to be 
    demonstrated, along with all the measurement equipment and 
    instrumentation to validate and substantiate all claims of performance 
    and benefits achieved.
        Teams will provide DOE with sufficient data to substantiate and 
    document the energy and environmental performance of the project and 
    the economic benefit/cost of the result. Additionally, teams will 
    provide appropriate information to DOE to allow for DOE contractors to 
    perform an independent performance validation report and to prepare a 
    comprehensive case study document. For activities within the Showcase 
    Demonstration, DOE will respect all proprietary interests to which 
    selected demonstration hosts are entitled. These activities will be 
    addressed in the previously referenced Agreement between DOE and the 
    project team.
    
    Showcase Demonstration Team's Intellectual Property Rights
    
        The Agreements to be signed by DOE and each MOTOR CHALLENGE 
    Showcase Demonstration project team does not envision a commitment by 
    the Participants to perform research and development. DOE's 
    intellectual property policies will not apply to Participant's 
    inventions because the work performed by the Participants in developing 
    the demonstration projects for the MOTOR CHALLENGE Showcase 
    Demonstrations are not wholly or partially funded by DOE. Therefore, 
    rights to intellectual property developed by Participants and 
    demonstrated by the MOTOR CHALLENGE Showcase Demonstrations will not 
    vest in the United States Government. Language to this effect will be 
    incorporated into any resulting Agreement.
    
    Proposal Submission Format
    
        The proposals must include the following sections at a minimum:
    
    Section 1--Project Abstract
    
        A brief abstract of the project should include:
        (a) Project title;
        (b) Brief narrative describing the project (1 or 2 sentences);
        (c) Proposing industrial end-user company;
        (d) Management and technical point of contact of end-user company 
    (name, title, address, phone, fax);
        (e) Supporting team member companies, organizations, and points of 
    contact (title, address, phone, fax);
        (f) Facility name and location where the demonstration is proposed.
    
    Section 2--Description of the Project
    
        (This section should take no more than two pages) A description of 
    the industrial application to include the kind of efficient electric 
    motor system [drive, motor, and load] the proposed project is intended 
    to address. Estimates of the energy, environmental, and economic costs 
    and benefits that might reasonably be expected to result from an 
    assumed successful demonstration [relative to the present or 
    conventional system], should be presented. Also, extrapolated costs and 
    benefits of the demonstrated system if it were it to be replicated in 
    other similar applications, within the proposer's corporate facilities 
    should be estimated.
        A description of the technical approach of how and where the 
    demonstration will be implemented within the facility should be 
    explained. Also, a description of the technique and methodology to be 
    employed to measure and evaluate the performance of the demonstration 
    should be provided.
        The overall project cost should be estimated along with the 
    approximate cost-share breakdown by all parties providing resources to 
    the project. A project schedule should be included which addresses the 
    following items:
    
    (a) Procurement
    (b) Installation
    (c) Start-up
    (d) Data acquisition
    (e) Final reporting
    
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    Section 3--Letter of Intent
    
        Appropriate upper management within the industrial end-user company 
    must provide a letter of intent to support the demonstration project. 
    This letter will show evidence that the company upper management (e.g., 
    Vice President, Engineering Director/Manager, Plant Manager, etc.) is 
    aware, endorses, and is supportive of the project at the proposed 
    facility, and the company will provide the necessary resources to the 
    project, if selected.
    
    Section 4--MOTOR CHALLENGE Application Forms
    
        Each participating proposing Showcase Demonstration team member 
    company or organization must join the MOTOR CHALLENGE program by 
    submitting an appropriately completed application. Applications can be 
    obtained by calling the MOTOR CHALLENGE Hotline number 1-800-862-2086. 
    This section should contain all completed application forms.
    
    Availability of Federal Funds
    
        Approximately $1.5 million in FY 1996 of Federal funds is expected 
    to be available to support the activities, authorized pursuant to 
    Section 2101 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992, 42 U.S.C 13451, in 
    support of the Showcase Demonstrations. These Federal funds will be 
    managed through the DOE Office of Industrial Technologies' Motor 
    Challenge program. Subject to the availability of appropriated funds, 
    up to 10 proposals may be selected as Showcase Demonstrations in 
    accordance with the evaluation criteria stated below. All selected 
    Showcase Demonstration projects will receive no Federal financial 
    assistance, but will be provided technical assistance by DOE as 
    stipulated above.
    
    Technical Evaluation Criteria and Review Process
    
        Proposals will be reviewed and technically evaluated by staff 
    members of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
    
    Proposal Technical Evaluation Criteria
    
        All proposals submitted in response to this notice will be 
    technically evaluated by two major categories as follows:
        Category (1) Overall technical merit. The overall technical merit 
    will consider such factors as the practicality and likelihood that the 
    project will achieve success and the benefits claimed; and reliable and 
    defensible performance measurement techniques will be employed to 
    ascertain the project's costs and benefits.
        Category (2) Economic significance if the project were to be 
    successfully replicated within the company and throughout the United 
    States. Factors to be evaluated that will influence the ability of the 
    Showcase Demonstration to impact the market are: the estimated cost-
    effectiveness of the demonstration, the qualitative level of 
    productivity gain and non-energy cost savings from the application, and 
    the comparative significance of estimated energy cost savings if the 
    demonstration were to be replicated more broadly at the facility and 
    within the end-user's company.
    
    Proposal Policy and Programmatic Factors and Applications of Greater 
    Interest
    
        DOE will use policy and programmatic factors to select the 
    proposals of greatest interest. To attempt to ensure that a broadly 
    representative group of proposals are selected, DOE will seek diversity 
    in the Showcase Demonstrations selected by considering: geographical 
    location, application type, industry type, and facility size (e.g., 
    annual electricity costs) of the Showcase Demonstration.
        DOE prefers proposals for projects that are no further along than 
    the engineering design stage. However, if a project is further along, 
    DOE will consider the project as a Showcase Demonstration candidate, if 
    a reliable and defensible methodology of establishing a performance 
    baseline of a conventional system is available. For example, if another 
    conventional system is currently operating, and a performance baseline 
    of the conventional system can be measured and reliably compared to the 
    demonstration project, then this would be acceptable to DOE.
        DOE has identified the following seven broad technical applications 
    as those in which it is most interested in receiving Showcase 
    Demonstration proposals:
        (1) Applications where new efficient electric motor and drive 
    designs are creatively and cost-effectively integrated within specific 
    mechanical component systems (e.g., pumps, fans, compressors, etc.), or 
    processes so as to yield improved energy efficiency, productivity 
    improvement, and reduced life-cycle cost relative to typical 
    conventional operating systems.
        (2) Applications where an efficient electric motor and drive system 
    replaces a less efficient heat-engine/mechanical drive system (e.g., 
    steam turbine) to yield primary energy savings, productivity 
    improvement, and environmental improvement both at the facility and on 
    a global basis.
        (3) New manufacturing production lines where state-of-the-art motor 
    and drive system utilization results in energy efficiency and 
    productivity improvement compared to similar conventional operations.
        (4) Novel electric motor, drive, and mechanical system retrofits 
    that are more optimally matched to yield overall improved system energy 
    efficiency, reliability, and productivity improvement.
        (5) Demonstration of exemplary electric motor and drive system 
    management policies and maintenance practices that result in higher 
    process reliability and gradual, but continual, overall energy 
    efficiency improvement. Topical areas of interest could be motor repair 
    and rewind techniques, electrical distribution improvement, and 
    mechanical system maintenance and optimization.
        (6) Demonstrations that identify and implement the solution to 
    power quality problems, and by doing so, effectively increases total 
    system efficiency and productivity. Specifically, projects addressing 
    the impact of power quality on motor drives and other motor system 
    components which quantify the true cost/benefits of power quality 
    enhancement with respect to total motor system efficiency, reliability 
    and productivity.
        (7) Implementation and retrofit of efficient motor and drive 
    systems on industrial heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) 
    equipment or motor-driven industrial process heating or cooling 
    systems. These systems should be integrated creatively and cost-
    effectively within an entire, or a portion of, an industrial facility 
    or process to yield improved energy efficiency, reduced life-cycle cost 
    in an environmentally-acceptable manner. [HVAC for industrial or 
    manufacturing facilities are only of interest, not HVAC for space 
    conditioning of an office or commercial facility].
        Projects could involve a single unit of equipment, a unit 
    operation, a series of replicable equipment, an entire process, or an 
    entire facility. In general, proposals are desired which could lead to 
    demonstrably higher U.S. industrial productivity, energy efficiency, 
    environmental enhancement, and improved competitiveness once the 
    application is replicated on a widespread basis throughout the United 
    States. This listing is meant to be illustrative, not exclusive.
    
    Final Proposal Selection
    
        The recommendations of the technical merit review will be provided 
    by Oak Ridge National Laboratory to 
    
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    representatives of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial 
    Technologies. Final selection will be made by the Deputy Assistant 
    Secretary for Industrial Technologies.
    
        Issued in Washington, DC on November 20, 1995.
    Denise Swink,
    Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Industrial Technologies.
    [FR Doc. 95-29020 Filed 11-28-95; 8:45 am]
    BILLING CODE 6450-01-P