[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]




[[Page 61443]]

_______________________________________________________________________

Part VI





Department of Energy





_______________________________________________________________________



Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy



_______________________________________________________________________



Motor Challenge Showcase Demonstration Projects; Notice

  Federal Register: / Vol. 60, No. 229 / Wednesday, November 29, 1995 / 
Notices  

[[Page 61444]]


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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

[[Page 61445]]

    (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

[[Page 61446]]


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 

[[Page 61447]]
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