Roanoke Economic Development – Maria Fernandez – 2014

Goals

Maria Fernandez worked with a key commercial account of Roanoke Electric which had asked the cooperative for assistance in identifying energy savings opportunities at two of its Gas Station-Convenience Stores. Maria evaluated and proposed a number of LED lighting upgrades. 

Solutions

Detailed modeling of kWh reductions allowed Fernandez to determine the number of Energy Efficiency Credits that Roanoke Electric could apply towards compliance with North Carolina Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard as a result of this project, and to propose appropriate rebates for the cooperative to help the company carry out the lighting upgrade projects. Fernandez also explored opportunities and proposed a roadmap for Roanoke Electric to implement Demand Side Management and to benefit from Demand Response payments in the future. She built a financial model for the cooperative to evaluate the feasibility of a residential curtailment program using any mix of load reduction technologies.

Potential Impact

Fernandez’s projects could save the company 30 percent at one store and 44 percent at the other in energy costs, and achieve a total reduction of over 320,000 kilowatt hours and close to 240 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.