NJ TRANSIT ANNOUNCES PATH FORWARD ON NJ TRANSITGRID PROJECT
Special Board Committee Formed; Board Releases Plan To Incorporate Renewable Energy Technology Fulfilling Goals of Governor Murphy's Energy Master Plan
October 21, 2020
NEWARK, NJ -- The NJ TRANSIT Board of Directors today announced a re-imagined path forward for NJ TRANSITGRID, committing to hiring a renewables energy consultant to assist in the project’s multi-step design and feasibility process, and approving up to $3 million in stipends to qualified bidders in order to foster the most creative, environmentally-sound bid proposals.
“NJ TRANSITGRID is a critical resiliency project that ensures we can maintain limited, but vital, rail service for our customers in the event of local and regional power interruptions,” said NJ TRANSIT President & CEO Kevin Corbett. “We will be incentivizing the national and international developer community to come up with the most innovative designs that will allow us to maximize the use of renewable energy for this project. Our commitment is to deliver a project that meets the needs of our riders and remains consistent with Governor Phil Murphy’s Energy Master Plan.’’
The Board also created an ad hoc Energy and Sustainability Policy Committee to oversee NJ TRANSIT’s efforts and ensure renewable energy technologies are incorporated into the $557 million power reliability project. The Committee will be comprised of Board Members Cedric T. Fulton, Sangeeta Doshi and James D. Adams. The Special Board Committee’s meetings will be open to the public to provide increased opportunity for public engagement. The committee will also consider issues related to zero emission fleet vehicle deployment, adoption of NJ TRANSIT’s first sustainability plan, and other issues as may be appropriate.
The competitive bidder stipend program approved by the Board tonight will encourage short-listed project proposers to make the most use of renewable, green energy options in their bid proposals.
Developers will apply via a two-step procurement process involving an initial Request for Qualifications (RFQ) that will seek to establish a pool of qualified proposers followed by a Request for Proposals (RFP) that will require the qualified proposers to submit comprehensive technical and financial proposals to integrate renewable or other zero emissions energy technologies into the proposed Microgrid Central Facility. Each qualified team will be awarded a stipend valued at $1 million after completion of the RFP step, with the total anticipated value of the stipend program not exceeding $3 million.
NJ TRANSIT is in the process of hiring a renewables energy consultant to assist in the multi-step design and feasibility process. The consultant will assist in maximizing the renewables scope of the project, conduct a review of recent utility scale renewables and storage projects of similar capabilities, support the evaluation of renewables team experience in response to the RFQ, and assist with drafting of the RFP.
Also, later this month, NJ TRANSIT will host a Microgrid Market Outreach event for potential bidders and bidding teams. The event will review the project’s renewables energy strategy, allowing time for potential bidders to form a renewables team and meet other requirements as the project proceeds.
In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the NJ TRANSITGRID facility was envisioned as a primarily natural gas turbine powered facility. However, NJ TRANSIT and Governor Murphy are committed to a microgrid capable of employing, to the greatest extent possible, renewable generation and energy storage technologies capable of providing highly reliable power to a core segment of NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak’s critical service territory during extreme weather or outages in the commercial power grid.
NJ TRANSIT has been awarded more than $409 million in federal funds for NJ TRANSITGRID. The project is a result of a partnership between NJ TRANSIT, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Federal Transit Administration.
For more information, https://njtransitresilienceprogram.com/
About NJ TRANSIT
NJ TRANSIT is the nation's largest statewide public transportation system providing more than 925,000 weekday trips on 251 bus routes, three light rail lines, 12 commuter rail lines and through Access Link paratransit service. It is the third largest transit system in the country with 166 rail stations, 62 light rail stations and more than 18,000 bus stops linking major points in New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia.
This document and others are available for translation on njtransit.com.