Ecosystems Presents with ENGIE and Georgetown at the P3 Higher Education Summit

The Ecosystem team participated in the annual P3 Higher Education Summit in Washington D.C., which brought together more than 600 higher education and industry leaders to help facilitate partnerships that build growth.  

For the “Decarbonization in P3s: Georgetown University Energy Project” panel, Adam Shelly, Director of Project Development at Ecosystem, shared the stage with our partners: Rocio Vasquez, Head of Universities BD, ENGIE; Tirelle Lee, CEO, Georgetown Energy Partners; and Kevin Turner, Director of Engineering and Utilities, Georgetown University.

Three Takeaways:

1. The biggest benefit of creating a decarbonization plan within a P3 structure?

The large capital outlay for an energy P3 can be hard to raise by a university, even if it makes business sense. A partnership needs to be structured to smooth this effort, and the decarbonization plan can support decision-making with the board of directors. 

2. Which approaches to decarbonization were considered?

Georgetown University had two options: develop a decarbonization master plan for the campus and go project by project; or develop a five-year roadmap for a group of buildings, one that’s aligned with CAPEX targets and other KPIs. They chose the five-year roadmap with a longer-term masterplan for this P3, providing a near-term horizon for planning, design, implementation, and O&M – and it’s a living project that can be adjusted along the way. 

3. How do you capture stakeholders’ points of view for the roadmap?

 ENGIE installed a seven-eight person team directly across from the university’s operations team on campus, holding town hall meetings together with Ecosystem, as well as regular weekly and monthly meetings.  

To learn more about our decarbonization and energy initiatives in higher education, click here.