Specifications include, but are not limited to: The Rhode Island Office of energy Resources seeks a qualified firm to provide renewable energy inspection services, analysis and writing the "Solar Quality Assurance Inspection Study and Report" related to the Renewable Energy Growth program. Task 1 – Inspections, Audits, and Data Analysis of Small Scale Solar PV Projects (<25kW) Small Scale projects are defined as any PV project under 25kW awarded a certificate of eligibility with the REG program. Working with OER, the selected consultant will determine the percentage of small scale projects to inspect and the plan for inspection scheduling. The bulk of inspections included in this Scope of Work will be small scale PV projects. On average, between 700 and 900 small scale installs occur during the program year. Applicants must include in the proposal an estimated amount of time it may take, on average, to inspect a small scale PV system and provide the estimate average cost for each inspection. All site inspections for PV projects will take place after the installation has occurred and the system is interconnected to the distribution system. 4 Evaluation items include, but are not limited to, onsite panel shading, National Electrical Code compliance, system design, engineering, layout, and customer satisfaction. Given the high number of small scale installations, a sampling memo of projects to be inspected must be submitted to OER for review and approval. The memo should consider the number of installers participating in the program and include a plan for inspecting a percentage of each installer’s projects. All self-installations must receive an inspection. Inspections must be scheduled within one month of OER approval of the sampling memo5 . All reasonable efforts must be made to conduct inspections in a timely manner. Task 2 - Inspections and Audits of Medium Scale Solar PV Projects (25kW-250kW) Medium Scale projects are defined as any project between 26kW-250kW. It is expected that this category will also see a high volume of projects and that field inspections will take longer than a small scale inspection. Applicants must include in the proposal an estimated amount of time it may take, on average, to inspect a 250kW PV system and provide the estimated average cost for each inspection. Evaluation topics include, but are not limited to, National Electrical Code compliance, system design, engineering, layout, interconnection, and customer satisfaction. Deliverables for Task 2 include: A. One (1) PV Site Inspection Report per field inspection. Task 3 - Inspections and Audits of Commercial and Large Scale Solar PV Projects (251kW+) It is expected that all projects 251kW and above will be inspected in the field by the selected vendor. These projects are often complicated and have multiple parties involved. The consultant must be proficient in working with multiple parties (developer, general contractor, etc.) to inspect large systems. Evaluation topics include, but are not limited to, National Electrical Code compliance, system design, engineering, layout, interconnection, and customer satisfaction. It is expected that the project inspections for this category will take a certain number of hours to perform. Applicants must include in the proposal the estimated amount of time and cost it may take, on average, to inspect and produce site inspection reports for the following: • 500kW PV System • 1MW PV System • 3 MW PV System Deliverables for Task 3 include: A. One (1) PV Site Inspection Report per field inspection.
