WSSC Asset Management Program

PEER Consultants, P.C. worked as part of a team to provide general program support for the Asset Management Program at Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. Under this umbrella contract, PEER assisted the project team on several task orders. The tasks orders include but are not limited to, updating Asset Registries (including condition assessments) – for Waste Water Treatment Plans and Support Services Facilities, updating asset management plans (AMP) – processes and procedures, and updating and maintaining a comprehensive resource loaded schedule to track all the projects under WSSC Asset Management Office (AMO). Additionally, PEER provided an Innovation Program 5-Year Roadmap and an Innovation Program Innovation Long Term Support and Implementation.

The objective of the AMP task order was to document and/or update procedures to incorporate both current processes and industry best standards, as necessary. This involved reviewing/updating procedures regarding determined life cycle and replacement cost of assets; determined asset life; determined confidence level rating; asset management plans; commission and decommission asset registry; and, determined Business Risk Exposure (BRE). Moreover, PEER updated attribute information, by preparing an inventory of the assets, assessing their current condition, assigning a rating to each asset, and preparing estimated replacement costs. As well as, assisting in maintaining a resource-loaded schedule in Primavera (P6) to monitor, track and make changes to AMP. Further, PEER assisted in generating reports that assisted project managers to manage resources, plan and sequence work and projects to meet internal and external deadlines and constraints.

Operations & Maintenance Assistance Program (OMAP)

The Operations & Maintenance Assistance Program (OMAP) provides start-up and operations and maintenance engineering services required for the completion of CIP projects. PEER administers, coordinates, and advises on all project activities including but not limited to, the monitoring of each sub-project construction contract performance, acceptance testing, and advising when all systems were complete and ready for start-up and turnover to the Department of Wastewater Treatment, Department of Maintenance Services, and Facilities for normal operation.

Additionally, PEER performs asset integration for all new assets and provides a design review of construction specifications and construction drawings. Through service manual reviews, PEER is able to perform parts integration for all assets. PEER also develops Work Order and Preventative Maintenance, including Job Plans and schedules. All in all, PEER has initiated and executed the OMAP Project successfully.

Improving Dundalk Sewershed Collection System - Wastewater Engineering Services

The Wastewater Engineering Services for the Improvements of the Dundalk Sewershed Collection System Project was a Joint Venture (JV) contracted by the City of Baltimore, Department of Public Works, to design and oversee the construction of collection system improvements in the Dundalk Sewershed. The contract consisted of the preparation of design documents for the construction of collection system improvements within the Dundalk Sewershed and the provision of post-award services during the construction of the improvements. A set of collection system improvements had been identified in a Sewershed Study and Plan (SSP) prepared by another contractor.

The JV (Joint Venture) designed and provided post-award services for the construction of improvements to the collection system which included 82,740 linear feet of CIPP Lining, replacing 4,396 linear feet of sewer ranging from 12 inches to 30 inches, locating/opening/inspecting 60 manholes, 27 point repairs, repairing 347 manholes, and improvements to the visual defects of sanitary sewer house connections for associated with the improvements. Post-award services included the review of contractor submittals, technical consultations on RFIs and change orders, preparation of record drawings, and updating of the GIS maps in City Works. As a member of the JV, PEER provided overall project management and coordination of the project, including the activities of its sub-consultants and subcontractors.

Kheis Municipality in the Northern Cape Province – Micro-grids, South Africa

Internationally, over the past 2 years, PEER has been in working with its sister company, PEER Africa, to develop and install 507 distributive generation micro-grids in the informal settlement in the !Kheis Municipality in the Northern Cape Province in South Africa.  

Each home – described as an informal shelter constructed of bits and pieces of tin and/or wood – is equipped with a 7.5 kW PV solar home system kit, which includes a PV panel, kitchen appliances, cell phone charging station, a color TV, radio and computer.  These shelters are completely “off the grid”, since the central grid connection is far and already insecure and overloaded, operating completely on battery storage, i.e. DC current only.

Moreover, the team has supplemented additional technologies to provide a more robust energy program. For example, the roofs of all the shelters have been painted with cool coatings to allow the PV panels to operate more efficiently during the oppressively hot summers; whenever possible, the tin walls were also painted with cool coatings to allow for extra indoor thermal comfort for the residents.

PEER is on the cusp of delivering clean energy that incorporates “blue ocean” approaches in a “red ocean” space, creating solutions that are appropriate, innovative, and affordable.

District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility (DC SEU)

PEER Consultants is one of five teaming partners forming The Sustainable Energy Partnership, which helps to plan, lead and implement the District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU), an organization under a performance-based contract with the Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE). Since 2011, the District of Columbia Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU) has helped District residents, businesses, and institutions save energy and money through energy efficiency and renewable energy programs, all while creating a positive and lasting impact in the community. So far, they have achieved nearly $1 billion in lifetime energy cost savings.

In 2019, DCSEU continued its Workforce Development Program with goals of reducing unemployment, enhancing marketable skills for workers, and shaping the local green economy. Last year, the DCSEU had two cohorts of externs who worked alongside mentors at a variety of organizations, including WMATA, the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), Howard University, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG), WDC Solar, Greenscape Environmental Services, and Columbia Property Trust.

The organization develops programs that work to comply with the following performing benchmarks (and in FY2019, they exceeded all set annual targets): Natural Gas Savings and Electricity Savings; Renewable Energy Generating Capacity; Low-Income Spending; Low-Income Savings; Green Jobs Creation; and, Leveraging. The energy reduction programs aimed to achieve these benchmarks are implemented across four core market areas: Low-income Multifamily (LIMF) Services, Commercial and Institutional (C&I) Services, Single Family Residential Retrofit, and Renewable Energy Services.

PEER participates as a teaming partner, primarily responsible for providing program management, engineering, and account management services. PEER engineers have worked with a range of customers, including business owners, architects, engineers, vendors, trade allies to promote the installation of cost-effective and efficiency improvements in customers’ future and existing buildings/facilities as per their site specific needs. The PEER team performs energy and water utility bills analyses, and estimates cost savings for implementation and utilization of a variety of energy efficient and conserving measures appropriate to the project in office buildings, commercial properties, and residential apartment complexes in the Washington, DC area.

Resilient Communities South Africa

Circa the 1990s, the Witsand community in the Western Cape of South Africa was a 20 year-old shantytown of over 2,000 shacks; living conditions were deplorable, with no access to basic services. PEER Africa and PEER Consultants were chosen by the Cape Town City Council to transform the community using the integrated Energy Environment Empowerment Cost-Optimization (iEEECO™) methodology.  

Through the development of ‘sustainable’ iEEECO™ homes, PEER was able to alleviate the poverty issue, while improving the health and welfare of indigent South Africans. The iEEECO™ methodology involves: a set of procedures that create viable sustainable communities out of the rubble of shantytowns; active participation of project beneficiaries; a bottom-up, self-help approach that results in a sense of ownership and responsibility among community members; building structures designed using software tools (ERGY-10™) that identify cost-effective, energy-saving measures; calculating and analyzing building performance using embedded data collection devices and evaluation, monitoring and verification (EM&V) protocols established by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

iEEECO™ home features include: 1. Wind turbine/solar panel hybrid power systems (pilot phase); 2. Solar energy products - e.g. flashlights & cell phone charging unit (optional: for houses not connected to the power grid); 3. Solar thermal water heating units; 4. Passive-solar design with 600 mm roof overhang; 5. Large north-facing windows for cooling during summer months; 6. Native plants used for shading and greening; 7. Plastered concrete block houses with sand-filled hollows to increase mass. The project also included: water and power conserving appliances and fixtures; community gardens; storm-water best management practices; appropriate municipal infrastructures; R10 ceiling insulation, fire-retardant wall & ceiling board.

As a result, over 2,600 families now reside in single-family, multi-family, and mixed-use, passive-solar homes with energy-efficient and water-conserving appliances and fixtures.  Moreover, the community is now experiencing: low carbon footprint emission; solar-thermal water heating solutions; significant job creation within the community along with the development of local businesses to expand iEEECO™ concept; reduced energy and water consumption; low and affordable monthly household utility bills; reduced burden on the city’s utilities and infrastructure.

Moving forward, in Phase 3, PEER hopes to: 1. Build the final set of 1,648 iEEECO™ homes and associated community facilities. 2. Pilot ‘mini-grid’ in community using hybrid solar wind power generation system. 3. Introduce innovative, clean-fuel cook stoves. PEER hopes to complete this last and final phase by the year 2020.