Customer-Focused Clean Energy Policy Guidance
Founded in 1997, the Colorado Energy Group (CEG) is a customer-focused strategic energy planning advisor to governments, utilities, homebuilders, developers and energy efficiency and renewable energy providers and suppliers. George Burmeister is the President of CEG. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, CEG has satellite offices in Stockton, CA, Dallas, TX and Washington, DC.
CEG is hired primarily for our energy efficiency and solar Best Practice implementation experience with industry and local and state governments, our writing skills, relationship-building and facilitation services, stakeholder engagement strategies, codes and standards knowledge, balanced Community Choice Energy (CCE) expertise, survey capabilities and our comprehensive clean energy technology policy expertise. We place a strong emphasis on voluntary, market-based solutions in the energy efficiency, renewable energy and natural gas areas.
Notable Projects
CEG Wins Major RFP to Prepare Long-term Solar and Storage Strategy for Boulder, Colorado
The City of Boulder wants to get from the 20 Megawatts (MW) of solar it has now to 50 MW by 2020, and 100 MW by 2030, and they hired CEG to help them figure out how to do it--both as a current customer of Xcel energy, and as a municipal utility if their efforts to municipalize move forward. CEG shared more than 53 solar Best Practices with City staff and local leaders, ranging from new PPAs for city buildings, on-bill financing, utilizing parking lot structures, establishing new Community Solar program(s), and starting aggressive new solar programs for the C & I sectors which comprise ~75-percent of the electricity load. A final report from CEG and our partner Optony with recommendations is expected soon. Click here for a Boulder Daily Camera article on the project.
The Sustainable Energy Roadmap Project: San Joaquin Valley, California
California’s San Joaquin Valley is ground-zero for large scale solar project encroachment on America’s most prized agricultural land. The stakes are high not only for the Valley but for the more than 50-percent of Americans that rely on this food source. CEG provided technical assistance to Valley local governments over two years, and CEG was the lead author on a highly-acclaimed 70-page White Paper which documents the major public policy issues related to this important topic. For the formal press release on the White Paper, please click here: Press Release
100-Percent Renewable Energy Supply RoadMap and Strategic Energy Planning Services
CEG and our partner Optony won competitive RFPs to design new renewable energy strategies for the cities of Santa Barbara, California and Lafayette, Colorado to take them to 100-percent renewable energy supply. The City of Santa Barbara work will complement our ongoing efforts with Santa Barbara County. Hats off to these two communities for their innovative, aggressive pursuit of clean energy! Please call George for details.
Santa Barbara County, California--Strategic Energy Planning Services
CEG and our long-time partner Optony recently won an RFP to provide clean energy expertise to the County and some of their cities. Our team will help these governments identify distributed energy resource (DER) applications, Community Choice Energy (CCE) options, larger solar PV energy installations and opportunities for increased resiliency.
Palm Springs – Community Energy Efficiency Partnerships: A Guidebook for Creating Local Energy Efficiency Competitions
Neighborhood competitions, prizes and community rewards offered to those who change their energy-related behaviors are relatively new approaches in the energy efficiency field. What motivates people to contribute to, or participate in, an energy efficiency competition, and how should new programs be designed? CEG wrote this timely document for Palm Springs, California-based AZENTIVE.
Denver – Facilitating a Discussion on the “True Value” of Solar Energy
CEG was hired as a facilitator by the State of Colorado Energy Office to negotiate common ground and agreement between the solar industry and Xcel Energy, and to help discover the “true value” of solar. To read press related to this project, please see the articles in the Denver Business Journal , GreenTech Media and the Denver Post . CEG is at the forefront of these policy discussions as dozens of states wrestle with this issue.
CEG Authors Innovative, New Comprehensive Renewable Energy Plan (CREP) for San Diego County
CEG and a team of colleagues recently completed a Comprehensive Renewable Energy Plan (CREP) for the County of San Diego. Purposes of the CREP include identifying opportunities for increased renewable energy production while protecting habitat-sensitive land, and identifying investment patterns needed for four future planning scenarios involving an increasing State Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) that goes from 33% to 50%, to 75% and 100%. CEG led a year-long review of national Best Practices for this innovative project.
