Request for Proposals for Solar Photovoltaic Expansion

Location:	Colorado
Posted:	Feb 26, 2026
Due:	Mar 24, 2026
Agency:	Denver Water
Type of Government:	State & Local
Category:	S - Utilities and Training Services
Publication URL:	To access bid details, please log in.

Attachment Preview

Solar Photovoltaic Expansion at DW Recycling Treatment Plant

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (RFP)

Submission Deadline: 2:00 pm (MT), March 24, 2026

Section 1 – Introduction and Background

Project Description

Denver Water is requesting proposals from Design/Builder (Contractor) to design, furnish, and install the

Solar Photovoltaic Expansion Project (Project). Project includes a ground mounted, behind the meter,

solar photovoltaic (PV) system at Denver Water’s Recycling Treatment Plant. The intent of the contract is

to maximize the tax credits that can be gained by commencing a solar array installation by July 4, 2026,

or installing and commissioning a complete solar installation by December 31, 2027, as laid out in IRS

Notice 2025-42.

Background and History

To reach the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030, the Board directed staff to identify and

implement internal sustainability goals and commitments to support reaching net-zero carbon and avoid

adding new sources of carbon emissions to the extent feasible.

The Board further directed staff to complete a study of its property and facilities to identify opportunities to

produce renewable energy, offsetting the use of utility power and increasing resiliency of operations to

disruptions of the electrical grid.

On October 1, 2024, Denver Water contracted with Baker Tilly to perform the following evaluations:

1. Assess Denver Water’s current renewable energy assets, facilities, and land assets.

2. Identify potential improvements, changes, and additions to renewable energy generating

capacity.

3. Develop a strategy to effectively mark the current and potential new energy produced by

Denver Water through one or more agreements/partnerships or participation in wholesale

markets.

4. Advise Denver Water through completion of the process to secure one or more buyers for its

current and potential renewable energy portfolios.

Baker Tilly completed an assessment of current renewable energy assets and land assets as well as the

completion of improvements, changes, and additions to renewable generation recommendations. Baker

Tilly recommended focusing on distributed solar generation upgrades at 14 high and medium ranked

Denver Water project sites. Denver Water is proceeding with implementing solar arrays at four (4) of our

Pump Stations and now are planning to design, furnish, and install solar arrays at the Recycling

Treatment Plant Site.

Location

Recycling Water

Treatment Plant

Address

5650 York Street

Commerce City, CO 80022

Estimated

Size (KW)

3,000

Estimated Annual

Generation [kWh/yr]

4,800,000

Preliminary individual site design development for the site above can be shared with the Contractors after

application and approval to the Security Prequalified Contractor/Consultant List.

Page 2 of 21

Project Objectives

The following specific project objectives have been identified:

• Design-Build the installation for turnkey, ground mounted, PV system within the project budget

and timeframe

• Installation of PV systems within the project timeframe

• Provide a web-based condition and performance monitoring system

• Obtain the highest net-present value of energy savings

• Achieve the highest cumulative energy savings

• Design, procure, install, and commission commercial grade, high efficiency PV systems

• Provide reliable PV systems with low-cost, long-term replacement and maintenance including

disposal

• Provide Denver Water with the lowest energy cost

• Partner with experienced, innovative, and financially stable vendors

• Minimize impact on Denver Water operations at prioritized locations

• Reduce the cost of energy by utilizing all available financial incentives (utility or otherwise)

Section 2 – Project Overview

Scope of Services

Design, furnish, and install a turnkey, ground mounted, solar PV system at Denver Water’s Recycling

Water Treatment Plant within the outlined schedule and budget. The solar PV systems will offset

approximately 100-110% of annual site electrical usage, which can be shared once the Contractor meets

the requirements of the Security Prequalified Contractor List (SPCL), as outlined in Section 8.

Project Assumptions

The following assumptions were made in the Scope of Work development:

• Contractor to provide all construction drawings, equipment, materials, labor, permitting, utility

coordination, as-builts, and commissioning necessary to install fully functional PV systems at the

listed site, within the agreed upon project cost over a 2-year period (2026 through 2027).

• A gate is a term used to reference a formal document; it is also the process used to acknowledge

project decisions. A gate is designed to acknowledge the approval of its related topic by project

stakeholders. In addition, a gate is a means to document decisions made that are critical to the

progress of the design beyond the current milestone/phase. Once the gate is closed, changes

cannot be made to the design deliverable nor data transferred without approval from Denver

Water and the Contractor Project Managers. If changes are identified, those changes are to be

logged and addressed in accordance with an approved change management process. Design

gates will meet the requirements of Denver Water’s Capital Projects Procedures Manual (CPPM)

at a minimum. Denver Water’s CPPM can be accessed for free at this address:

https://www.denverwater.org/contractors/construction-information/design-standards/capital-

projects-procedures-manual

• Early procurement, equipment storage, and handling will be Contractor responsibility.

• All project-related deliverables will be distributed collaboratively through a Denver Water

established, project-specific SharePoint site, with all final copies of documentation versioned and

archived within ProjectWise.

• Site is free of any sensitive cultural resources that require environmental clearance or other

required permitting at the local, state, or federal level. Although unlikely, if unanticipated buried

historic or archaeological materials are identified, Denver Water’s Environmental Planning team

will be notified to implement an unanticipated discoveries plan.

Page 3 of 21

• Site location is in urban, disturbed, and upland areas. However, in the event protected wildlife

presence is found, Contractor is responsible for providing construction clearance of protected

wildlife in compliance with authorities having jurisdiction.

• In the event unknown historic waste is encountered during construction, Contractor will alert

Denver Water Construction Project Manager to determine the need for an assessment of

materials. Denver Water Environmental Compliance team may need to be alerted as well.

• The Contractor shall develop all necessary supporting documentation and submit applications to

authorities having jurisdiction for permits, approvals, and reviews prior to construction.

• The location being considered in the RFP is a secured/highly secured operating facility.

Coordination of Contractor’s work with Denver Water is critical to ensure minimal disruption to

Denver Water operations and any concurrent facility maintenance work.

• The Contractor is responsible for all coordination with utilities and authorities having jurisdiction.

• A sample of the Contract is provided with the RFP. The selected Contractor will be expected to

sign and execute a similar version of this Contract.

• Upon completion of the site solar PV system, a site-specific service agreement will be negotiated

and signed. Proposal to include a sample standard service agreement including costs to be

evaluated as part of this RFP.

• The site shall be photo and video documented for existing site conditions prior to construction

start.

• The Contractor shall add an additional feeder section to SWGR1 to serve as a dedicated feeder

for the PV system OR the Contractor is restricted to the 13.2kV infrastructure when determining

an interconnection point.

o In an interconnection point is identified that is within an existing differential zone of

protection, then CT and PT provisions must be furnished on the PV feed and brought

back to the summing bus of the differential.

• Solar PV System Minimum Design Requirements:

o 20% safety factor:

 PV system sizes shall be based on Normal Module Operating Temperature

(NMOT) panel rating with an additional 20% higher than the average annual site

loads to account for operational/modeling unknowns.

 Contractors to provide stand alone cost for an additional 15% safety factor –

provide as a unit price ($/MWh).

o Panel Performance Requirements:

 Solar panels shall have minimum module efficiency of 20%.

 PV systems shall be provided with minimum 25-year Linear Power Warranty not

exceeding 0.5% annual degradation.

o One-line diagrams are indications of current state of site electrical equipment. Actual

electrical service requirements to install a fully functional PV system, with all necessary

electrical equipment and appurtenances, shall be communicated in the RFP response.

o Contractors to specify the types, quantities and proposed location of inverters,

transformers, electrical panels, and any other required supplemental equipment

necessary for the proposed Project sites. Inverter sizing shall be adequate so as not to

cut off panel generation during peak outputs. Assume the use of string inverters for this

proposal. If a micro inverter system is preferred, provide an additional quote showing the

difference in price including details of any additional benefits to installing such a system.

o Rolling metering or independent feed metering of the PV system generation and site

electrical consumption with Proposal to include independent feed metering with monthly

net metering. Denver Water has interest in independent feed metering to facilitate

generation during a facility outage.

Page 4 of 21

o Racking systems will maintain a minimum of 3 feet clearance of natural vegetative growth

to bottom of panels and adequate spacing between array arrangements to rider mow

native grass bi-annually. Racking systems for exposed concrete tank structures do not

require a ground to panel clearance requirement. Solar panels on tank structures shall

assume 3 feet free and clear space all the way around man access hatches, electric

valve operators, and jib crane mounts.

o Any disturbed or damaged native grass areas, irrigation, or other existing onsite assets

will require repair to like new condition. All native areas outside of the extent of the solar

arrays shall be returned to pre-construction conditions adhering to Section 31 01 01

identified in Exhibit D – Project Specific Technical Specifications.

Codes and Standards

o All products and components outlined herein must conform to the following codes,

standards, and rating methodologies:

 If PV modules using hazardous materials (i.e. Cadmium or other hazardous

materials) are included in the RFP, the environmental impact of the hazardous

material usage must be discussed, including any special maintenance

requirements and proper disposal/recycling of the modules at the end of their

useful life. Modules containing hazardous materials must comply with the EPA

Landfill Disposal Requirements. Any additional costs related to PV modules

containing hazardous materials must be clearly identified.

 Follow most current requirements of codes governing installations, including but

not limited to:

• UL certification

• National Electrical Code

• IBC including authorities having jurisdiction amendments

• All outdoor enclosures should be at minimum rated NEMA 3R

• Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) directives

• Must comply with IBC wind uplift requirements and the American Society

of Civil Engineers Standard for Minimum Design Loads for Buildings and

Other Structures (ASCE 7)

Monitoring System

o Denver Water must have access to system performance monitoring and historical data

via secure website. Denver Water will provide business network access via ethernet

connections.

o Monitoring System shall report energy generation back to user dashboards and general

metering tracking. Data must include:

 Production analytics

 Power generation

 Predicted power

 Irradiance vs. kW

 PV string level monitoring

 Plant alerts, reporting, fault codes, performance, and weather (ambient

temperature, wind speed, etc.)

 Insulation

o Monitoring System should be Building Automation System [BAS] compatible with TCP/IP

protocol, Monitoring System may be able to read items like ambient temperature from a

BAS.

Page 5 of 21

Section 3 – Contractor Qualifications

Contractors to submit the following company qualifications and shall be limited to no more than 4 pages:

Organization Information:

• Company Profile:

o Year founded

o Private or Publicly Held

o Number of employees

o States and countries in which you do business

o Target customers (residential, commercial, industrial, governmental, etc.)

o Organization participation in Green Programs and surrounding communities beyond their

engineering, procurement, and construction work.

 Green E certification status, as applies (See: http://www.green-e.org)

• Financial Strength & Payment Bonding Capacity:

o If public, provide a link to investor reports. If private, attach audited financial statements

from 2025/2024.

o Provide firm’s bonding capacity.

• Project Team:

o Provide team leader identification for the entire proposal, including full contact

information.

o Identify each business entity, person, or firm involved in the proposal and their role, e.g.

design, installation, permitting, equipment supply by component, operations and

maintenance.

o Identify any portion of work that will be performed by subcontractors.

o Provide resumes of personnel that will be directly involved with the development, project

manager, construction, and commissioning of the proposed systems.

• Quality:

o Describe company’s (or each firm’s) quality assurance processes.

o Describe customer satisfaction processes, if any.

• Safety Record:

o List firm’s Experience Modification Rate (EMR) for each of the past three premium years.

• Insurance:

o Provide a sample insurance certificate indicating compliance with insurance

requirements.

• Legal:

o Has the firm or any of the executive officers of the firm been a party to a lawsuit involving

the performance of any equipment it has installed? If so, please include a summary of the

issues and the status of the lawsuit.

Solar Project Experience:

• Overview:

o Demonstrate technical experience and capability to design, construct, and manage large-

scale grid-connected PV projects in the U.S. If a project team, identify the firm with the

experience.

o Demonstrate interconnection experience and capabilities.

o Overview of company’s non-residential grid-connected PV systems installed (not in

development):

 Total kWdc installed

 Total kWdc installed in the last three years

 Number of ground mounted systems installed since 2011

This is the opportunity summary page. It provides an overview of this opportunity and a preview of the attached documentation.

Request for Proposals for Solar Photovoltaic Expansion

Attachment Preview

See also