Our Services

Who we are & what we do:

Anchor Blue LLC is a woman-owned environmental consulting firm specializing in services related to energy efficiency, renewable energy, and sustainable development, both within the United States and abroad. We offer a broad spectrum of solutions to utilities, government agencies, municipal governments, and non-profit clients to help them design, implement, and evaluate their programs and projects in an effective and efficient manner. The Anchor Blue team collectively has over 30 years of experience in the energy efficiency industry and 10 years working with sustainable development non-profits, resulting in our multi-faceted solution offerings across varying project types. Though our primary market relates to organizations working in the energy field, our service offerings can be adapted to suit any market, as the principles and practices are transferable beyond the energy industry. Below is a list of some of our key areas of expertise:

Energy Efficiency Program Cycles & Consulting Services:

The Anchor Blue Team is dedicated to providing a broad spectrum of innovative and effective consulting services to organizations as they design and implement programs and projects. Typically, a program will be carried out from inception to evaluation over the course of five general steps. This process, which we refer to here as the ‘Program Cycle,’ is illustrated in figure 1 below. While Anchor Blue staff have experience in each of these steps, we specialize in Step 1: Market Assessments and Step 4: Program Evaluation. We also have extensive experience in technical analysis and modeling, which can be a core function of all of the steps. This section explains each component in further detail. The remainder of the document describes Anchor Blue’s areas of expertise in this process.

Step 1 – Market Research and Assessments: For a program to be successful, organizations must have a full understanding of the market in which they will implement the program. Market assessments help to define factors such as the market size and scope, as well as to identify trends and conditions for the establishment of baselines, energy efficiency potential forecasts, and program planning.

Step 2 –  Program Design: Once they understand their target market, organizations can design the scope of their program, the implementation strategy, and the tracking requirements needed to achieve program goals and objectives.

Step 3 – Program Implementation: After a program has been designed, organizations will take measured steps to roll out their program over a predetermined period of time. During this process, it is essential to maintain high-quality tracking documentation around performance and implementation. If the data is well collected and maintained, it will be substantially easier to evaluate the success of the program and make improvements for the future.

Step 4 – Program Evaluation: Evaluations are critical for determining the overall effectiveness of a program. These evaluations help to highlight successes and identify areas for future improvements. This step can be done in-house; however, independent, third-party evaluations can provide increased objectivity and alternate vantage points. Some funders or regulators require evaluations to be conducted by third parties to ensure objective and transparent assessments.

Step 5 – Program Improvements and Re-Implementation:  Organizations employ the insights and recommendations from evaluations to improve the program design and implementation strategies. The calculated incorporation of these recommendations allows organizations to achieve more effective and efficient results upon re-implementation.

Energy Consulting Services

  • “It is essential for a utility or organization to fully understand the market in which it operates, as this is the first step to determining the organization’s impact. Market research helps to define factors such as the market size and scope, as well as to identify trends and conditions for the establishment of baselines, forecasts, and planning.”

    Market characterizations provide insight and clarity into a market and how it functions. These studies help to define a market’s scope, size, demographics/firmographics, key market actors, historical context, and trends, among other factors. Part of characterizing a market may be defining its segments, which can help utilities or companies to gain a better understanding of the nuances of a given market or industry. These studies can be based on both qualitative and quantitative information, and while they are scalable, they are often high-level and serve as a starting point for more in-depth analyses or studies.

    The Anchor Blue Team are skilled in analyzing the market as a whole, including market size estimates, trend analysis, customer behavior research, policy analysis, and market actor and supply chain analysis. The Anchor Blue Team are experienced in market assessments and characterizations in EE, renewable energy, and the water-energy nexus in the agricultural industry.

  • Trend analyses, forecasting, and potential studies build on the historical and present context of a market. They also predict what may happen in the future based on quantitative and qualitative information. Often conducted using statistical or econometric models, these studies can focus on one technology or market trend. Alternatively, they can incorporate and aggregate a number of factors, such as with portfolio-wide potential studies. Because these studies are often driven by quantitative data, they can help clients to gain a very clear and visual assessment of what the future may have in store. However, the results can be highly variable depending on the type of model used, the inputs, and the modeling team, among other factors. Potential studies can be a powerful tool for program administrators and policy makers to evaluated alternative scenarios as compared to the current market.

    Energy Efficiency Potential Studies: Potential studies are a specialty for Anchor Blue team, having conducted potential studies in the energy efficiency sector for over 60 utilities and governing bodies over the past decade. Anchor Blue’s Senior Partner, Gary Cullen, originally developed the Electric Resource Assessment Model (ELRAM) for Navigant Consulting eight years ago and continued to build and improve the model during his tenure at Navigant. Energy Efficiency Potential Assessments provide clients with a starting point to develop programs by identifying the most cost-effective and highest energy saving measures for an assessed service territory. These analyses include in depth energy efficiency technology research and assessment, utility data assessment, cost-benefit analyses, development of decision making algorithms to forecast adoption, and ultimately a series of scenarios.

    Anchor Blue team memebers have been involved with over 50 different clients to conduct energy efficiency potential studies while members of Anchor Blue and Navigant Consulting.

  • Baseline studies provide a snapshot of a particular aspect of a market at a given point in time. They consider factors such as existing technology densities and stocks, as well as the efficiency saturations. They also can serve as a benchmark against which to compare trends and developments over a course of time. These studies typically require the market to be characterized already in some form or another. Furthermore, because they are effectively a snapshot of that market, they require some narrowing of focus and may not include historical context or forecasts. Baseline studies are utilized for many downstream program activities such as estimating energy savings, and conducting potential assessments.

    2014 Commercial Building Stock Assessment (CBSA): Anchor Blue team members were integral to the success of the PNW region’s most recent, large baseline study, the Commercial Building Stock Assessment for Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA). Completed in 2014 while Anchor Blue members were employed by Navigant Consulting, this study is one of the largest onsite building stock assessments completed to date, with over 1,400 buildings surveyed across the Pacific Northwest. Members of the Anchor Blue team were an integral part of this project, including:

    • Project Management

    • On-Site Field Visits

    • Quality Control

    • Data Analysis

    • Sample Design

    The full CBSA datasets and final report can be found at http://neea.org/resource-center/regional-data-resources. The Anchor Blue team has extensive experience analyzing all the Pacific Northwest regional data sources for market trends found at this link, as well as other market baseline sources in California[1] and the US EIA’s Energy Consumption Surveys[2], among others around the states.

    In addition to CBSA, many of the Potential Studies that the Anchor Blue team have led required a small market baseline study to inform the measure level data required for Energy Efficiency Potential Studies.

     

    [1] California Lighting and Appliance Saturation Survey (DNV-GL, 2012) – https://webtools.dnvgl.com/projects62/Default.aspx?tabid=190; California Commercial End Use Survey (ITRON, 2006) http://capabilities.itron.com/ceusweb/

    [2] US Energy Information Administration – https://www.eia.gov/consumption/

  • Technology assessments and characterization can help an organization to understand the cost and benefits of the technologies that they will incorporate into their programs. Our technology assessment services can help program managers develop business cases for technologies they are interested in with analyses underpinned by sound engineering assessment and market context.  The Anchor Blue Team are skilled at engineering and cost assessments of clean energy technologies, which is complemented by our expertise in market assessment. Our ability to evaluate the impact of a technology in context of the overall market drives us to put forth actionable recommendations for our clients who are interested in clean energy technology investments. The Anchor Blue Team have completed numerous technology and measure characterization projects during their careers and are currently under contract with the Regional Technical Forum in the Pacific Northwest to conduct measure characterization.

  • “Evaluations are critical for determining the overall effectiveness of a program. These evaluations help to highlight successes and identify areas for future improvements. While this step can be done in-house, independent, third party evaluations can provide increased objectivity and alternate vantage points. Some funders or regulators require evaluations to be conducted by third parties to ensure objective and transparent assessments.”

    Anchor Blue team members have conducted numerous Evaluation, Measurement & Verification (EM&V) studies over the past decade. The goals of EM&V studies are to provide unbiased, objective, and independent evaluations of existing programs offered by utilities, government organizations, and non-profits. Comprehensive evaluations are typically two-fold, providing an assessment of both the program impact (assessing claimed vs. realized achievements) and the process (assessing the program implementation). These two-fold evaluations provide clients with the following benefits:

    • Useful recommendations and feedback for program improvement

    • Assessment of program effectiveness in reaching target populations

    • Assessment of the quality of the program tracking data

    • Assessment of a program’s realized achievements compared to what was claimed or expected, such as actual energy savings in terms of energy efficiency

    • Increased level of confidence in program results through transparent protocols

    IMPACT EVALUATIONS

    Impact Evaluations provide feedback to program implementers regarding the measurable outputs of a program. The studies quantify the actual, measured (ex-post) accomplishments, whether they be conservation metrics such as energy or water saved, or the number of people served by a program. The evaluation will compare these measured accomplishments to the claimed (ex-ante) accomplishments to allow an organization to understand its successes and shortfalls.

    The Anchor Blue team consists of engineers and experienced analysts who can perform detailed engineering reviews, on-site metering, and provide both quantitative and qualitative assessments of program impacts and processes. With the team’s diverse skill set, we offer holistic solutions in our evaluation work.

    PROCESS EVALUATIONS

    Process Evaluations assess a program’s implementation, operation, delivery, and effectiveness. In essence, they provide the context that explains the quantitative findings of the impact evaluation. The Anchor Blue team and affiliates have extensive expertise in process evaluations and have conducted numerous process evaluations from inception to completion, including evaluation planning, drafting data collection instruments, and managing data collection teams – both internally and externally. The Anchor Blue Team has successfully carried out evaluations involving both web and telephone surveys, focus groups, Delphi panels, and other key evaluation methods. 

  • Modeling and analysis tools can be useful at any stage of a typical program cycle. Because each project and dataset is different, analysts should be versed in an array of programs and tools that can be appropriate for different analyses. The correct tool and/or analysis platform will depend on factors such as the client’s needs, the availability of data and the amount of data to be analyzed. The Anchor Blue Team has worked with a variety of programs for data analytics and  modeling. These tools are listed below:

  • Anchor Blue partners have conducted numerous projects in the renewable energy field, ranging from global market research to grassroots installations of small-scale systems. Anchor Blue partner Kirsten Midura has worked extensively with the renewable energy groups, conducting market assessments for organizations such as Scottish Power & Renewables and the Alberta Department of Energy. She has also worked with both BTM and FTI Consulting on global wind supply chain market reports and offshore market reports.

    Anchor Blue Partner Bethany Foran also has experience working in the small-scale solar industry. Bethany recently returned from a trip to Cambodia, where she worked on the installation of a 26kw renewable solar energy system

  • Anchor Blue partner Bethany Foran has conducted numerous projects related to civil engineering of substations. Design aspects include: layout, steel design and concrete design. Design includes both greenfield sites and retrofits. Bethany was part of the civil engineering team that designed various substation structures and foundations for a 500kv greenfield solar substation in Hawaii. As the lead engineer, Bethany designed layouts for numerous greenfield and existing substation sites, and performed structure and foundation design, for both new and existing substations, grading, drainage, and substation permitting.