81920 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 250 / Thursday, December 29, 2011 / Notices 

load on the affected generator sets to 

70% or higher of nameplate rating, and 

thereby reduce fuel consumption by 

approximately 70,000 gallon per month. 

This represents a saving of $246,000 per 

month or $2.96m per year at the current 

fuel price of $3.52 per gallon. This 

saving will automatically be passed on 

to the rate-payers as required by the rate 

setting process. 

With the ability to operate generators 

at loads of 70% or more, fewer 

generators need to be on-line to supply 

demand. This will result in lower 

running hours per engine and as a 

result, lower maintenance cost per year. 

Savings in engine maintenance cost as 

a result of the radiator replacement 

project is expected to be at least 

$876,000 per year. 

Power plant-1 continues to be CUC’s 

main power plant on the main island of 

Saipan. This radiator replacement 

project will reduce fuel consumption 

and overall engine run hours—by 

allowing generator loads to be operated 

at optimum levels. This in turn will 

reduce fuel and maintenance cost and 

provide some relief to rate payers in the 

CNMI, by way of electricity rate 

reduction. 

If for some reason the design of the 

radiators is ineffective, the current 

radiators are in such a severely decayed 

state that they cannot be reconnected 

one de-commissioned. If the project 

does not proceed on schedule, or if 

there is any flaw in the design, CNMI 

may be forced to resort to back-up 

power, similar to the 2008 scenario. 

The project to replace the radiators 

involves two 13.0MW–18V 52/55B and 

three 7.2MW–18V 40/54A diesel 

engines. $2,400,000 dollars in ARRA 

grant funds are allocated to the project. 

The proposed price of the only US 

manufacturer to come forward with a 

bid was $3 million dollars, including 

freight to Saipan. The proposed price by 

the manufacturer of the radiators used 

in the prior installation was $2,167,060. 

The total installation cost for the 

radiators is approximately $225,000. 

In addition to the price concerns, the 

only US bidder revealed that its largest 

previous project was for engines with 

continuous rating of less than 2.0MW. 

In addition, the foreign manufacturer is 

the supplier of choice for the 24 island 

countries who are members of the 

Pacific Power Association. All these 

island utilities have similar type of 

temperatures and salty environment as 

in the CNMI. All 24 island countries 

operate diesel engines to generate 

electricity. 

CFR 2 176.110, entitled ‘‘Evaluating 

proposals of foreign iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods’’, states that if ‘‘the 

award official receives a request for an 

exception based on the cost of certain 

domestic iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods being 

unreasonable, in accordance with 

§ 176.80, then the award official shall 

apply evaluation factors to the proposal 

to use such foreign iron, steel, and/or 

manufactured goods.’’ 

Per that section, the total evaluated 

cost = project cost estimate + (.25 × 

project cost estimate). 

The total cost of the project including 

the foreign manufactured radiators is 

$2,317,060. The total evaluated cost is 

$2,392,060 + (.25 × $2,392,060) or 

$2990075. The minimum cost for the 

project with US collectors is $3,225,000, 

a cost increase of 34.8%. Thus, the 

diesel engine radiators needed for this 

project that are domestically 

manufactured will increase the cost of 

the overall project by more than 25 

percent. 

In light of the foregoing, and under 

the authority of section 1605(b)(3) of 

Public Law No. 111–5 and the Redelegation Order dated April 25, 2011, 

with respect to Recovery Act projects 

funded by EERE, on October 24, 2011, 

the Acting Assistant Secretary issued a 

determination of inapplicability 

(unreasonable cost waiver) of section 

1605 of the American Reinvestment and 

Recovery Act of 2009 (Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions) to the to the 

Commonwealth Utilities Corporation’s 

(CUC) located in the Commonwealth of 

the Northern Mariana Islands(CNMI), 

recipient of the EECBG grant DE– 

EE0000762, for 5 diesel engine radiators 

to be installed at the CUC’s main power 

plant located in Saipan, CNMI. This 

waiver applies only to this project. 

This waiver determination was made 

pursuant to the delegation of authority 

by the Secretary of Energy to the Acting 

Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy with respect to 

expenditures within the purview of his 

responsibility. Consequently, this 

waiver applies only to EERE projects 

carried out under the Recovery Act; and 

only to this project specifically, waiver 

requests, even for the same or similar 

items, will be handled individually, 

because individual factors apply to each 

project. 

Authority: Pub. L. 111–5, section 1605. 

Issued in Washington, DC on December 6, 

2011. 

Henry Kelly, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. 

Department of Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–33407 Filed 12–28–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Nationwide Categorical Waivers Under 

Section 1605 (Buy American) of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE). 

ACTION: Notice of Limited Waivers. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a 

nationwide limited waiver of the Buy 

American requirements of section 1605 

of the Recovery Act under the authority 

of Section 1605(b)(2), (iron, steel, and 

the relevant manufactured goods are not 

produced in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality), 

with respect to Recovery Act projects 

funded by EERE for (1) Multi-colored 

Full Wave Rectified strands of 5mm, 

conical shaped LED mini bulbs in 

molded sockets with 4′′ spacing between 

bulbs, UL listed with a minimum 50,000 

hour lamp life; (2) Ancillary items 

needed for a T–12 to T–8 retrofit, 

including the ballast disconnects, 

ancillary wiring and welding materials 

where needed, and the spacing clip to 

accommodate T–8 bulbs into a T–12 

fixture; and (3) Roof integrated flat plate 

collectors producing 1250 btu/square 

foot, where the installation requires a 

roof integrated solar collector to meet 

local historic preservation or local 

building standards. 

DATES: Effective Date: 9/12/2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Benjamin Goldstein, Energy Technology 

Program Specialist, Office of Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

(EERE), (202) 287–1553, Department of 

Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC 

20585. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

authority of American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery 

Act), Public Law 111–5, section 

1605(b)(2), the head of a Federal 

department or agency may issue a 

‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a 

waiver of the Buy American provision) 

if the iron, steel, or relevant 

manufactured good is not produced or 

manufactured in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality 

(‘‘nonavailability’’). The authority of the 

Secretary of Energy to make all 

inapplicability determinations was redelegated to the Assistant Secretary for 


wreier-aviles on DSK3TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 250 / Thursday, December 29, 2011 / Notices 81921 

Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy (EERE), for EERE projects under 

the Recovery Act, in Redelegation Order 

No. 00–002.01E, dated April 25, 2011. 

Pursuant to this delegation the Acting 

Assistant Secretary, EERE, has 

concluded that: (1) Multi-colored Full 

Wave Rectified strands of 5mm, conical 

shaped LED mini bulbs in molded 

sockets with 4′′ spacing between bulbs, 

UL listed with a minimum 50,000 hour 

lamp life; (2) Ancillary items needed for 

a T–12 to T–8 retrofit, including the 

ballast disconnects, ancillary wiring and 

welding materials where needed, and 

the spacing clip to accommodate T–8 

bulbs into a T–12 fixture; and (3) Roof 

integrated flat plate collectors producing 

1250 btu/square foot, where the 

installation requires a roof integrated 

solar collector to meet local historic 

preservation or local building standards, 

are not produced or manufactured in the 

United States in sufficient and 

reasonably available quantities and of a 

satisfactory quality. The above items, 

when used on eligible EERE Recovery 

Act-funded projects, qualify for the 

‘‘nonavailability’’ waiver determination. 

EERE has developed a robust process 

to ascertain in a systematic and 

expedient manner whether or not there 

is domestic manufacturing capacity for 

the items submitted for a waiver of the 

Recovery Act Buy American provision. 

This process involves a close 

collaboration with the United States 

Department of Commerce National 

Institute of Standards and Technology 

(NIST) Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership (MEP), in order to scour the 

domestic manufacturing landscape in 

search of producers before making any 

nonavailability determinations. 

The MEP has 59 regional centers with 

substantial knowledge of, and 

connections to, the domestic 

manufacturing sector. MEP uses their 

regional centers to ‘scout’ for current or 

potential manufacturers of the 

product(s) submitted in a waiver 

request. In the course of this interagency 

collaboration, MEP has been able to find 

exact or partial matches for 

manufactured goods that EERE grantees 

had been unable to locate. As a result, 

in those cases, EERE was able to work 

with the grantees to procure Americanmade products rather than granting a 

waiver. 

Upon receipt of completed waiver 

requests for the four products in the 

current waiver, EERE reviewed the 

information provided and submitted the 

relevant technical information to the 

MEP. The MEP then used their network 

of nationwide centers to scout for 

domestic manufacturers. The MEP 

reported that their scouting process did 

not locate any domestic manufacturers 

for these exact or equivalent items. 

In addition to the MEP collaboration 

outlined above, the EERE Buy American 

Coordinator worked with other 

manufacturing stakeholders to scout for 

domestic manufacturing capacity or an 

equivalent product for each item 

contained in this waiver. EERE also 

conducted significant amounts of 

independent research to supplement 

MEP’s scouting efforts, including 

utilizing the solar experts employed by 

the Department of Energy’s National 

Renewable Energy Laboratory. EERE’s 

research efforts confirmed the MEP 

findings that the goods included in this 

waiver are not produced in the United 

States in sufficient and reasonably 

available quantities and of a satisfactory 

quality. 

The nonavailability determination is 

also informed by the inquiries and 

petitions to EERE from recipients of 

EERE Recovery Act funds, and from 

suppliers, distributors, retailers and 

trade associations—all stating that their 

individual efforts to locate domestic 

manufacturers for these items have been 

unsuccessful. 

Specific technical information for the 

manufactured goods included in this 

non-availability determination is 

detailed below: 

(1) Multi-colored Full Wave Rectified 

strands of 5mm, conical shaped LED 

mini bulbs in molded sockets with 4′′ 

spacing between bulbs, UL listed with a 

minimum 50,000 hour lamp life. 

Through market research and a 

referral to MEP no American made 

product was located. No decorative LED 

bulbs of any kind are made in the 

United States. In projects where 

decorative lights are used for extended 

periods of time, the energy savings is 

significant. 

(2) Ancillary items needed for a T–12 

to T–8 retrofit, including the ballast 

disconnects, ancillary wiring and 

welding materials where needed, and 

the spacing clip to accommodate T–8 

bulbs into a T–12 fixture. 

Extensive market research revealed 

these items are not manufactured 

domestically. The remaining items 

utilized in the retrofit, including bulbs, 

or in cases where the entire fixture is 

being replaced, the fixture as a whole, 

must be compliant with Buy American. 

(3) Roof integrated flat plate collectors 

producing 1250 btu/square foot, where 

the installation requires a roof 

integrated solar collector to meet local 

historic preservation or local building 

standards. 

This is reserved for cases in which a 

roof integrated collector is required, 

neither NREL nor MEP located domestic 

producers of flat plate collectors that 

could meet this need. The remaining 

parts of each system must be compliant 

with Buy American. In light of the 

foregoing, and under the authority of 

section 1605(b)(2) of Public Law 111–5 

and Redelegation Order 00–002–01E, 

with respect to Recovery Act projects 

funded by EERE, I hereby issue a 

‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a 

waiver under the Recovery Act Buy 

American provision) for: (1) Multicolored Full Wave Rectified strands of 

5mm, conical shaped LED mini bulbs in 

molded sockets with 4′′ spacing between 

bulbs, UL listed with a minimum 50,000 

hour lamp life; (2) Ancillary items 

needed for a T–12 to T–8 retrofit, 

including the ballast disconnects, 

ancillary wiring and welding materials 

where needed, and the spacing clip to 

accommodate T–8 bulbs into a T–12 

fixture; and (3) Roof integrated flat plate 

collectors producing 1250 btu/square 

foot, where the installation requires a 

roof integrated solar collector to meet 

local historic preservation or local 

building standards. 

Having established a proper 

justification based on domestic 

nonavailability, EERE hereby provides 

notice that on September 12, 2011, three 

(3) nationwide categorical waivers of 

section 1605 of the Recovery Act were 

issued as detailed supra. This notice 

constitutes the detailed written 

justification required by Section 1605(c) 

for waivers based on a finding under 

subsection (b). 

This waiver determination is pursuant 

to the delegation of authority by the 

Secretary of Energy to the Assistant 

Secretary for Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy with respect to 

expenditures within the purview of his 

responsibility. Consequently, this 

waiver applies to all EERE projects 

carried out under the Recovery Act. 

Authority: Pub. L. 111–5, section 1605. 

Issued in Washington, DC on September 

12, 2011. 

Henry Kelly, 

Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–33416 Filed 12–28–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 


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