Green Opportunity Program

Central Utility Plant Replacement Project (CUPR) Fall 2023 Guest Lecture Series

Fresno State partnered with the Bulldog Infrastructure Group (BIG) to develop and implement the largest Public-Private Partnership Utility Infrastructure Project in the CSU network. BIG modernized and maintained Fresno State's central utility infrastructure system, while offering several other energy conservation measures (ECMs) that maximize project savings.

The Guest Lecture Series, sponsored by the BIG Green Operations team, provided Fresno students and faculty with specialized lectures from industry experts on a variety of topics including Public Private Partnerships (P3), solar technology, and the psychology of energy conservation. Participants took away an enhanced awareness of the CUPR project as well as a deeper understanding of large-scale organized energy savings.

Lectures ranged from 45 to 90 minutes.   

Past Guest Lecture Topics Included...

• Intro to Public Private Partnerships and the Fresno State CUPR Project
  NORESCO construction personnel provided an overview of the CUPR project and described a Public Private Partnership, the roles of Fresno State, NORESCO, and the Bulldog Infrastructure Group, LLC. They gave a brief overview of the impacts and benefits to various stakeholder groups (including students).
  
  
• We have to build WHAT!? Managing and maintaining a multi-million-dollar construction project
  CUPR project managers described day-to-day tasks and roles including how time, subcontractors, schedules, permissions, approvals, meetings, etc. are managed. They also discussed Operations and Maintenance planning for what happened at the Central Utility Plant after the construction is complete. The Project managers discussed the skills they need to be able to adapt to continually changing circumstances and solve problems or issues that arise in the process of managing a complex construction project.
  
  
• Shining a light on solar: Development of solar photovoltaic projects
  Industry experts discussed and explained the steps of developing a large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) project. From the preliminary work of customer and site evaluation, to the advanced stages of design and energy use analysis, all phases of a solar photovoltaic project were investigated. Participants even gained insight into competitive pricing and technical proposal writing for solar construction projects.
  
  
• From Intern to Full Time Employee– taking what I learned in the classroom and applying it to my career
  NORESCO employee, Nestor Bulosan, explained how the Fresno State CUPR project has impacted his career path. He described his background as a student including what classes he took and previous experience he had that led him to apply for the CUPR internship. He broke down the process of becoming an intern – what it took to get started with NORESCO, describe a typical day in the life of a NORESCO intern (jobs and tasks), how he transitioned to a full-time employee.
  
  
• Better Safe than Sorry: Exploring safety and compliance of the CUPR project
  A NORESCO environmental health and safety compliance officer described the specific challenges of safety for the Fresno CUPR project including the special considerations for ADA accessibility and scope adaptations. Rather than simply reacting to an incident, safety officers collaborated with Fresno employees to identify and solve issues before they occured. Students learned about how collaboration builds trust, higher quality outputs, and a safer environment for construction workers and everyone on the Fresno State campus.