Summary
Details
- Global
PEER is not legally mandatory.
It can become practically required where:
A utility or city commits to PEER certification.
An infrastructure investor requires PEER.
A public procurement process references PEER.
A campus or critical infrastructure owner uses PEER as a resilience benchmark.
A sustainability-linked financing agreement requires certification.
In most cases, PEER is voluntary and used to assess, benchmark and certify electricity infrastructure performance.
Deep dive
- What’s Required
- 1. Assessment of power system performance
- 2. Eligible project types
- 3. Certification levels
- 4. Reliability and resilience
- 5. Environmental performance of electricity
- 6. Documentation and review
- Important Deadlines
- Current Status
- Penalties for Non-Compliance
- 1. Certification refusal
- 2. Lower certification level
- 3. Loss of contractual benefits
- 4. Reputational risk
- 5. Operational risk
- Examples of Known Violations / Failure Modes
- Resources
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What’s Required
1. Assessment of power system performance
PEER is designed to measure and improve sustainable power system performance. GBCI describes PEER as a dynamic rating process for power systems, modeled after LEED, and focused on sustainable power system performance.
Projects need to evaluate areas such as:
Reliability.
Resilience.
Power quality.
Energy efficiency.
Operational performance.
Customer contribution.
Clean energy.
Environmental impact.
Safety and risk management.
System monitoring.
Grid modernization.
2. Eligible project types
PEER can support multiple types of electricity infrastructure. USGBC describes PEER as a framework for grid resilience for critical infrastructure and notes its relevance to cities, utilities, campuses, renewable energy installations and transit systems.
Eligible project contexts can include:
Utilities.
Distribution systems.
Microgrids.
Campuses.
Airports.
Transit systems.
Data centers.
Industrial parks.
Cities.
Renewable energy systems.
Critical facilities.
3. Certification levels
PEER certification is awarded through points corresponding to certification levels. GBCI states that projects are awarded points that correspond to levels of Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
Project teams should review:
PEER Guide to Certification.
PEER Rating System.
Current policies and procedures.
Documentation requirements.
Performance data.
Review process.
4. Reliability and resilience
PEER is especially relevant for electricity reliability and resilience. USGBC describes PEER as the first rating system to assess power system performance and improve reliability, resilience, and power quality of electricity infrastructure.
This makes PEER important for:
Climate adaptation.
Extreme weather planning.
Outage reduction.
Critical infrastructure.
Backup power strategy.
Microgrid planning.
Renewable integration.
Electrification readiness.
5. Environmental performance of electricity
PEER also covers environmental aspects of power systems. GBCI explains that one PEER category assesses environmental impacts of electricity generation and transmission and encourages clean and efficient energy adoption.
Relevant factors may include:
Renewable electricity.
Emissions intensity.
Energy efficiency.
Transmission losses.
Distributed energy resources.
Demand management.
Clean energy procurement.
Grid carbon performance.
6. Documentation and review
The PEER Guide to Certification and PEER Rating System supports project teams through the certification process and includes current policies and procedures.
Project teams may need:
System performance data.
Reliability metrics.
Outage data.
Power quality data.
Energy mix information.
Resilience plans.
Asset management documentation.
Operational procedures.
Safety records.
Customer engagement evidence.
Important Deadlines
PEER is voluntary, so there is no universal legal deadline.
Important timing points:
Certification timing depends on project registration, documentation, and review.
Projects should follow the current PEER Guide to Certification and rating system resources.
Certification status depends on GBCI review and awarded points.
Current Status
PEER is active and administered by GBCI. It supports power system performance, grid modernization, resilience, energy efficiency, and cleaner electricity infrastructure. GBCI states that PEER helps projects and utilities address aging infrastructure, cost savings, resilience, tracking deficiencies, and best practices.
Current status:
Active certification system.
Administered by GBCI.
Focused on electricity infrastructure.
Applies to utilities, cities, campuses, transit, critical infrastructure, and renewables.
Certification levels include Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
Supports resilience, reliability, power quality, and environmental performance.
Penalties for Non-Compliance
PEER does not impose statutory penalties.
Possible consequences include:
1. Certification refusal
A project may fail certification if it does not achieve enough points or lacks evidence.
2. Lower certification level
A project may receive a lower certification level than targeted.
3. Loss of contractual benefits
If PEER is tied to a financing, procurement or project commitment, failure may create commercial consequences.
4. Reputational risk
Claims about resilient or sustainable electricity infrastructure may be questioned if not supported by certification evidence.
5. Operational risk
Weak reliability, resilience or power quality performance can create real operational losses, even outside the certification process.
Examples of Known Violations / Failure Modes
Typical failure modes include:
Claiming PEER certification before GBCI awards it.
Using incomplete reliability or outage data.
Overstating resilience capabilities.
Ignoring power quality issues.
Treating renewable procurement as a substitute for system reliability.
Failing to document emergency response procedures.
Not measuring customer impact.
Ignoring climate-related outage risk.
Submitting inconsistent system boundaries.
Treating PEER as a replacement for legal utility regulation.
Failing to maintain performance after certification.
Making grid modernization claims without operational data.
Resources
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