Town of Menasha installation to be WI Valley largest solar energy system
By Michael King • Post-Crescent staff writer • December 21, 2008
Source. PostCrescent.com
http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20081221/APC0101/812210506/1979/APC04
George Dearborn believes the town of Menasha will become a renewable energy leader by example with the installation of a large solar system next spring. Dearborn, the town’s community development director, said last week’s action by the Town Board to award a $240,453 contract to Energize LLC, Winneconne, will give the town three large solar installations on the west side. “We’re anxious to make this happen,” Dearborn said. Energize owner Jim Funk said the 25.2-kilowatt system would be the largest in the Fox Cities and one of the largest solar installations north of Milwaukee.
Earlier this year, two town businesses, Neuroscience Group of Northeast Wisconsin and SCA Tissue, installed large solar energy systems on their rooftops.
The town’s net cost of ground-mounted solar panels, to be installed on an elevated ridge just west of the town municipal complex at 2000 Municipal Drive, is $95,588. Two grants, $95,588 from Wisconsin Energy and a $49,277 Focus on Energy incentive reduced the cost for the town, which plans to borrow for its share of the project.
“We had to use the prevailing wage rates,” said Town Administrator Jeff Sturgell. “We didn’t have to re-bid it.”
Instead, the town is proposing to reduce the size of the solar panel project from 28 kilowatt to 25.2 kilowatt.
“We’re lowering the size of the system and fitting it in to the same cost,” Sturgell said, covering the increased cost of paying prevailing wages.
The payback for the 28-kilowatt project had been estimated at 16 years but the reduction to 25.2 kilowatts added one year for a payback of 17 years.
Previously, when the project drew only two bids, both were rejected because they exceeded the $250,000 budget before grants. The re-bidding drew four bidders.
Sturgell said the borrowing of $95,588 at a projected 4 percent interest rate would add $22,699 to the town’s cost over 10 years.
Earlier this year, SCA Tissue installed a 20-kilowatt solar system on its office roof. It promised to deliver 60 kilowatt hours per day.
“It is still doing great,” SCA executive Mike Dillon said recently. “It’s over delivering. Over 200 days now it’s been averaging over 90 kilowatt hours per day.”
The SCA solar installation cost just under $170,000 before incentives that reduced the cost and possibly accelerated the projected nine-year payback.