5.3. SR 03-07-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

~j Elk REQUEST FOR ACTION _.~ River To Item Number Ci Council 5.3. Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by Administration March 7, 2011 Gary Lore, Building Maintenance Su ervisor Item Description Reviewed by Cancel City Hall Solar Thermal/Reheat Project and Reject All Rebecca Haug, Environmental Bids for the Project Administrator Reviewed by Tim Simon, Finance Director Action Requested We recommend that the City Council cancel the City Hall Solar Thermal/Reheat project and therefore reject the bids for this project Background/Discussion At the August 2, 2010, City Council meeting, it was the Council consensus to apply for a School District and Local Government Renewable Energy Grant Program-ARRA. The project submitted for the grant was a solar thermal project at City Hall. On September 8, 2010, we received notification that we were awarded the grant and on December 27, 2010, we received the grant agreement. The proposed project would install 16 solar collectors on the south facing roof top of the City Hall building. The system would then be piped into the second floor to a holding tank system with a series of pipes and pumps attached to a heat exchanger to circulate treated water and transfer heat to the existing heating system. The City received two bids: one from Johnson Controls and another from Signature Mechanical. While the bids were competitive, working with the bidders and the mechanical engineers which submitted plans for the project, it became clear that the production of the system would not meet our expectations for payback, due to our current heating system and the number of solar collectors we can put on the roof. After reviewing all the data with the Office of Energy Security and the city environmental division, the consensus is that we would achieve greater results by upgrading our heating system and doing other improvements which would have an immediate payback with the funds allocated for this project. The Office of Energy Security may allow us to reallocate the grant dollars to a different energy savings project. Financial Impact The capital improvement plan had allocated $50,000 for the city match on this project. The updated calculations would produce a yearly estimated payback in the range of $1,800 to $2,300, or about 16 years based on the city contribution. Attachments N/A N:\Public Bodies\Ciry Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\03-07-2011\Solar Bids.docx