City signs intent for Community Center Solar array

The city of Athens has signed a letter of intent with a Columbus-based company to enter into a power-purchase agreement for a solar panel array at the Athens Community Center.

Last month, City Council voted 5-2 in favor of the ordinance authorizing Mayor Paul Wiehl to enter such an agreement, with Third Ward member Nancy Bain and at-large member Jim Sands voting against adoption.

The power-purchase agreement is for a carport solar panel array at the Community Center. The 200-kilowatt array would provide power for part of the center.

The total project cost is a little over $1.5 million, at-large member Elahu Gosney said at the time of the vote, adding that a grant could cover up to $600,000 of that. Solar Vision would be applying for the grant, Gosney explained, not the city of Athens. Solar Vision would actually own the array, and would sell power to the city of Athens at an agreed-upon discount.

Thomas Van Cleef, Solar Vision managing director and vice president, said the company's mission is to provide the organizations it serves with immediate cost savings, while simultaneously conserving environmental resources.

"Federal and state governments have enacted initiatives that encourage clean solar-energy systems, so the time is right to offer schools and municipalities a way to benefit from solar power," Van Cleef said.

Solar Vision says that the project in Athens would reduce 4,757 tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere - the equivalent of not driving 14.6 million miles in an average car.

"We are excited to be associated with Solar Vision and hope to be able to move forward in the next few months with the Community Center solar project," Gosney said announcing the letter of intent. "We want to find ways to use renewable energy sources, show others what is possible and lead by example. Solar Vision helps provide the means to do this."

Van Cleef said that for tax-supported municipal entities, finding tax dollars for clean-energy projects isn't viable right now.

"Solar Vision makes solar projects possible by removing all upfront costs," he said.

Gosney told City Council at the time of the vote that under the agreement - assuming that Solar Vision could arrange the financing with the grant money -the city would not put any money upfront to pay for the system but would agree to a 30-year contract to purchase the electricity from the system. Solar Vision would own the array.

"The standard boilerplate for how a power-purchase agreement works is they guarantee a certain level of savings over what you would otherwise pay," Gosney said. The city would still get a bill from American Electric Power, but also a bill from Solar Vision at a lower-cost-per-kilowatt hour than is paid to AEP, he explained.

Both Bain and Sands expressed concerns about the length of the agreement.

"I am still reluctant to enter into this agreement for that length of time with a third-party installation on our property," Sands said. "I'm just concerned that this would be an outdated installation before the lifespan was over."