Solar Panels, 800.292.7648
• 2007-Dec-22 - Oregon Solar Panels in Electrical Generation
Solar panels will help power the city's water treatment plant starting next spring, perhaps providing the city with some slightly cheaper electricity.
The city council Tuesday night authorized Mayor Phillip Houk to sign all the necessary paperwork for the city to enter into a 20-year power purchase agreement with Honeywell Building Solutions, the company that will install the panels directly on the roof of the water filtration plant at no cost to the city.
Fritz Feiten, energy services account executive with Honeywell, said the system will provide 107,540 kilowatt hours per year and the power the panels generate will directly benefit the plant, meeting about 15 percent of its yearly energy requirements.
Initially the city will pay Honeywell .0468 cents per kilowatt hour. That should increase at about 3 percent a year. Now, the city pays .0481 cents per kilowatt hour. And while Feiten said it's difficult to predict what future energy rates will cost, the trend is generally upward. The city will probably only save as much as a few hundred dollars in the first few years of the agreement, but it anticipates saving more later, as standard energy costs should exceed 3 percent a year.
Additionally, this project will eliminate 64 metric tons of greenhouse gases a year.
Feiten said Honeywell has handled these agreements in California where energy rates average 12 cents per kilowatt hour compared to Oregon's 7.06, Washington at 6.31 and Idaho at 6.24. He explained Oregon energy incentives allow the company to accomplish these deals, which Honeywell also has in the works for the Umatilla County Justice Center and Blue Mountain Community College. |
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