During Tuesday’s agenda meeting, the City Council got a first look at one aspect of Clear Chattanooga, a project devoted to managing the water resources of the city. The council members were educated by Jeffrey Rose, who told them about plans to save money via solar energy at water plants.
“I know all of you are interested in saving money, and this is certainly an opportunity to do that, but it’s also environmentally friendly,” said the introductory speaker. “Our treatment plant is one of the EPB’s largest consumers of electrical power in the region, which is why we’ve proposed several projects that will save energy over time.”
The original project was planned to be around 10 acres of solar panels. They were planning on using all of the power generated within the plant, and the 3.2 megawatt facility would cut the energy use at the plant by eight percent. Mr. Rose showed the council a drawing of the original design, with the river on the left and the treatment facilities on the right.
After getting six bids, Chattanooga’s Waste Resources Division attempted to figure out a way to create an efficient project. What the project ended up being was having 9,300 panels at 425 watts each, which would make it a 4.0 megawatt facility, which would reduce energy use by 11 percent.
To fund this final plan, the speaker asked for a $4.5 million dollar grant from the City Council. Councilwoman Carol Berz wanted to know if this project would bring the WRD “closer to self-sufficiency,”
“We have two or three other projects that could save us another 12 or 13 percent, and then something with solids that could save us even more,” said Mr. Rose, “We’re moving that way. We could be 30 or 40 percent off the grid in the next five years. So we’re certainly moving that way.”
Mr. Rose assured the council that the project’s funds would come from the Waste Management funds. Councilwoman Berz wondered if it would be prudent to spend more money in the present in order to save much more money in the future. The speaker said he wanted to work within the project’s budget, since that was the amount of money set out at the beginning.
She then asked if it was possible to just make the treatment plant self-sufficient. Mr. Rose said the plant uses “such a tremendous amount of power” that it would require 10 times the amount of space for solar panels costing upward of $60 million, and it would require 150 acres the Waste Management department does not have for such a large solar project.
Councilman Chip Henderson also asked how much in savings would result in having 12 percent of their power being generated by solar energy. Mr. Rose said the solar panels would save the city $350,000 a year, and have a $4 million dollar payback in 25 years.
“We’re looking at 14 years of payback until we get to zero, and then we’re in the black after that,” said Mr. Rose, “We have many projects that don’t have any payback, so this one that actually pays back makes sense for us long-term.”
It also protects the city from rising energy costs, and prevents emissions from polluting the environment, it was stated. Mr. Rose did tell Councilman Russell Gilbert that the department does not have any backup batteries at the moment. Mr. Rose said it’s a big cost, but the department will look into it in the future. Councilman Gilbert also wanted to know about the cost of backup batteries for when cloudy days come around, and Mr. Rose said he had not looked into that yet.
Mr. Rose told the council he would present them with more information when he and his department had the opportunity to do more research.