Town of Westlock council appears ready to back a solar power generation project for the Rotary Spirit Centre, but will advertise the undertaking to the public before making it official.
Council voted unanimously, 6-0, to pass first reading of an amendment to the 2019 capital budget to include the Spirit Centre solar project in the amount of $1,184,181.38, with funding split between a $511,213 Municipal Climate Change Action Centre grant from the province and a debenture for $672,967. Coun. Murtaza Jamaly was absent.
Councillors heard from an ENMAX account manager at their June 17 committee of the whole meeting, who took them through the features, benefits and costs of installing a solar power micro-generation system on the rooftop of the Spirit Centre and curling rink.
The project would only be possible with the grant money and a decision to move forward was put off until the grant was in place, which it now is, interim CAO Simone Wiley told council. She also noted that after a structural analysis, it was decided the curling rink would not be included in the project and panels would only be installed on the Spirit Centre roof.
“After 15 years, the economics switch from having to pay approximately $6,000 a year for additional operating money to then being able to displace your energy costs and saving between $40,000 and $50,000 in energy costs for the facility, which is huge” said Wiley.
To pay for the remainder of the project outside the grant, the town will sign a debenture with ENMAX at a three per cent interest rate over 15 years. By borrowing from ENMAX instead of the usual municipal financier, Alberta Capital Finance Authority, who charges interest at 2.19 per cent, the company’s 15-year warranty, along with required maintenance, shrinks to a five-year warranty with the town covering maintenance costs.
The town will pay $55,747.56 annually, which will be offset by an estimated annual savings of $49,600. This equates to the operating budget seeing an estimated increase of $6,147.56 for the term of the loan. The amount of generation is an estimate by ENMAX, who have stated the estimates used are conservative and the systems they’ve installed have exceeded the estimated generation, said Wiley.
Coun. Randy Wold asked about their lifespan and whether the town would own the panels after the 15-year term with ENMAX, which Wiley confirmed and noted the panels will generate their expected output for 25 years, but are said to last much longer, but their output does degrade after 25 years.
Coun. John Shoemaker wanted to know what happens after 25 years and who would be responsible for their removal if needed.
“I don’t know anything about solar panels so I want to make sure we’re not on the hook for $500,000 to get rid of these things after 25 years,” he said. “Sooner or later they will become useless.”
Wiley replied it would be the town’s responsibility at that point as ENMAX is out of the picture after 15 years and she couldn’t provide a number for the removal of the panels.
Mayor Ralph Leriger said he would expect by that time the technology will have changed enough that the town would replace them with the next version. Coun. Curtis Snell also said the next generation of battery storage will also allow the town to store the energy at a higher capacity than is now available.
“The next iteration of battery technology that changes solar will change the world forever,” said Leriger.
