Belpre City Building to get solar panels
By JOLENE CRAIG, jcraig@newsandsentinel.com
POSTED: April 15, 2008
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There will be 64 photovoltaic solar panels placed on the south-facing roof of the city building this summer, said Garyne Evans, development engineer for Ameresco.
“Installation is expected in the next few months with completion by the end of summer,” Evans said Monday night.
The panels, which normally cost about $90,000, will cost the city nothing after a state grant for $50,000 was awarded.
Ameresco was hoping to do a project of this type in the region and because the grant has been given, the company will foot the rest of the bill for the solar panels and construction, Evans said.
“We’ve had a successful project in Belpre and this will be the icing on the cake,” Evans said.
The panels will have a 20-year warranty and are expected to work for 30 years with little to no maintenance.
It is estimated the solar energy will be about 1,200 kilowatt hours a month and equal a $122 savings a month during the summer.
The announcement was made during a special Belpre City Council meeting Monday night for Ameresco to discuss the end of the $8.5 million project, which began work October 2006, with council members.
The project, which replaced 3,500 water meters, updated city lighting and built the new swimming pool, was dominated by a $4.5 million project to renovate the sewer treatment plant.
The plant now meets federal and state standards with an improved anaerobic digester, rebuilt two final clarifiers and a new laboratory, which meets Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Residents in the Blennerhassett Avenue area and throughout the city have complained about the renewed smell at the plant, which project manager for Ameresco Paul LaPrise said would be fixed.
“We’re getting a lot of flack because we’ve spent $4.5 million and it still stinks,” said Jim McCauley, city law director.
LaPrise said the problems lie in fixing the drying beds, which have not been working properly since the 2004/2005 floods, as well as an ill-working pump.
“If people could be patient, it will be fixed soon,” LaPrise said. “The smell in the area will be gone in a couple of months.”
City Auditor Pat Hines said the city has already started to save money, even when the two 10 percent water and sewer rate increases have been accounted for.
“The water revenues for the past year were significantly higher than estimates,” Hines said.
