Iola City Council members will continue to weigh the pros and cons of adding solar power to the city’s energy portfolio.
Members spent the better part of two hours Monday debating a proposal from Priority Power to build a solar plant west of Russell Stover Candies.
There is no deadline on making a decision, other than if they wanted to act soon, they could have the new solar panels up and generating electricity by the summer of 2023, the time of year when electric demand is at its highest.
“It still comes down to the question: do we want to go green and do this, or just continue doing what we’re doing now, and waiting?” Councilman Carl Slaugh asked at the conclusion of the debate. “I’m still trying to make that decision. I think Priority Power has put together a good proposal here — as little as I know about it. But it’s a lot of money. We should take a while to decide whether to go ahead with this.”
The Priority Power proposal includes options for a 2-megawatt or 4-megawatt generating plant, and would utilize about 25 acres of city-owned property west of Russell Stover Candies, with an additional buffer around the perimeter prohibiting tall structures that could block needed sunlight from the panels.
The land is currently leased to Iola farmer Doug Strickler, who also attended with several concerns about the project.
PRIORITY Power’s aim is to reduce Iola’s exposure to the highly volatile energy market, noted Scott Shreve, Iola’s energy consultant and a representative for Priority Power, and give Iola a consistently priced energy source for the next 30 years or so.
Under the proposal, Priority Power would pay for all of the construction costs and run the solar farm for the first five years, and then give the city the option of buying it after five or 10 years.
The cost to buy a 4-megawatt farm would be about $4.9 million five years and $3.75 million after 10. A 2-megawatt solar field would cost $2.625 after five years and $1.96 million in 10.
The advantage to earlier ownership is the city would be able to generate the electricity at a negligible cost, and would not have to buy it from Priority Power.
Their proposal would cost the city $40 per megawatt hour from Priority Power until the city takes ownership, compared to the $65 per megawatt hour it currently costs to generate electricity through the city’s natural gas-fired Wartsila generators, or the $250 per megawatt hour charge to run Iola’s diesel generators.
Those generators typically are utilized when demand is at its peak across the country in the summer months.
So while solar energy has its disadvantages — it doesn’t generate electricity at night, for example, and is much less efficient during the winter months, or even when it’s cloudy — it would help Iola shave off its peak electric costs during those same summer months, Shreve explained.
“That’s the beauty of this product,” Shreve said “When it’s the hottest, and the demand is highest, that’s when it will produce the most. It follows your lead.”
He estimated cost savings of $200,000 a year with a 4-megawatt solar farm.
