The Newburyport and Triton Regional school districts will resume negotiations with solar power purchase company EyeOn Energy in earnest next week after receiving a waiver to circumvent a mandated bidding process and initiate a quick deal to install solar arrays that would be among the largest in the state.
Mayor John Moak received word Thursday from state Department of Energy Resources legal counsel Robert Sydney that the city's waiver of the RFP (Request For Proposals) process had been granted. Although Moak hadn't seen the actual document, it's likely to reach City Hall early next week and allow him to continue working on specific details of a 20-year power purchase agreement with EyeOn Energy of Colorado.
Newburyport is looking at having EyeOn pay for and install a 512 kilowatt, $3.6 million solar panel array atop the middle school and DPW building that would offset about 34 percent of the school's current electric usage. In exchange the city will agree to purchase energy created from the panels back from EyeOn at a cost of 14 cents per kilowatt, escalating 4 percent per year for the next 20 years, until it can purchase the system back and reap the 34 percent cost savings themselves.
Per the current contract terms, which have been brokered by local consultant Jeff Wootan of Sunbeam Energy LLC, that opportunity will present at the 7-year mark, when the contract allows the city to purchase the system at the depreciated cost of approximately $1 million.
Triton Regional is working with Wootan on a solar project of similar size, and is negotiating similar terms for a 500 kilowatt system through EyeOn energy. They submitted the same waiver request to DOER last week so that they too wouldn't have to seek RFPs for their 2,600-panel system.
Triton Business Administrator Brian Forget said the school received notification Thursday its waiver had been accepted, and that negotiations will commence with EyeOn early next week.
"Now we have the waiver, and we now can move forward with EyeOn first thing next week," said Forget. "We'll put in writing to them the changes we want to make to the contract."
Forget said the reason for the fast track of the school's solar plan revolves solely around lucrative federal "green" tax credits scheduled to expire Dec. 31, 2008, that increase the payoff for companies like EyeOn. It's his feeling that once those credits expire, the low price quoted by EyeOn will go up exponentially.
"This system has to be installed and commissioned by the time the apple drops in Times Square in order for (EyeOn) to get this credit," said Forget.
And if it's not up and running by then?
"Then all bets are off," said Forget.
Moak expressed similar fears when he brought the matter up to Newburyport's School Committee last week, and he apologized to the committee for not sharing his plans with them prior to pursuing the contract and waiver. He explained a shortage of solar panels in the United States, coupled with the expiring tax credits, forced his hand to move forward without consulting the committee and city council members.
"As we kept progressing on this particular avenue, we thought we had more time to make it public," Moak told them.
"I think that for the most part this is an administrative decision and I certainly want the school committee to be as up to date on all the information we have," he added. "But I believe that after a while it gets to the point where someone has to make the decision. So I'm going to make the decision."
Moak did provide the committee with an opportunity to voice their concerns and express support, however, and while Bruce Menin and Nick De Kanter expressed regret at not having been consulted on the process, they were excited about the possible end result.
"I think this is a fabulous project," said De Kanter.
Committee member Stephanie Weaver was concerned that time be taken to consider possible complicating factors of a 20-year contract.
"From a contractual perspective in terms of maintenance, if we need to re-roof the Nock, who is responsible for taking them off and putting them back on?" asked Weaver. "Is it really a viable situation for a building like the Nock, where — correct me if I'm wrong — it rains inside the building?"
When the committee opened the matter up for public discussion, resident Dr. Ralph Orlando issued a stronger word of caution.
"I hope that some people pay attention to how decisions are made in a municipality," said Orlando. "Certainly a green idea is a good one, but I hope in the final analysis it comes down to more than just one public official and one citizen making the decision. I would caution you that you don't strap the schools 7 to 10 years down the line to have to come up with six figures to pay for the project when it only saves you a penny per kilowatt."
Unlike Newburyport, Triton School District plans to vote on the terms of the contract at their next scheduled meeting, if all goes according to plan.
"We definitely will be scheduling a meeting for the full committee to hear it," said Forget. "My guess is we have to push it off and it becomes an agenda item at the September 17th school meeting."
