Lioneld Jordan
Fayetteville took another step Tuesday night in its groundbreaking push to power all municipal operations with 100 percent clean energy by 2030, commissioning a major two-site solar power generation and storage system.
The City Council voted unanimously commit more than $560,000 in initial capital to partner with Ozarks Electric Cooperative of Fayetteville and Today’s Power Inc. of Little Rock for a pair of photovoltaic arrays and battery storage systems large enough to power the city’s two water treatment plants.
Today’s Power, which has built small utility-scale systems for electric cooperatives and other companies around the state, will manage construction and provide operations and maintenance under a 20-year deal for 10 megawatts of generation capability and 24 megawatts of storage on land covering a combined 87 acres at the Paul R. Noland Wastewater Treatment Facility and the Westside Water Treatment Facility.
The city expects to save $6 million in energy costs over the 20-year-lifespan of the systems, which could return Fayetteville’s investment in a little over three years, according to a city news release. Today’s Power will lease the acreage required for the project from the city.
“Fayetteville has taken a large step to complete their renewable goal of 100 percent,” Today’s Power marketing executive Jennah Denney said in an email to Arkansas Business. “This will be the largest solar array on municipal land in the state and the ONLY system including utility-scale storage.”
By powering the city’s two largest electricity-gobbling facilities, the project is expected to raise clean energy consumption by city sites from 16 percent to 72 percent.
Ozarks Electric will upgrade and maintain existing electricity connections at the sites, and the city will keep up its revenue-producing hay and bio-solid operations at the Noland facility.
The arrays’ solar panels will follow a sun tracking system that produces some 15 percent more electricity than stationary mounts.
The two wastewater treatment plants are Fayetteville’s largest electricity guzzlers, consuming about 67 percent of all electricity used by the city. Through solar net metering, the new system will power the treatment plants entirely. Each treatment facility will have two main components, the solar photovoltaic panels and the battery storage facility. Each array will be able to generate five megawatts of power. The excess energy produced will go onto the electrical grid for use by Ozarks Electric, or be relayed to the battery storage units.
Ozarks Electric will use stored electricity to provide power to their members during peak consumption times like summer.
As part of the long-term agreement, Fayetteville has negotiated a 20-year power-purchase deal with Today’s Power at a marginally lower energy price than the current retail rate.
The city calculated that the project’s initial capital site improvement cost would be $560,818, but figuring in future solar electricity savings compared with the treatment facilities’ current electricity costs, annual savings are expected to total $182,021.
“This year, the City Council showed great vision and leadership for their residents when they approved the Energy Action Plan,” Mayor Lioneld Jordan said in a statement. “Through this important agreement with Today’s Power and Ozarks Electric, the Fayetteville community moves closer to several goals in the plan. The approval of this solar power and storage project creates the renewable energy our community desires, uses existing city-owned assets more efficiently, adds jobs and promotes economic development.”
If no delays are encountered, construction is expected to begin in the spring and be complete by September 2019. Operations would begin shortly thereafter.
Ozarks Electric is a member-owned electric cooperative serving about 75,000 homes and businesses in nine counties in Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Today’s Power Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Inc. of Little Rock, a utility service cooperative owned by Arkansas’ 17 electric distribution cooperatives.
Sign up for Daily E-news
