A ribbon chopping for the brand new solar energy plant was held on the Brownstown Wastewater Treatment Plant on the west facet of the county seat. Those current on the occasion have been from left, John Emmet, challenge supervisor of Veregy, Rick Anderson, an account govt with Veregt and metropolis council members Gregg Goshorn, Tim Robinson, Crystal Stuckwisch and Brian Reynolds.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
A ribbon chopping for the brand new solar energy plant was held on the Brownstown Wastewater Treatment Plant on the west facet of the county seat. Those current on the occasion have been from left, John Emmet, challenge supervisor of Veregy, Rick Anderson, an account govt with Veregt and metropolis council members Gregg Goshorn, Tim Robinson, Crystal Stuckwisch and Brian Reynolds.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
BROWNSTOWN – Brownstown lately turned the primary city in Jackson County to make use of photo voltaic power to economize on utility prices.
On Monday morning, metropolis council members gathered on the metropolis’s wastewater therapy plant at 1600 WUS 50 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a solar energy plant on the facility.
City councilman Mark Reynolds, who misplaced his life in a logging accident Dec. 3, 2022 in Columbus, is the one who obtained the challenge off the bottom, metropolis council President Gregg Goshorn mentioned. .
Now, they’ve reached a “full circle second,” he mentioned.
Goshorn mentioned the photo voltaic plant put in is completely aligned with the sanitary sewer challenge that was accomplished this previous 12 months. That $7.26 million challenge consists of $1.725 million in enhancements to the wastewater therapy plant.
The conversion of the wastewater therapy plan from electrical energy to solar energy additionally consists of the substitute of greater than 230 sodium vapors bulbs with LEDs. The challenge was accomplished by Veregy LLC, an organization primarily based in Phoenix, Arizona with an workplace in Indianapolis.
Rick Anderson, a Veregy account govt, was on the ribbon chopping with Veregy Project Manager John Emmet.
Anderson later attributed the destruction of the photo voltaic plant.
The base contract for the plant’s 193.6 kWDC (kilowatt DC capability) of photo voltaic is $913,632, he mentioned.
Over the course of 20 years, the power and operational financial savings for the challenge shall be $1,330,228, Anderson mentioned.
The metropolis will even obtain a federal Inflation Reduction Act cost of roughly $257,935 in 2025 to assist scale back the price of the challenge. The city financed the challenge with debt.
Indiana is a regulated utility state, which suggests Hoosiers’ energy purchases rely upon location, Anderson mentioned.
Brownstown is positioned in Duke Energy’s service territory, which has a median fee enhance of 6% over 15 years, he mentioned.
When Seymour’s initiatives, Anderson mentioned he noticed the common fee from 2018 to 2024 enhance 66%.
The timing of the set up of the photo voltaic plant is ideal not solely due to the sanitary sewer challenge that Goshorn talked about, however due to the good thing about the Inflation Reduction Act given at the moment, Anderson mentioned.
He calls it a “assured financial savings scenario” as a result of if Veregy would not meet the projected financial savings quantity for the 12 months, they’ve to jot down a examine to cowl the distinction.
Projects like this are thought of “no change order initiatives”, mentioned Anderson, as a result of there isn’t a further price to the town as soon as the challenge is accomplished.
Maintenance and monitoring can also be included, so if one thing occurs that wants fixing, there isn’t a further cost to the town.
Construction on the Brownstown photo voltaic plant was accomplished just a few weeks in the past and it was ramped up at the moment, Anderson mentioned.
In 2002, the Crothersville Community School Corp. turned the primary college district in Jackson County to make use of solar energy.
Nearly 2,000 photo voltaic panels have been put in on the roof of the varsity constructing and the close by central administration constructing. At the time, the photo voltaic set up would save the company about $114,000 per 12 months in electrical energy payments.