Ohio(USA) map from Crestock Stock Photo
Bexley’s new police station will have solar panels installed some time in the next year in connection with Ohio’s goal of having 25 alternative energy projects across the state. The state’s federal stimulus fund will fund the proposed installation, which Gov. Ted Strickland awarded to Solar Vision LLC.
Solar Vision will buy the solar panels and outsource the installation to Dovetail Solar and Wind. Once installed, the solar panels can generate 122,312 kW each year. That’s 15 to 20% of the station’s energy consumption.
The proposed solar installation must still get approval from Bexley’s Planning Commission as well as the City Council. Once given the go signal, Dovetail Solar and Wind will install the solar panels in the police station’s parking lot. Bexley will not spend a dime on the $900,000 project.
Solar Vision will maintain the solar installation. The power generated by the solar panels will be sold to the city at a 15% discount off the market rate for 20 years, saving the city at least $2000 in the first year and an average of $3700 annually for a twenty-year period.
The city council convened last Dec. 8 with the representatives of the project and will likely issue its final decision on Jan. 26, 2010. Most expect the council to approve the project because the city will benefit from it.
However, city officials still have some questions about the proposed solar panel installation. They want to know what it might bring to the city, how much they will save, and how much it will cost the city. Solar Vision and Dovetail Solar and Wind must convince the council of the project’s benefits to push it through.
At present the carports in the police station, located at N. Cassingham Road, are not yet constructed because they are waiting for the approval of the solar panel installation before they can be built. If the solar power project is not approved, then the carports will not be constructed.
Dovetail Solar and Wind has offices in Bexley and plans to install solar panels on the roof of Evening Street Elementary School in Worthington. The police station installation will be the company’s biggest project if the city council decides to implement it.
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