Green solar plan for Cape costs too much green

Too much expense and limited purchase options mean Cape Girardeau has put a hold on a project that would have placed solar panels on city-owned facilities.

City engineer Casey Brunke said the city twice advertised publicly for bids this fall, but didn't receive offers low enough to allow the project to proceed. The city council recently passed a resolution to allow the city manager to reject all bids when the lowest was about $770,000. The city had budgeted only up to $575,000 for the project.

Plans made for the project earlier in the fall called for a firm to design and install solar-panel setups for 10 city-owned facilities. Firms could pick from a 19-facility list. Some of the facilities were the police station, several fire stations, various public works buildings, parks buildings and the Osage and Shawnee community centers.

The city sought to place solar panels on buildings as an effort to "go green" when possible, city officials have said, and to save money on electricity.

Requests for proposals from firms for the project were sent out in October. The city asked for firms to price the cost to lease equipment for 25 years or to buy it. But a problem arose, Brunke said, when not all of the three companies submitting bids priced both options.

"We didn't have complete packages to compare to each other, so we couldn't make a decision," she said.

A second attempt by the city to receive pricing for the options also came up empty, and the options provided were too costly.

The effort to place solar panels on buildings was first pursued by the city after officials were approached by a consultant with the idea in April. Solar panels, according to city staff who put together the original request for proposals, are a good investment because of the

potential energy cost savings. Use and maintenance of solar panels is also low-cost.

The city also asked that pricing information for relocating panels be included in proposals if a facility moved or received a new roof.

City officials had wanted the project bid awarded by the end of the year.

But the city isn't giving up on the idea, Brunke said.

"We'll continue to consider options for other solar projects," she said. "We will have to wait and see what comes across our desks. I think we are all on board with solar panels; this one just didn't work out."

eragan@semissourian.com

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401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO