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TRENDING:
Reading officials say a sweeping energy-efficiency and renewable energy project approved in 2024 is now at its midpoint, with major lighting and system upgrades nearly completed and construction on large solar installations expected to begin this spring.
City sustainability manager Bethany Ayers-Fisher and representatives of Schneider Electric, the city’s partner on the Guaranteed Energy Savings Act, or GESA, project, provided an update during a recent City Council committee of the whole meeting.
“This has been a very complex project, very collaborative effort from both the city and Schneider Electric,” said Matthew Wardecker, Schneider Electric’s accounts manager.
Ayers Fisher said the $17.9 million initiative aims at modernizing municipal infrastructure, reducing long-term operating costs and moving the city toward its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2050. It relies on anticipated energy savings to repay most of the construction cost over a 20-year period.
GESA is not a grant program, she explained, but a procurement and financing tool that allows the city to bundle design, construction and long-term performance guarantees under a single contractor.
Interior LED lighting upgrades are now complete at City Hall, the Public Works Administration Building and garage, Reading Area Firefighters Museum, the conservatory building in City Park, Third and Spruce Recreation Center and several park fieldhouses.
Field lighting upgrades are finished at all sites except Schlegel Park, Ayers Fisher said, which is expected to be completed when work begins on a planned dog park at the site.
Downtown pedestrian lighting improvements are underway near Sixth and Court streets on Penn Street.
“Thankfully, the weather has mostly cooperated with us, and we’re expecting that to be finishing up, weather permitting, by the mid to end of February,” she said.
Additional lighting is planned near Second and Franklin streets, around GoggleWorks Center for the Arts at Second and Washington streets, and in the parking lot area at Rotary Park to eliminate dark spots and improve safety.
Significant HVAC work also was completed at older park fieldhouses, including the addition of split-unit air conditioning systems and electrical service upgrades.
“All the field houses now have split-unit air conditioning added for comfort, and also to reduce the electrical spend in the summer,” she said.
The conservatory building is receiving a new variable refrigerant flow, or VRF, heating system, Ayers Fisher said.
“A VRF is a type of heat pump,” she explained. “So it acts as if it’s an all-electric building now,”
Another component, known as building-envelope work, is substantially complete across city facilities, she noted. That includes weather stripping and air barriers designed to reduce drafts and energy loss.
The most visible phase of the project, solar generation, is now moving closer to construction, Ayers-Fisher told council. All solar panels have been delivered to meet federal requirements tied to investment tax credits.
Design changes required the city to reconfigure where the panels will be placed, but the total number remains the same, she said. Instead of being installed on the roof of City Hall, the panels will be added to solar canopies at the Public Works complex and the Cedar Street parking lot.
“We didn’t want to penetrate the roof,” Ayers-Fisher said. “The panels from the City Hall roof are being added to the canopies, so we’re not losing any of our canopies.”
City Managing Director Jack Gombach praised the project as a long-term investment in infrastructure and environmental stewardship.
“There are some areas where government simply has to lead,” he said. “We feel that infrastructure investment, weatherization and green infrastructure improvements is simply one of those areas.”
Council members also expressed strong support for the project.
Councilman O. Christopher Miller said he cannot think of another project equally as important to the city’s future.
“We need all the people in the city to understand this project and be behind it because that’s how important it really is,” he said.
Miller’s comments were echoed by other council members, including Councilman Jaime Baez Jr.
“I’m a firm believer that clean energy is needed, not only in the city of Reading, but across our country and internationally,” Baez said.
Ayers Fisher said the city expects to wrap up the overall work later this year.
“September of ’26 is when we’re scheduled to be all buttoned up,” she said. “Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we should hit our mark.”
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