The city installed solar panels on the roof of the Newark Municipal Building in 2022. The city is now planning to install more solar power at various city-owned facilities.
The city installed solar panels on the roof of the Newark Municipal Building in 2022. The city is now planning to install more solar power at various city-owned facilities.
More solar panels are coming to city-owned properties in Newark, part of an energy savings performance contract that ultimately will pay for itself with savings, with no net cost to taxpayers.
On Monday, city council authorized the purchase of up to $1 million in solar equipment. City officials are still finalizing the locations for the solar panels, but the purchase has to be made by July 4 in order to qualify for federal tax credits.
Assistant City Manager Jeff Martindale said a number of locations are being considered, including rooftops at the city’s maintenance yard on Phillips Avenue, the roof of the police station, and a city-owned parcel at 201 Kells Avenue, where solar panels could be mounted on the ground.
Also under consideration are solar canopies in parking lots such as city hall, the Newark Reservoir, Dickey Park, Leroy Hill Park or Curtis Mill Park.
The new solar installations will be part of a broader energy savings performance contract intended to reduce the city’s energy usage and generate cost savings.
“Performance contract is a method we really like, because it finds energy efficiencies or solar opportunities and pairs them with other more costly facility projects,” Martindale said. “We combine those projects and find out what the total cost and the total savings would be on those projects and roll them into a loan that is paid for by the savings of the project itself, netting the project cost down to zero.”
The city’s last energy savings performance contract was completed in 2022 and included the installation of 1.2MW of solar panels at the reservoir, on the roof of city hall and other areas, as well as HVAC repairs, roof repairs, and upgrades to streetlights and parking lots.
“Many of these project items, notably HVAC and roof repairs, addressed significant facility needs that otherwise would have cost the city millions of dollars in the form of cash,” Martindale said. “By combining those improvements with energy-saving initiatives, the total project loan – approximately $10 million – is set to be fully covered by the project savings over the 20-year loan term.”
On Monday, council agreed to enter into another energy savings performance contract with the original contractor, Seiberlich Trane.
Over the next few months, Seiberlich Trane will evaluate a number of projects in addition to the solar panels, including battery energy storage systems, waterless or low-flow plumbing fixtures in city buildings, motion-sensor timers on light fixtures, replacing lights in city parks and trails with dimmable LEDs, installing directional light-shielding on lights in parks, and various generator and fuel tank improvements.
The final list of projects will be subject to approval by city council.
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