BONNYVILLE - The Town of Bonnyville is throwing its support behind six of seven proposed energy upgrades at the Centennial Centre, but excluded the most expensive project – a solar panel installation on the facility's roof.
On Aug. 24, town councillors heard the facility stands to save $109,000 a year if all the projects go ahead. Without the solar project, annual savings would still be $79,000. Councillors agreed to write a letter of support for six projects, minus the solar, to help the centre's grant application.
The price tag for all seven proposed projects would amount to $2 million, mostly covered by grants, with half of that going toward the solar project. However, councillors heard the return on investment for the solar panels isn't good – the panels would save the centre about $30,000 per year and would have a payback period of about 35 years, but the lifespan of the panels would only be 25 years.
“I can't get behind the photovoltaic system... for the cost and the project life,” said Mayor Gene Sobolewski. “The numbers just don't work for me. But the rest of them, I certainly could, because there's some real savings.”
Chief administrative officer Bill Rogers said the Centennial Centre is pursuing three different grant streams to cover the majority of costs associated with the upgrades. The Town and MD of Bonnyville would split the remaining costs, which are estimated between $270,000 and $433,000 for all seven projects combined. The elimination of the solar project would knock a couple hundred thousand dollars off that price.
“When we analyzed this, it became a bit of a no-brainer. If they realize full funding of the grants they've applied for, then it's easy to recommend, 'Look, we're getting $2 million worth of work here for a contribution from the town of $130,000' – even the solar project makes a lot of sense,” Rogers said.
But the fact that these projects rely on three grant streams, none of which are guaranteed, made administration hesitant to recommend full financial support from the town. If not all the grants are successful, council could consider the projects individually, Rogers added.
Instead, the town's financial support will be considered by council once grant details are known. However, Sobolewski said once the grants are in place, it could be difficult for the town to back out of funding the projects.
Other projects aside from solar include a roof upgrade for the agriplex, an energy monitoring system, window inserts for the staff office, heat recovery ventilation, upgrades to the ice plant, and REALice technology (a water treatment system for ice arenas).
The projects came from an energy audit by the MD of Bonnyville, which showed the Centennial Centre's energy use is above the provincial average for multiplexes.
In a letter to council, Centennial Centre general manager Les Parsons wrote the projects would “have substantial impact on reduction of our energy and utility costs as well as greenhouse gas emissions over time.”
“The benefits of implementing these (energy conservation measures) at the Centennial Centre facility go beyond financial and environmental; as the hub of the community, once implemented, these forward-thinking measures will help to foster and encourage a culture of energy conservation in our community,” Parsons wrote.
He added the estimated start date for the upgrades would be fall 2021, with most of the work being done in the spring. The project would be expected to wrap up by July 2022.
