At the last city council meeting, Mayor Butch Berry mentioned installing solar panels at the city’s water treatment plant as a possible way to reduce operating costs. Alderman Mickey Schneider took it upon herself to ask solar power advocate Jerry Landrum to offer his expertise at the Aug. 8 meeting.
Landrum noted the city spent a little more than $8000 in June on its electricity bills. His data indicated that “using a four percent per year expected rise in electricity price from our Climate Action Plan, a commercial scale system with no incentives would have a Return on Investment of 7.6 percent, a simple payback time of 13 years and would return more than twice the cost over the expected 25-year project life.”
He also pointed out the city could, instead of focusing on installing solar panels at the water treatment site, simply mount an array of panels at an optimum location and collect energy to feed back into the grid. This strategy could effectively pay for the power used at the water treatment plant.
Alderman David Mitchell commented Eureka Springs and solar power seemed like a great marriage. He said solar power was a good idea and worth exploring, but the city might not be in a position to invest in it just yet.
Alderman Terry McClung urged Berry’s office to look into it and report back to council.