PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria Park District might be going green.
The board of trustees met Wednesday night to discuss, among other items, a power purchase agreement for solar equipment at four locations.
A representative of solar developer Hawk-Attollo, with whom PPD has a pending contract, presented to the board a slideshow of technical and financial facts and figures about the project.
Under current rates, Hawk-Attollo estimated over a 20-year span PPD would save, in electricity costs, $110,000 at the Lakeview Recreation Center, $190,000 at the Noble Center, and $300,000 at the RiverPlex Recreation Center and Owens Recreation Center, each, for a total of $900,000.
Board President urged his colleagues to table any action until they are sure they understand the contract in full.
“I just want go over the agreement with them, get our attorneys, and make sure they look at it,” he said.
“I just want to make sure once we start out with those rates, those rates will be guaranteed for [the duration of the agreement]. Sometimes you can start in, and then they’ll go up.”
Johnson said he has other trepidations, as well.
“I want to get the figures to see what this would cost us. I’m concerned about the operating costs,” he said.
“That part of our budget is where we have some challenges, and I just want to make sure we’re going to be able to cover it.
“I’m not clear, still, on what that total price is going to be, and we want to have that information.”
Johnson said capital bonds cannot be used for a project like this because of operations requirements, but he planned to apply for state grants.
The Hawk-Attollo representative said in order for all four facilities to be eligible to use Solar Reusable Energy Credits, construction must be done by May 2020.
