Travis County Commissioners Court
October 13, 2009,
Item A3
>> a-3.
>> a-3 is not executive session?
no, it isn't.
why not put it on consent.
a-3, consider and take appropriate action regarding application for american recovery -- I now see why.
roger el khoury.
i wanted us to discuss not necessarily take action today.
there is a county match for that item.
we can call it up after executive session.
if we want to further consider it we can have it on next week.
if not we can tell roger to thanks.
let's call it up after executive session.
we've got about 35 minutes left this morning and a long list of executive session items, but I bet we can cover several of them this morning
>> a 3 hopefully just lay it out there.
if there's feedback today, we provide it.
and then we have it back on next week to decide how to go.
i'm assuming that we don't know many facts about this, right?
>> well, lay it out for us.
>> okay.
thank you.
>> good afternoon, roger el khoury, director for facility management department.
facilities request the approval of the court to compete for a grant of two million from seco, that stands for the comptroller state energy conservation office.
ceco.
to receive this fund we have to match 20% of the award, which is
>> [indiscernible] thousand dollars if we are granted two million.
the total would be $2,400,000.
we're not asking today if you to approve the grant or make a commitment at this time.
i'm just asking to give me direction to start the application.
the pier office will put it -- the p.b.o.
office will put it on the court on October 27th.
at that time if you all decide you want to go for the match fund or move on with the application.
let me state the importance of this grant.
this grant is -- is for -- for a government entity, to do a renewable energy, which is right now we're looking at a solar energy or wind energy.
the solar energy is a term of the photovoltaic array, which is panels, which are going to be primary on the roof of buildings.
we look at the two roof, one of them is in the expo center
>> [indiscernible], very nice roof, you can place those photovoltaic panels, that will be visible to the public, which is part of the grant point, you know, you have to make sure that the -- that the public can see the renewable energy form just like the photovoltaic array.
that will give us more point.
the other one would be here in the downtown area would be the san antonio garage, some canopies on that, a structure, put the panels on that, so we can draw some of those energies, those energies would be collecting electrical powers to eliminate the lightings in the parking garage or in the -- in the show barns and also in the banquet hall for air condition system.
now, again, those costs would be about $2.4 million including the -- we call it a wind farm you know at the expo center.
this is questionable at this time the wind farm because we do not own the land.
so we can't divert that -- that to a solar energy, not doing a wind energy.
we have to look it into within those two weeks.
the other issue with that if the cost will involve $2,100,000, we will have left $300,000 in there.
the $300,000 will be divided into 150,000 plus or minus for having an electrical engineers or outsource, you know, to help us through the project.
85,000 to maintain with the construction of that particular renewable energy devices, the last one would be 70,000 in -- in a -- in an in-kind work done by state -- by county staff.
either in facility management or probably county attorney looking into it, all of that time would be like $70,000.
this is what we're saying is that the impact on fy '10 would be not $400,000, but actually $70,000 in in kind services plus an additional fund of $330,000.
i did this some kind of a -- a number crunching for what we are using for kilowatt hours on the show barn.
in fy '09 a total of $29,800.
the banquet hall, $39,450.
and the san antonio garage 15,000 for a total of $84,000 of a -- cost of use of electricity.
if we invest $400,000 and we compete for the grant and we get the grant, these simple pay back on that would be only 4.5 years.
to get like back, you know, the $400,000 in a -- in an energy cost saving.
and plus, after that, we will have like a -- lots of like I call it free energy, but at this time -- would be a -- a good method and good way to show a constituent that we are -- to show our constituents that we are doing a -- participating in renewable energy.
as a matter of fact we did look at the feasibility of the proposed work and find it very highly advantageous in terms of setting the county energy costs, promoting public awareness and alternative energy generation, promoting cleaner and non-polluting energy resources.
so I think that there's a good things would come out of this grant and I think we can do it.
now, again, this is not a guarantee, it's a competition.
but again we don't -- the only action today, if I would ask the court, is to give me direction to go ahead and fill out the application.
so I can have it ready for p.b.o.
and the auditor's and the county attorney to review and then bring to the court on October 27th.
>> so are those numbers with a zero, if we install this energy savings system?
the numbers that you gave us for those three or four locations.
>> yeah, uh-huh.
those numbers would -- after four and a half years, we don't have to pay that money so it's going to be part of the -- of the -- that would be free energy for us.
we don't have to pay Austin energy for that at all.
>> it takes more than 4.5 years to pay back with the return.
>> certainly this is -- a lot of -- a laudable effort and I support this.
i do just have some basic questions, which you may not have the answers for when you are looking at pay back and quite frankly an investment like this there's payback beyond what the county gets paid, you know, global impact.
but this is something every time I hear numbers on payback that I wonder about.
what's the life expectancy of those panels?
and what is the maintenance costs that -- on an annual basis.
>> I need to get you this answer on the life cycle for these and I'll -- I'll send you an e-mail.
>> what if we say this then?
what if we say go ahead and put the application together, get with p.b.o.
with the understanding that the court reserves the right to vote no on the 27th.
and if we have additional questions, we'll get those to you by e-mail or telephone, so -- so do we want it back on next week just for a follow-up or just on the 27th?
>> sure.
>> would it help to have it back on next week for a follow-up discussion?
>> yes.
>> I thought the court should hear it.
p.b.o.
may have a perspective they want to share with us, too.
we will give them an opportunity before the 27th.
if you get as much done between now and next Tuesday as possible, we're proceeding toward an affirmation.
if it looks like we should not, then we will just at that time know.
okay.
>> thank you very much.
>> appreciate your patience, too.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, October 13, 2009 4:56 PM
