Iola City Council members were given their first glimpse Monday at what it would cost to add solar energy to the citys electric portfolio.
Now its up to the city to determine whether the cost of building its own solar panels or signing up to buy power from a larger solar farm elsewhere in the state would be financially viable.
Brandon Sack, clean energy development manager with Evergy, the name Westar and KCP&L will assume after their merger in the next few months, gave a brief rundown of the costs.
If the city were to have Evergy build a solar farm on the edge of town city property west of Russell Stover Candies was mentioned the cost would likely be between $2.5 and $2.8 million.
Evergy would pay for the farms construction, but would require a capital infusion from the city in year 8. That amount was not announced publicly.
The farm then would be the citys responsibility over the next 22 years.
He estimated the citys cost to get power from the solar farm at 5 to 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour over the first eight years, as part of the citys power purchase agreement with Evergy.
That sounds expensive on the surface, Sack admitted, but there are ancillary benefits.
For one thing, the solar farm would immediately pare the citys reliance on peak demand electricity costs from Westar. And, a solar farm requires minimal maintenance.
Other factors to consider are a solar panels lifespan. The panels degrade eventually, Sack noted, and produce significantly less electricity by the 30th year than the first.
He estimated a solar farm in Iola would generate about 3 to 5 megawatts, depending on whether the panels are fixed or designed to track the sun as it crosses the sky.
Sack said construction of the solar farm could be done within nine months.
For the past decade, Iola has lacked the generating capacity to meet its peak electricity demands. Through its natural gas and diesel-powered generators, Iola is capable of producing up to 22 megawatts of electricity per day, about 5 or 6 megawatts shy of whats needed to maintain designation as a generating city.
To meet the added demand, the city purchases generating capacity each year from Chanute and Sabetha. Adding solar power would reduce those payments as well.
Council members also have the option of buying into a large-scale solar farm elsewhere in the state, potentially enough to meet its peak demands and eliminating the generating capacity from other suppliers. Additionally, the city would not require a capital infusion to eventually assume ownership, Sack said, and the cost would be lower, at 2.8 to 3.5 cents per kilowatt hour.
