The city of Ringgold is now in talks with Georgia Power to see what the cost and savings would be if the city installed solar panels at the Ringgold Water Plant.
" They will say, 'OK, this is how many panels you can fit at that facility,' and they run numbers on how much electricity those panels take in compared to how much energy they use," Mayor Nick Millwood explained. "So basically how it works, if we can significantly reduce the amount of energy that we are buying from the power company and couple that with selling some energy we produce back to the power company, we have a great chance at having a positive long-term investment."
According to Councilwoman Sara Clark, the water plant is the city's highest cost.
"It would help us run our highest-cost facility, which is the water plant," said Clark. "It makes it prudent to cover part of that cost with the solar panels."
City officials recently toured a municipal solar operation in Chatsworth and were impressed with the results seen there.
"Chatsworth has had a very successful program," said Millwood. "They came out ahead $5,000 to $10,000 in the black for the first year of the program, so that was encouraging. It's at Chatsworth's Sewer Plant.
"It's a situation where, if the numbers [results] look as good as Chatsworth, absolutely [we'll move forward]," he said.
The key question Clark wants answered is "In the long run, will it save the city money?"
"The long-term investment costs, where those funds come from and those costs to our taxpayers would have to be equal or be less than what we will pay for the power now and over the life of the equipment, for us to be the best stewards," said Councilman Randall Franks, who said he originally introduced the proposal that Ringgold seek a municipal solar energy option when he was elected in 2009.
Like Chatsworth, Ringgold is looking into funding the project through a loan from the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority.
But unlike Chatsworth, the Ringgold Water Plant doesn't have a large amount of available land on which to put the panels. And the city's buildings are spread out, perhaps making it difficult to install panels to supply electricity for municipal buildings, street lights and public areas, like Franks said he suggested back in 2009.
"I think it's a great idea," Councilman Jake Haynes said of solar power for city operations. "I'd like to see it. Our buildings are kind of scattered out. The Georgia Power people are looking into what the best fit for us is. Georgia Power looks at our consumption and the price we pay. We wait on Georgia Power to get back with us to recommend something."
Like Haynes, the rest of the council is now in wait-and-see mode.
"I have all questions and no answers," said Vice Mayor Terry Crawford. "Until I see the benefits from it, I can't be excited. I want to see if it's something feasible to do."