On Tuesday, the Cortez City Council agreed to move forward with a plan to add rooftop solar panels on City Hall.
One of the “critical success factors” in the city’s long-range plan is the creation of a solar farm, but City Manager Shane Hale said further research has shown the city would save more money with rooftop panels instead.
In a workshop before Tuesday’s meeting, he proposed amending the city’s contract with Durango-based Shaw Solar to add solar panels on the City Hall roof. The new panels would be enough to provide 100 percent of the building’s electricity, he said.
Hale’s proposal on Tuesday came after a presentation on April 24 from Shaw Solar’s John Shaw, on the success of the existing City Hall panels, which the city leased from Shaw in 2016. They currently provide about 15 percent of the building’s electricity, better than the city’s early estimates of 13 percent. Shaw said City Hall could become 100 percent solar-powered if the city installed more panels on the roof, adding 88 kilowatts of power.
Shaw and Hale’s proposal includes a six-year lease, after which the city would own the panels. The first payment would be just over $11,000, which Hale said would be within the city’s 2018 budget.
The amendment will go before City Council for a vote at its next meeting, on May 22.
On Tuesday, Hale said the city will also send out a request for proposal later this year for solar panels on other city buildings. He suggested the Conquistador Golf Course maintenance shop, the Animal Shelter, the Service Center, the Police Department and the Cortez Public Library as prime spots for new panels.