Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
A nonprofit corporation recommends City Water, Light and Power should ask for proposals for solar and wind contracts. The Energy Authority, which works with 58 utility companies throughout the United States, was hired by the city to work on a 20-year integrated resource plan for the utility to see what energy resources CWLP should invest in and which ones it should retire.
In updating council members during their Tuesday meeting, TEA presented some of their preliminary findings, including that coal plants are becoming more expensive to operate and maintain and that renewable prices are low enough to be a viable alternative.
It also predicted that over the next 20 years, energy usage by CWLP customers would decline as electronics become more efficient and population declines.
Putting out a request for proposals for renewable energy will not only help TEA with local information it needs for it models, but will also allow the city to move quickly if it chooses to go that route, according to Jamie Mahne, TEA’s vice president of client services.
Mahne said he didn’t know the exact amount of renewable energy CWLP should request, but it should start with a “safe” quantity.
CWLP chief engineer Doug Brown said the utility is working on crafting the specifications and hopes to put out a request early next year.
Some council members urged caution, citing a wind contract CWLP entered into 10 years ago that locked it into a rate that ended up costing customers. The contract expired this month.
Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin noted one could not predict how far the cost of wind would fall, nor how high the cost of coal production would rise. He noted even Brown has said that if he knew what the cost of coal production would be when the decision to build the newest Dallman power plant was on the table, he would have chosen not to build it.
“So any alderman that gets up here and bangs their horn and says, ‘That was a $130-million debacle,’ someone else can say, ‘That was a $1 billion dollar coal-fired debacle,’” McMenamin said.
Coal-hauling contract
In other action, city council members voted 9-1 to grant a three-year, $13 million contract to Decatur-based McLeod Express to haul CWLP’s coal, despite protests from the other bidder.
McLeod Express, which has held the contract since 2016, ostensibly beat East St. Louis-based Beelman Truck Co.’s bid by about $101,700, at about $13,060,700. McLeod Express offered a fuel adjustment scenario, in which CWLP would be rebated if the price of diesel was below $3.50 and charged higher rate if above. Beelman Truck Co. gave CWLP a flat rate.
McMenamin, who voted “no,” said the contract should be re-bid so the city could get more competitive prices.
***
Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 