West End Community Centre solar deal questioned

Sault Ste. Marie PUC Inc. has won permission to lease the roof of the currently-under-construction West End Community Centre.

Under the deal, PUC will install and operate rooftop photovoltaic (solar) cells.

But some City councillors had issues with the agreement, or more specifically, how it came to be.

City Council awarded the contract to the PUC last night but not before some discussion about the transparency of the bidding and awards recommendation process.

The City of Sault Ste. Marie is the sole shareholder of the PUC and that left some councillors uncomfortable with the process and outcome of awarding the 20-year contract to the company.

PUC Inc. President and CEO Brian Curran was asked by Ward 2 Councillor Terry Sheehan whether proposals from the other seven bidders for the agreement were treated differently by the Ontario Power Authority because the PUC is a city-owned corporation.

"No," said Curran. "The Ontario Power Authority was fully aware of our status from the beginning and has clear guidelines about how we should submit our proposal to them."

The agreement approved last night is conditional on acceptance of the deal by the Ontario Power Authority for its feed-in tariff program.

It stipulates that PUC will pay the City $11,000 to $17,000 a year to use the roof to house solar power generating equipment.

All regular photovoltaic system maintenance requirements will be the responsibility of PUC Services during the term of the lease.

Sheehan said wanted to ensure that the bidding process is open and transparent should this situation occur again in the future.

Ward 4 Councillor Lou Turco agreed, asking that documentation of that process be included in council's agenda packages in the future.

At that point Ward 1 Councillor Steve Butland remarked that, contrary to reports in local media, the Ontario Power Authority has not granted approval for this project.

"It has granted approval and given a feed-in-tariff rate for the PUC to complete another project at Algoma University," Butland said. "The source of that information probably confused the two projects."

The project approved for Algoma University is a 159 KWh photovoltaic generating facility to be constructed by PUC on top the George Leach Centre, Curran later explained.

The West End Community Centre project, if approved as it will be submitted, would have a bit more generating capacity, Curran said.

Ward 1 Councillor Paul Christian said he was somewhat disappointed by the amount of money the city stands to gain from the agreement.

Christian said he was initially reluctant to support the West End Community Centre because he believed it to be too costly for City taxpayers.

However, when he heard the addition of solar power generating facilities on the roof would help offset operating costs, Christian was on board with it.

"I certainly hope our staff negotiates toward the higher amount of those figures," he said last night.

In a report to City Council, Madison Zuppa, the City's environmental initiatives coordinator, said that consideration was given to a City-owned installation, but this was not recommended.

"A feed-in tariff rate price review will occur in October 2011, which creates urgency in submitting an application," reported Zuppa. "Leasing the roof would allow an application to be made more quickly to the Ontario Power Authority, as the proponent's existing resources and expertise would be utilized."

Zuppa said that leasing the roof will provide the least risk and liability to the City and additional staff training and job responsibilities for system maintenance would be avoided.

If the City was to implement the West End Community Centre solar power project on its own, consultation would be required for the design, application, and implementation of the project. Zuppa was one of five members of the committee charged with recommending one of the proposals.

Also on that committee were:

- Nick Apostle, commissioner of community services.

- Jacob Bruzas, financial analyst, finance and administration division.

- Tim Gowans, senior purchaser, purchasing division.

- Susan Hamilton Beach, land development and environmental engineer, engineering & construction division.

Other companies that submitted proposals in answer to City Council's February call for proposals were:

- Algoma Energy Solutions/EFAN Green, Sault Ste. Marie /Markham.

- ARISE Technologies Corporation, Waterloo.

- Essex Energy Corporation, Oldcastle.

- EverEnergy, Toronto.

- G3 Renewable Energy, Desbarats.

- Tioga Energy Inc., Toronto.

- Trec Solarshare/ Heliene/ AGT Solar, Toronto.

Curran said PUC staff will have the proposal in to the Ontario Power Authority very soon but said the amount of time it will take for the authority to render a decision is difficult to predict.