FAIRFIELD, Ohio — Installing an array of solar panels at the city’s wastewater treatment plant is expected to save Fairfield half the annual cost of its electricity to operate the facility.
Council approved an agreement with Milford-based Melink Solar to design and build an array of panels on six acres of land east of the Groh Lane plant, adjacent to the Great Miami River. The cost is $3.1 million, which includes contingency dollars.
The wastewater treatment plant is the single largest user of electricity of all the city’s facilities, said Adam Sackenheim, assistant city manager. Last year, the city spent more than $260,000 to purchase 3.7 million kilowatts of electricity.
With the expected 40 percent increase in the cost of electricity this year, the cost would climb to about $370,00 for the same amount of electricity this year and beyond, Sackenheim wrote in a memo to the council.
Over the course of the 30-year lifetime expectancy of the array, the city would save anywhere from $2 million to $2.5 million in energy costs. He called the solar panels “a hedge against volatile and increasing energy costs,” adding the project was ‘an effort to be more operationally resilient and sustainable.’
“In addition to providing cost savings to the city, this project will help achieve a ‘priority one’ goal from the Fairfield Sustains plan: ‘increase local on-site renewable energy in municipal operations by 2030,’” he said in the memo.
When federal investment tax credits – valued at 30-40 percent of the total project cost are factored in, the payback timeline is 12-13 years, Sackenheim said.
“The entire system is 100 percent made in the USA – the control system, inverters,’’ said Councilman Tim Meyers.
The solar array will be designed to generate 1.5 megawatts of direct current.
“It will offset at least half of current energy consumption at the facility,’’ Sackenheim said.
“For an asset that’s going to – with a little love and care – (last) over 30 years, we’re going to get some real significant … (benefit) out of this and a good use of taxpayer money,’’ Meyers said.
Next steps would be finalizing a design for the array, obtaining the proper permits and the start of construction, possibly by the end of October or early November, with the array becoming operational by mid-March 2026.
