The Warren Sentinel
April 8, 2010
Town still considering its own solar farm proposal
Proposal unrelated to recent
action by Economic Development Authority
By Brooke
Frick
While no
decisions have been made, discussion of a possible solar farm in
Front Royal increases with each new development. Just before
Monday’s work session, the town received a letter from Steve
Lamb, managing member of Standard Energy, regarding Standard’s
recent proposal for a solar farm in Front Royal. Standard
Energy was ranked as the top competitor in terms of price by GDS
Associates, a consulting firm hired by the town to oversee the
request for proposal process.
Thirty eight other companies submitted proposals. Per their
proposal, the solar farm would be built either on EDA property
at the former Avtex site or the Happy Creek area at no cost to
the town. However,
the town would be thus obligated to purchase power solar power
from Standard in a similar manner as they currently purchase
power through AMP-Ohio. Lamb also
states in the letter that Standard Energy has “proposed a master
agreement to sell solar power to other AMP members and is
waiting for that agreement to be signed in the immediate term.
Then it will be up to AMP to contact Front Royal and
discuss how the proposed project might fit in with Standard’s
vision for solar within the AMP community. “I don’t
think it was anything we didn’t already understand,” said Mayor
Eugene R. Tewalt of the letter. He added
that town officials have heard a lot of rumors and this letter
tells them exactly where Standard Energy stands if a solar farm
does come to fruition. Previously,
at the work session on March 29, Town Attorney Robinett advised
members to discuss the reque4sts for proposals in closed
session, which they did. While
Robinett did not share what he discussed with council, he did
say that he had done some additional research on the top three
proposals and wanted to speak with council about the legal
ramifications of the request for proposal process. In an
unrelated event, on March 26 the Economic Development Authority
set the terms of a lease with SolAVerde Inc. for the development
of a solar farm on 45.5 acres of the EDA’s property.
The property would be leased in two phases for a total of
approximately $134,000 per year. Only 25 of
those acres, however, are currently ready for development. The
total 140 acres on the business park side are projected to be
ready by the summer of 2011, said EDA executive director
Jennifer McDonald. “Of course,
that’s not written in stone,” she added.
The 240 acres of conservancy are slated to be ready in
2014. In order
for the project to move forward the Environmental Protection
Agency and FMC Corporation, two of the seven stake holders, must
approve the lease, said McDonald. As for how
this might affect the town and its request for proposal process,
Tewalt said the lease between the EDA and SolAVerde is “strictly
the EDA”. “It’s too
early to comment on anything,” said town Manager J. Michael
Graham about the EDA’s lease with SolAVerde.
“There’s a lot of discussion but there’s nothing concrete
that has been approved on either side.” “No deals
are on the table,” Tewalt said.
“We’re not dealing with anyone at this time.
We’ve received the requests for proposals and are
reviewing those,” he added.
The town
will discuss the requests for proposals for a potential solar
farm at the next council meeting on April 12. |