Government : VMEU & VMCU iVinton Update and Considering Solar Options

Link to the Meeting

At Tuesday night's meeting, the VMEU and VMCU board met at their regular meeting. After half an hour of troubleshooting electronic equipment to stream the meeting via Zoom, the meeting began at 5:30 p.m.

iVinton

The board was given the status of the iVinton project. At this time there are just over 600 people who have subscribed. Crews are still connecting customers, and behind the scenes billing and working out the miscellaneous kinks of the project are in the final stages. 

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the board discussed ways that they might be able to help students with service and tossed around ideas for the future. One possibility was the ability to connect students to the school's internet service for those in lower-income brackets and the access would be limited to only school programs. This would give them needed access for school work but not allow use by the rest of the family. It would work as if the student was accessing the internet at school. The cost to install for each student would run around $200. 

Solar

Rob Hach of Trusted Energy in Alta, Iowa spoke to the board concerning a possible solar project to supplement and lower electric costs for residents. The board is gathering information about the possibility and researching how that would look and work for the community.  If the board chooses to begin work yet this year, there are tax incentives that would benefit the utilities. This could be created as a "solar garden" and customers could buy a share of it via a point system. 

The cost of the energy produced would be less than traditional electricity. The panels last 25-30 years, with reduced effeciency at the end of that time. Solar is purported to pay for itself within 6-7 years after installation. Two locations for such a project would be near the substation on the east edge of town or at the sewer plant where the land is already in use by the city. The board favors the sewer plant location.

Mike Barron asked, "Who owns the solar?" Options are that the utility would pay for the project and residents could pay a "membership due" to participate, or the board could purchase it outright and use it as another source of energy.

The city of Vinton currently produces energy for those outside Vinton in times of extreme electric use, when it's really hot or really cold generally. Vinton is also able to produce electricity if part of the electric grid goes down. There is a contract with Vinton that would have to be considered before moving into a solar project. 

Incoming VS Superintendent Kyle Koeppen also addressed the Board concerning the school also building a solar project. Annually the school district spends a little under $350,000 on just electricity. The High School alone runs from $130-150,000 a year. Through the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy, the school would be allowed to use the money to purchase solar equipment to benefit the district. The panels could be used to provide different percentages of power reducing the cost of electricity. There is enough property owned by the district to place enough solar panels throughout the district to provide power to the complete school district. Reeve feels that it would be environmentally friendly and would save money over the lifetime of the panels.

There will be a subcommittee meeting on June 22 at 6:00 p.m. at the Central Office to discuss the project. The benefit to the school the Superintendent feels would not only be in providing energy to the school, but it would also free up money used, that would normally go toward the annual electric bill, but these savings would benefit students in other areas. 

The district must have the permission of the Vinton Municipal Electric Utilities to do this as it would take money from the pocket of the Vinton utilities. 

Tom Richtmeier explained that because it is solar, there wouldn't be a way for the school to provide 100% of the power through solar because obviously the sun doesn't shine at night. The schools would still be part of the electric grid, but it would reduce their costs. 

Both the utility board and the school are in the planning and gathering of information stages, but it appears that there is interest in both projects at this time.