Water Agency Adds Non-Water Revenues

The San Gorgonio Pass Water Agency is trying to be money-smart as well as water-wise. 

New revenue streams are bringing in more than $24,000 a year to the agency, according to General Manager and Chief Engineer Jeff Davis.  The agency has installed 112 solar panels on the roof of its headquarters building and by next week should be selling the electricity generated to Southern California Edison.  A cell phone tower on headquarters property that T-Mobile wants to build should add at least another $1,000 a month.

T-Mobile Tower

The SGPWA board was set to vote on the T-Mobile proposal today, but held up action at Davis’s request.

“I think T-Mobile is going to make tons and tons of money off of that tower,” Davis told the board.  “Once one service provider erects a tower, it’s common that others want to add their equipment to it.  I’d like to see if we can’t negotiate some kind of escalator clause that allows us to renegotiate terms in the event that happens.”

But Davis also told the board not to expect too much more.

“They have a Plan B,” said Davis.  “If we ask for too much, they will go elsewhere.”

The T-Mobile proposal as of today consisted of  $1,000 a month rent with a five percent yearly increase over three years.

Solar Panels Ready to Generate Cash

To offset ever-increasing energy costs at the agency’s 5,200 square-foot headquarters, the agency has installed solar panels that should generate electricity equal to what the agency uses.  The solar panels feed direct current electricity generated by the panels into two banks of inverters that convert it to alternating current, which is then fed into Edison’s power grid.

“Our same old electric meter keeps track of it,” Davis said.  “Only now, sometimes it runs forward, and sometimes it runs backwards.  Instead of a bill every month, we’ll get one statement a year with the totals of energy generated and energy consumed.”

Davis said that the panels could generate up to $12,000-$15,000 worth of electricity a year, but that too much of it would be counterproductive.

“As long as we’re just making up for the energy we use, Southern California Edison will compensate us at the retail rate,” he said.  “However, if we start to generate enough of a surplus, the rate of compensation changes to the much lower wholesale rate.”

SGPWA Finance Manager Tom Todd, Jr., said that the panel installation at the agency’s headquarters was quick—less than a week’s worth of work, though spread out over two because of storms—and particularly easy because of the building’s metal roof with flanged sections.

“It turns out that the panels need air circulation underneath them to prevent overheating,” Todd said.  “Our flanges provided just the right amount of space for the circulation, and the contractor [Smart Solar Power of Yucaipa] had special clamps that attached the panels to the flanges.”

The panel installation cost SGPWA about $150,000, but $32,000 of it was covered by a state-funded solar initiative.  Davis estimated that the panels would pay for themselves in just nine years.

“They have to be guaranteed for 25 years by state law,” he said.  “In reality they should last much longer than that.”

That would provide the agency with free electricity for at least 16 years.

The agency is waiting for two routine inspections to be finished before it can turn on the panels.  Davis estimated that the panels should be operating next week.

Water-Wise Landscape

In addition to the new revenue streams, the agency will be cutting its water use costs by installing water-wise landscaping at the rear of its property.  A previous installation of water-wise landscaping in the front of the headquarters building cut the agency’s water bill by one-half.