Thumbnail: SitelogIQ representatives presented a microgrid project proposal to the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors in January. On Tuesday SitelogIQ representatives spoke with the Del Norte County Unified School District Board of Trustees.
After voting to issue pink slips to library technicians, paraprofessionals and teachers, trustees were reluctant to endorse a SitelogIQ proposal its representatives say will make Del Norte Unified School District facilities more energy resilient.
Though their counterparts with Del Norte County signed a letter of agreement with SitelogIQ in January, DNUSD trustees tabled the issue until they could consult with Superintendent Jeff Harris, who was absent from Tuesday’s special meeting.
They also weren’t thrilled at the idea of being charged a $65,000 fee should they decide against installing a solar electricity generation system or energy efficiency improvements to school campuses.
“My concern is that $65,000 will put a librarian in a library,” Trustee Area 5 representative Michael Greer said. “Right now we’re trying to cut our budget instead of adding to it and you can’t guarantee how much that [energy] savings will be.”
SitelogIQ representative Kristy Coughlin said the $65,000 fee would apply after SitelogIQ did the engineering, design and came up with a shovel-ready project and invested well over a year’s worth of work and DNUSD decided to hire someone else.
The letter of agreement she asked trustees to consider was a handshake agreement for the company to perform energy audits at each campus and analyze the energy savings and generation potential. This will include reviewing the facilities’ HVAC and lighting systems and, after completing the audit, return to the Board with a proposed electricity-generating project.
Other projects could include upgraded HVAC systems or lighting retrofits as well as coordinating with Pacific Power, Coughlin said, with the goal being to reduce DNUSD’s operations and maintenance costs.
“There is no initial investment whatsoever,” she said. “Our whole goal is to design, build, commission and maintain it for the life of the equipment.”
On Jan. 29, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors endorsed a similar letter of agreement with SitelogIQ. At that meeting Coughlin and her colleague Taylor Boyle laid out two proposed microgrid projects in the Crescent City area. One would supply electricity to Del Norte Unified School District’s offices, Crescent Fire Protection District, Del Norte High School and Sutter Coast Hospital.
The other would power Crescent City’s wastewater treatment plant, city hall and police station as well as the Flynn Center, sheriff’s office and the courthouse.
The microgrid would tap into Pacific Power substations and incorporate solar panels, a generator and battery backup.
On Tuesday Coughlin said SitelogIQ would also present proposed letters of agreement to the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority and the Crescent City Council. There are similar projects in Willits, Ukiah and Healdsburg as well as in Shasta, Tehama and Siskiyou counties, she said.
SitelogIQ has also worked with more than 400 California K12 school districts, Coughlin said.
Though she said SitelogIQ would conduct a full energy audit of DNUSD’s schools once the Board signs a letter of agreement, Coughlin gave a preliminary breakdown of some of the district’s electricity costs. According to her, over the past year DNUSD’s overall monthly utility cost increased from $62,000 to $86,000.
Del Norte High School uses the most electricity, Coughlin said, with its monthly utility bill jumping from $15,000 to $20,000 last year. Crescent Elk Middle School is another heavy user with its annual utility costs peaking at $60,000, she said.
“The letter of agreement allows us to start that next phase, which is completing the full audit and returning with the most self-funded measures to serve each of those campuses or facilities,” she said. “And a lot of times it’s breaking into phases, the highest priorities first.”
If SitelogIQ is unable to identify energy savings “or make a project work,” the district would not be on the hook for the $65,000 fee, company vice president Eddie Jordan told trustees.
According to Jordan, recent California law, Title 24, requires solar panels be included on all new construction and major modifications of school campuses. The planned performing arts center at Del Norte High, for example, will require solar, he said. It may also require battery storage as well as electrical vehicle charging stations. HVAC systems will also be required to run on electricity instead of diesel or gas, Jordan said.
While Del Norte Unified may be able to petition for an exemption to those requirements through the Division of the State Architect, it’s difficult to get those exemptions, Jordan said.
“We’re thinking our program can help alleviate a lot of those unfunded mandates by the state,” he said.
Jeff Napier, DNUSD’s assistant superintendent of business, noted that currently PBK Architect is the firm the school district works with. Coughlin said SitelogIQ works closely with PBK Architect.
The school district does the engineering for the project before seeking contractors, Napier said, having to take the lowest bid.
“[SitelogIQ] do design build … so they are the contractor, they don’t have to bid for the contractors. I wanted to get you guys to understand that,” he told trustees.
Napier asked Coughlin if SitelogIQ could only address energy savings.
“We’re hoping the summer after next Redwood and Smith River [schools] will both be modernized,” he said. “There’s a lot more to that than just the solar or whatever else, but as the contractor, can you take that whole job and do that entire job or does it have to be the bid for the modernization and you guys do just the HVAC and equipment?”
Jordan said SitelogIQ does work with PBK and other firms to coordinate the engineering and design of HVAC, lighting or solar systems and build them separately from the overall modernization project using other dollars.
“It actually helps,” Jordan said. “We love PBK, we work with them a lot. But we are the energy experts and they like to utilize us to help [with] a lot of those aspects.”
Still, while she said she and her colleagues weren’t saying no, Board President Charlaine Mazzei told SitelogIQ that they were going to table the discussion. She said she and her colleagues needed to consult with more people about the district’s plans.
“I think it’s overly optimistic that we have a modernization budget,” she said. “We tried to pass a bond because we don’t have the money to make major renovations to our schools, so that’s a consideration. I don’t have enough of that detail in front of me.”
The bond Mazzei referred to was Measure H, which would have generated $59 million for school facilities. Del Norte County voters rejected that bond measure in the November election.
Napier also noted that there are generators at the ‘O Me-nok Learning Center in Klamath, Del Norte HIgh School, Crescent Elk Middle School and at the Smith River School gym. The district office also has a generator, he said.
