Stimulus Money Applauded by City of Darien, It Refurbished Plant

(Darien, GA) The city of Darien wants to talk wastewater, and why not?  Thursday, city leaders showed off their newly renovated wastewater treatment facility, complete with solar heat and a grid of 72 solar panels that are helping to provide electricity to power the plant.
     
"We were running $4000 a month utility bills here," says Frank Feild, director of community development for the city of Darien.  

Feild says they wanted to use solar to offset some of the electrical costs of operating the plant. He says that the refurbished facility which includes updated energy efficient coupled with the solar power used for electricity and heat, should lower the cost of utilities by up to 35 percent.  "That's huge," he says.

Darien City Councilman Joe Malbasa says when they can save electricity, it's significant for the taxpayers. "And that's what the  whole upgrade has been about is saving electricity and energy reduction and I think the solar panels are giving us that capability as well as the solar heat," he says.

The solar panels are also a fail safe.  Officials say if a natural disaster would shut off electricity to the plant, the plant could actually be operated from the solar panels.

Since the panels were installed in may, they've produced enough electricity to power a home for about five months. Julian smith, whose company installed the panels says another positive is that the city sells some power back to Georgia Power for more than it pays for it.  "So, they actually make a profit on every kilowatt produced," he says.

The complete remodel of the facility, including the installation of the solar panels, was paid for with a grant from the Obama Administration's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The upgrade cost close to one million, but most of that came in the form of stimulus money which the City of Darien doesn't have to pay back. Joint Manger for McIntosh County/Darien Brett Cook says "it really was desperately needed from an operational standpoint. We were under a consent order from the Environmental Protective Division to make some upgrades to the plant, so we were looking at tremendous expense if we were not able to participate in this program. So it was a lifesaver. It came through just at the right time for the city of Darien."