By MATT MILNER Courier staff writer
July 11, 2008 11:59 pm
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FAIRFIELD — City officials in Fairfield hope to have the pieces in place by late this year to begin two major studies that could determine the community’s energy future.
The city received backing from the Iowa Power Fund earlier this week. The fund, a centerpiece of Gov. Chet Culver’s 2006 campaign, provides funding for research and development of alternative energy and has a goal of increasing education and demand for renewable energy.
Fairfield Mayor Ed Malloy said this application addresses blanket needs. The first study will tell the city where it stands with current energy use and greenhouse gas production. The second is designed to find ways to actually use renewable energy resources.
“This is a strategic planning process that has some feasibility studies,” Malloy said. “We don’t know what these studies will tell us.”
In essence, the city is asking a broad question in search of specific answers. Implementation of those answers is a long-term issue. While the studies should yield some information about how to proceed, the application does not seek money for moving ahead with those steps.
Malloy said the process actually began about six months before the first application went to the state. Informal contacts with businesses and people in the community showed support for the idea of studying expansion of renewable energy.
The application that appears headed for approval isn’t the same as that first application. The city initially planned construction of a sustainable learning center as part of the overall plan. But the Iowa Power Fund doesn’t put money toward “brick and mortar” facilities, something reflected in the board’s comments about many of the proposals it rejected.
What is in the plan is funding for a full-time coordinator to help keep the studies on track and implement their findings. The city is also leaving the door open to return to the IPF for assistance with implementation, and the results of the study could open funding doors elsewhere as well.
So where does this leave Fairfield’s current energy supplier? The city considered breaking with Alliant Energy and forming a municipal utility. That plan has largely been abandoned and will not impact the application.
“I think that that issue is pretty much dead at this point,” Malloy said.
The city has signed a new, 25-year contract with Alliant. The contract does include windows every five years for changes or opt-outs, but Malloy doesn’t see a breach with Alliant as a likely scenario.
In fact, cooperation with the company on renewable energy is much more likely. Malloy thinks Alliant is planning to add more renewable energy into its power grid.
That’s something the city would like to see happen, and the analysis of how to utilize renewable energy could position the city to take advantage of new projects if Alliant decides to move in that direction.
And any information the studies develop on conservation could apply well beyond Fairfield. If clients conserve energy, it lessens the strain on the grid overall.
“There’s a lot of savings that can come through conservation,” Malloy said. “There’s a lot that we can do outside the municipal utility arena.”
The next step for the city is a negotiating committee with the Iowa Power Fund. He compared the current stage to the final work for the city’s CAT (Community Attraction and Tourism) grant. The negotiations are aimed at hammering out specific details on what money goes where. The city is seeking $97,000.
Malloy said the city hopes to be able to have the pieces in place this year and “hit the ground running” in 2009.
Matt Milner can be reached at (641) 683-5359 or via e-mail at mwmilner@mchsi.com
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