Veregy plans DC Judicial Center geo-thermal scope report for April
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Veregy, the energy performance contract company planning the geo-thermal and solar project to heat and cool the Dunn County Judicial Center, plans to have a scope verification report ready toward the end of April.
The scope verification report will verify for the county the information gathered from site visits and will present options before a proposed plan of action, said Jason Stini of Veregy at a meeting of the Dunn County Facilities Committee on February 26.
Installing geo-thermal and solar for the judicial center is an estimated $11 million project.
Veregy is an energy performance contract company that will guarantee a certain amount of savings on energy. The amount of money saved on energy will pay for the project without adding to the county’s deb service levy.
If Dunn County were to end up not saving as much money on energy to heat and cool the judicial center as was included in the contract, then Veregy would pay the difference to Dunn County.
A few years back, school districts in Wisconsin were offered no-interest or low-interest loans for energy efficiency projects designed by energy performance contract companies.
The Colfax school district was one of the districts that took advantage of the program and recently paid off the energy efficiency projects using the money saved on heating and lighting the school buildings.
Taxpayers in the school district will continue to benefit from the savings generated by the energy efficiency projects.
$3 million
Larry Bjork, county board supervisor from the Town of Spring Brook and a member of the facilities committee, asked when it would be known if the $3 million federal subsidy for an energy project would still be available.
The $3 million is part of the federal Inflation Reduction Act grant program, Sini said.
There has been no change in the law, and once the county has financial security in the program, the county is protected from the grant money going away, he said.
President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in 2022. Part of the law’s intent is to invest in domestic energy production and manufacturing and to reduce carbon emissions.
Before the county is financially obligated to the project, the county will know if the grant is available from the Inflation Reduction Act and whether the money will be part of the project funding, Stini said.
There also are “safe harbor” laws that make sure an entity, like the county, will not suffer financial ramifications by a change in a grant program, he said.
After Dunn County has financial exposure and is under contract and has been billed for at least part of the work, the county would be protected under the safe harbor law, Stini said.
Is it possible there could be a change in the Inflation Reduction Act law before the project reaches that point? he asked.
Yes — it could be possible that the United States Congress would change the law and a new bill would be signed into law, but then Veregy would not continue to invest time in the project, Stini said.
Stini said it was his understanding that there is bi-partisan support to maintain the program as it would apply to Dunn County.
Enough space?
Bjork said he also had been contacted by a person who was concerned there would not be enough space on the Dunn County Judicial Center property for a geo-thermal and project to heat and cool the judicial center building.
Will Dunn County have any assurance that Veregy cannot or would not do the project because it “won’t fit?” Bjork asked.
Dunn County owns nearly 120 acres just north of the judicial center.
By the time of the April meeting, Veregy will be within 95 percent certainty that there will be the space needed for the project, said Rory Stegeman of Veregy.
Veregy is working on simulations using Google Earth and will take measurements to verify, he said.
Scale drawings will be available for the committee to review at the April meeting, Stegeman said.
If Veregy says the project can be done for a certain number of dollars, can the company do the project and not run into a snag? Bjork asked.
Veregy is currently in the phase now of coming up with the plan so that county officials will know what can be done, said Dan Dunbar, assistant county manager.
If Dunn County signs the contract, and Veregy is unable to do the project, then Veregy will pay Dunn County $11 million, he said.
When Veregy gives a scope of work, then a price also is put on the project, Stegeman said.
Unless there was some unforeseen circumstance — such as buried, hidden toxic waste or an Indian burial ground — or something else of an unanticipated bizarre nature — that will be the cost, he said.
The company will not come back and say more money is needed — “That is not how we do business,” Stegeman said.
Veregy has a “no change-order” policy. Unless the county specifies a change in the scope of the work, there will be no change orders, Stini said.
Timeline
Stini said the scope verification will be completed by April 14, and the report will be presented to the committee with a final contract for review at the April facilities committee meeting.
The contract will come before the full Dunn County Board for review at the May 21 meeting, Stini said.
Stini said he had a meeting set up with engineers on the day following the facilities committee meeting to discuss locations for the solar field so the report to Dunn County would contain the most feasible location for the solar field.
Work will then continue by developing bid documents and drawings and putting pricing together, Stegeman said.
When the package has been developed, there will be a final review by the county to make sure that the project is what Dunn County wants, he said.
The package will include a written scope, documents, and an itemization of the project and the costs, Stegeman said.
Energy analysis
Ann Vogl, county board supervisor from Menomonie and chair of the facilities committee, asked about an analysis of energy usage for the project pricing.
Data will be available before the final contract, and the contract must explain how the information was developed, Stegeman said.
“The usage must be in there,” he said.
There will be a life-cycle cost analysis that will compare the existing system with the new system, Stegeman said.
Current energy consumption will be compared to the new system for the cost and for the annual savings that will reflect the contract cost, he said.
At the time of the contract, there will be a 100 percent guarantee of the energy savings, Stegeman said.
There also will be a comparison of a traditional replacement cost versus the geothermal and solar cost over 10 years, 20 years or 30 years, he said.
That information will be part of the bid documents submitted to the facilities committee for review, Dunbar said.
Bjork noted that the furnace at his farm recently had stopped working and it had taken three weeks to get the part needed.
Will the cost savings be compared to a 20-year-old system that currently exists in the judicial center or will the cost savings be compared to a new system? he asked.
Previous estimates indicated that replacing the existing boiler system in the judicial center would cost about $6 million.
The judicial center was built in 1998, so the current heating and cooling system is 27 years old and is at the end-of-life. The current heating and cooling system also is considered to not be energy efficient.
The cost will be compared to a current retrofit of a similar system to what is in the judicial center now and a geo-thermal system, Stini said.
The comparison will be between a like-to-like replacement versus the geo-thermal system, he said.
