News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Livingston Aldermen approved $3.8 million in funding for a green energy project to reduce energy usage.
Mayor Curtis Hayes said the project will reduce overall energy costs by roughly thirty-six percent and eliminate nearly $900,000 in capital costs over the next three to four years. Hayes said one of the key features of the project is a series of solar panels to be installed along the bank of the Cumberland River at Butler’s Landing.
“We budget a half a million dollars each year for the electricity bill that we have pumping water from the Cumberland River at Butler’s Landing nineteen miles to Livingston,” Hayes said. “This would reduce that by nearly forty percent a year, so I think the payoff is there.”
Hayes said the project will be paid for by two loans taken from the Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund. He said the project fully pays for itself through its energy savings and all costs associated provide a substantial positive impact to the city’s budget each year.
“The project will reinforce the city’s current operations through new but tested technology and tools for staff,” Hayes said.
Hayes said the funding is split into two loans because one portion of the project will be paid for by a federal direct payment totaling just over $1 million that the city will receive in the next two to three years.
“There’s two separate notes, but on that they are willing to go – wait until about three years before the first principal payment is due because I think we know that maybe the federal government might be just a little slow,” Hayes said.
Hayes said the project requires minimal implementation costs for the city as Performance Services will contract local partners and manage the process themselves. Hayes said they have been working with Performance Services on the logistics of the project for about a year up to this point.
“We’ve signed an agreement with Performance Services to try to make Livingston just a little bit more greener, just a little bit more energy efficient,” Hayes said.
