Ringgold OKS change order, time extension for solar project
The city of Ringgold has encountered a minor hiccup with its first solar-powered project, resulting in a $4,000 uptick in cost.
In July, the City Council approved a bid for nearly $46,000 to install solar panels to its shop area off Sparks Street.
During the Sept. 24 council meeting, City Manager Dan Wright explained that an electrical issue recently arose with some of the panel placements.
“When we had the opportunity to submit for the solar project at the shop, we had to respond very quickly in order to apply for the grant, and then when we had to put forth a bid, we had to work very quickly in order to make the time constraints,” Wright said. “After the project got started, Hannah Solar, who is doing a good job from all that we can tell so far, they started installing their panel holders on the rooftop of the shop on the southern most end of our shop property on Sparks Street.”
“When their electrician came, however, he realized that the location of the panel that he needed to go into was some 350 feet away.”
Wright said there will need to be some additional work done to accommodate the electrical needs.
“All of that has to be trenched and there’s a good portion of it that’s concrete,” Wright said. “The total change order is $4,000, and $2,000 will come from the grant. We were at $46,000, and we have up to $50,000 with the grant with 50-percent of it being reimbursed.”
The 50-percent grant is through the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority.
Wright says the initial quote for the work was significantly higher, but that savings will be had with city crews doing some of the work in-house.
“We have a big walk-behind concrete saw that city crews can use to do some of the work, which knocked the potential $7,000 change order down to $4,000,” Wright said. “Our guys are constantly doing that with road cutting and those type things, so we’ll sort of do a little bit of that for them, but then they’ll do all the electrical portion of it.”
During the previous City Council meeting on Sept. 10, the board was given an extension on the project. “The original agreement would’ve required us to have everything in place by the end of September, and GEFA contacted the city an offered a no-cost extension to the end of November, Nov. 30,” Wright said.