Summary
The City of Selah, a small community in central Washington, had been frustrated for over a year trying to use traditional contracting to replace a single failed blower at their wastewater treatment plant. After learning about the benefits of Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) and that it fulfilled all of their public procurement requirements, the City engaged Ameresco to develop an ESPC solution for their blower. The City also had Ameresco audit all City facilities to uncover any additional energy savings opportunities. Ameresco was able to develop a comprehensive infrastructure project that would provide critical upgrades for multiple systems at the wastewater treatment plant, interior and exterior lighting upgrades at numerous City facilities, and a citywide LED street lighting retrofit.
“Ameresco did a really good job of identifying a variety of valuable upgrades and then bundling them into one turnkey project. To deliver all of that, find us the funding, guarantee the project, and generate positive cash flow sounded almost too good to be true for our City Council, but that’s exactly what they did.”
– Joe Henne, Director of Public Works, City of Selah
338 tons
Annual CO2 Equivalent Reduction
57,330 sq. ft
Citywide Street Lighting
(4 Buildings)
$71,623
Annual Energy Savings
$1,440,000
Energy Project Size
Customer Benefits
This citywide project was completed on time and under budget, even while adding additional scope items,and generating significantly more utility incentive funding than originally anticipated.
- Won a competitive grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce for $407,050
- Awarded over $132,000 in utility incentives
- Secured low-interest financing through the State Treasurer
Solution
Nearly $1.44 million in energy efficiency upgrades are complete, saving the City enough money to service the financing and generate positive cash flow from operational savings. All facilities had minimal disruptions and were able to run without impedance during construction.
- At the wastewater treatment facility, upgrades were made to lift pumps and motors, lagoon mixers, an aeration blower, and discharge pressure gauges
- Interior and exterior lighting was upgraded to LED at City Hall, Public Works, and Fire Department facilities
- Citywide, 179 street lights were converted to LED
