Neenah, Wis., wants to install a 50 kilowatt renewable energy project at its Tullar Road garage. The city has budgeted $250,000 for either a wind or solar-powered project that it plans to start building in 2011.

The building, according to April Mielke, Neenah’s deputy director of community development and assessment, is a municipal facility where the city repairs vehicles. She explained the city first looked to wind as the most likely potential source—since it has higher visibility, but has since broadened the project to allow for either solar or wind.

“We will be doing the request for proposals for either,” she said.

Such an installation would provide about 25 percent of the garage’s electricity needs, Mielke said.

“Right now at the garage site, usage is about 200,000 kilowatt hours a year,” she said.

A 50 kilowatt system would produce about 50,000 kilowatt hours annually. That would amount to about $5,000 of the facility’s $20,000 annual electric bill. The system would pay for itself at current electric rates in about 20 years—in terms of electric cost savings.

The city did assessments looking into the viability of both forms of renewable energy.

“We’ve completed a solar assessment and a wind assessment,” Mielke said. “And it could really go either way. Both site assessments were favorable.”

Mielke said such an installation will allow Neenah to remain on the forefront of renewable energy in Wisconsin.

“We’ve seen some municipalities that have started to do some things—but not many, and we’re still on the cutting edge on this,” said Mielke. She added that the project has strong support from the community and the Sustainable Neenah Committee.

The committee wants the city to build the installation to help educate residents and show them that renewable energy is a possibility in the area, according to Mielke.

“It’s one thing for us to try to educate them and another thing to do something and show them that this does make sense,” she said.

The city plans to fund the installation by borrowing $100,000 and using $150,000 of its cash reserves. Supporters of the project anticipate that the city will receive $150,000 in incentives to refill the city’s cash reserves, the Appelton Post-Crescent reported.

The city will issue the request for proposals toward the end of January, Mielke said.

“We need a few weeks here to get everything put together and prepped,” she said.

The city will award the winning project after that.

Image courtesy of the Sustainable Neenah Committee.