Carson City plans to help power city government buildings with solar energy for the first time under a plan by the public works department.
The department wants to install solar panels on about 10 city government buildings by the end of the year, Public Works Director Andy Burnham told the city board of supervisors Thursday.
Buildings that will likely get the solar panels include city hall, juvenile hall, the city senior center, two fire stations, the sheriff's administrative building and the wastewater treatment plant.
"It's a mothers and apple pie kind of project," Burnham said in an interview.
The city plans to start the project with about $540,000 from the federal stimulus bill. Supervisors approved a public works plan to apply for the money allocated to the city by the stimulus bill for energy efficiency projects.
Burnham said the city would buy $9 million in zero-percent interest bonds from the U.S. Department of Energy to finish the project. The city would pay back the bonds over nine to 12 years with the money saved on energy, he said.
The solar panels will provide 10 to 20 percent of the energy used by the buildings, he said.
Supervisor Robin Williamson said the project "will prove to be a very wise investment."
Energy rates have tripled in the last 30 years, she said, and the city needs to save where it can.
The city probably won't be able to install solar panels as it had wanted to on the community center, city pool, library and the courthouse and jail, Burnham said.
Solar panels are usually installed on roofs and those buildings all need roof repairs the city can't afford right now, he said.
"We're looking at them but we're thinking they'll be eliminated unfortunately," he said.
The city might also try to use hydropower in the future, said Planning Director Lee Plemel. The city would try to use water flowing down mountains on the west side of the city, he said.
In its application for the federal stimulus money, the city says it wants to pursue and energy plan that will lower its energy use, encourage new alternative energy, improve energy efficiently and help create jobs.