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Though about $700,000 in solar panels are currently at the Crescent City Harbor, the firm tasked with getting them up and running continues to experience delays.

It’s been more than two months after Costa Mesa-based American Diversified Energy missed a deadline set by harbor commissioners to complete the installation. On Tuesday, Deputy Harbormaster Lane Tavasci said the firm’s representatives are waiting to get a “few questions” answered from their lender.

However, ADE submitted a partial payment to the subcontractor providing the steel for the carports that make up a portion of the project, Tavasci said. Though things are moving at a snail’s pace, Tavasci and Crescent City Harbormaster Charlie Helms said they took that as a sign that American Diversified Energy is still invested in the project despite the delays.

“Just the fact that they made a payment and made the guy happy and the guy didn’t lose his business is a good step toward us getting our stuff,” Tavasci said. “I expect to hear something in the next few days, hopefully by Monday at the latest.”

Tavasci noted that ADE’s power purchase agreement with the Crescent City Harbor District ends Dec. 31.

This news comes after American Diversified Energy had to cut the size of the project in half after a structural test determined the roofs on the Pacific Seafood and Albers Seafood buildings weren’t sound enough to bear the full project’s weight.

Instead of generating 1.3 megawatts of electricity, the rooftop solar panels will be a 791 kilowatt system, Tavasci told commissioners at the harbor district's Aug. 6 meeting.

At that meeting, harbor commissioners asked deputy general counsel Autumn Luna to look at their contract with ADE.

On Tuesday, Commissioners didn’t take kindly to Tavasci’s news with Wes White asking again to have the harbor’s legal counsel draft a binding legal contract.

Wes White’s colleague Carol White asked Helms if the harbor district can establish a structured performance timeline with American Diversified Energy.

“Nothing’s getting done,” Carol White said. “It’s really a black mark on the harbor now.”

The Crescent City Harbor District entered into a power purchase agreement with Florida-based Renewable Energy Capital for installing the solar panel system in 2017. In February 2018, commissioners met with American Diversified Energy, which would finance, build and maintain the project.

In November 2018, harbor commissioners rejected an ADE request to establish a Dec. 31, 2019 deadline to complete the project. Instead, commissioners gave the firm a July 15 deadline to finish all phases of the installation.

Helms said Tuesday most American Diversified Energy representatives that have been working with the harbor district are no longer with the company. He noted that about $700,000 in solar panels are at the harbor and suggested that the port could use those as leverage for ADE finishing the project by the original Dec. 31 deadline.

Tavasci said though it’s costing the harbor district time, ADE can walk away from the project and “we wouldn’t be worse than we are now financially.”

Carol White disagreed, noting that harbor employees are paid for their time and energy and the time lost could have been applied to something else.

“We are losing, the community’s losing,” she said. “Everybody’s losing. We were anticipating getting revenue back at this point, which we’re not getting back. It is a loss.”

In other matters, harbor commissioners voted unanimously on a $65,565 proposal from Ted Long, of Fashion Blacksmith, to demolish the Christie R. The dilapidated vessel, which contains concrete and polyurethane foam, had been sitting at Long’s facility for several years.

Polyurethane foam is highly flammable and gives off cyanide gas, which, Long said, is kryptonite in a shipyard.

Long said his staff would spray the ship with gel foam spray designed to put out fires on aircraft carriers to prevent a fire from occurring during the Christie R.’s demolition.

“I have a crew who is an awesome crew,” Long said, adding that his employees are eager to demolish the old vessel. “Year after year they go around cussing it and lamenting it and now they get to go in and tear it up.”

The only other proposal for the Christie R. demolition came from Global Diving and Salvage Inc. for about $75,000. According to Helms, Global Diving and Salvage helped with the port's recovery from the 2011 tsunami.

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