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Previously:

• Crescent City Harbor Still Waiting on $288,000 From Solar Panel Owners; Developer Alex Lemus Offers Workaround Connected to Redevelopment Project

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Though the system’s owners owe the Crescent City Harbor District $288,750, commissioners on Tuesday learned the photovoltaic solar panels saved the port $16,470.

This information led Commissioner Brian Stone to suggest the Harbor District explore the possibility of trying to purchase the system from ADE-Crescent City LLC. Stone proposed forming an ad-hoc committee to look into the issue.

“What is the system worth and do we want to consider buying out the system and taking the $111,000 a year in savings on electricity and finance it long term and own it outright and maintain it?” Stone asked his colleagues. “It might be more beneficial to us.”

Before the solar panels were installed, the Crescent City Harbor District would have paid $111,995 to Pacific Power, according to Harbormaster Tim Petrick. The total cost the district is expected to pay to the owners of the solar power system is $95,525, for a savings of $16,470 this year.

However, pointing out that ADE-Crescent City LLC still owes the harbor a service-level agreement payment of $288,750, Petrick said. As a result, the harbor hasn’t yet paid the $95,525 to the owners, he said.

“Until they give us a check for $288,000, we’re not paying a penny to them,” Petrick said. “We’re not paying them until they pay us what they owe us. They’re not performing on their end of the contract.”

According to Petrick, those savings will increase to about $50,000 a year.

Stone’s suggestion was initially met with skepticism from his colleagues. Harbor District secretary, Harry Adams, pointed out that if the harbor owns the solar panel system it’ll have to pay for the repairs.

Harbor District Board President Rick Shepherd was also concerned about the maintenance.

“We’ve only had it for about a year; sooner or later it’ll stop producing power because of the dirt and debris,” Shepherd said, adding that he thinks it would cost about $112,000 a year to maintain the system. “The cleaning (is) one of the reasons I wouldn’t want to take it over.”

According to a power purchase agreement between the Crescent City Harbor District and ADE-Crescent City, ADE-Crescent City would make a lump sum payment to the harbor of $288,750. This would be equal to $25,000 in lease payments over 25 years, according to Petrick.

The Crescent City Harbor District would pay 14.5 cents per kilowatt hour to ADE-Crescent City, according to the power purchase agreement.

However, because the harbor’s solar panels are ADE-Crescent City’s only asset, that limited liability company is having “cashflow issues,” according to Alex Lemus, CEO of Renewable Energy Capital. The harbor won’t pay ADE-Crescent City until ADE-Crescent City pays the harbor, Lemus said.

Lemus was one of the parties in a 2017 power purchase agreement with the Harbor District to install a 1 megawatt system in Crescent City as a way to save about $35,000 annually on its electricity bill.

On Jan. 4, Lemus, who is spearheading a redevelopment project at the harbor, offered a way for the Harbor District to be compensated the $288,750 it wasn’t getting from ADE-Crescent City. According to Lemus, the first phase of the redevelopment project is estimated to be $10 million. He offered to add the $288,750 to the project’s development budget.

On Tuesday, Commissioner Gerhard Weber, who was appointed about a year ago, asked who would maintain the solar panels if ADE-Crescent City goes out of business. He asked why the question of maintaining the system hadn’t come up before.

Stone asked Petrick to speak with Lemus and ask about who is responsible for cleaning the solar panels and how often.

“I think in the contract we were talking about every 30 days that somebody’s getting up there and cleaning them,” he said. “I would like to know who’s cleaning it and who’s paying for the cleaning and when is that being done.”

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