Solar panels planned for convention center

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - The city of Knoxville plans to use $250,000 from its federal stimulus money to install large-scale solar photovoltaic panels on the roof of the Knoxville Convention Center, city officials said.

The $250,000 comes from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant through the U.S. Department of Energy, and the city issued a request for qualifications to find a company interested in doing the job and financing the $750,000 needed to complete the $1 million project. The award in such a request is based on qualifications rather than the lowest bidder.

Responses from prospective contractors are due March 5, and the city expects to choose a contractor March 19. The solar installation should be completed and generating electricity by 2012, Susanna Bass, the city's sustainability program manager, said in a press release.

But the project still needs City Council to give it a green light, and Bass expects to seek that approval in early summer.

The convention center project would feature more than 500 solar panels and should generate enough electricity to power about 15 average American households for a year.

"These grant funds provide an opportunity for the city to host this project, providing both a location and seed funds for a financing plan," Bass said.

The convention center project and six others are being funded by the $2 million in DOE stimulus money, including:

• $700,000 to help start the city's planned curbside recycling program, a project that still needs council approval;

• $261,182 in salary and benefits for three years for a program manager to oversee the grant programs and all the city's energy and sustainability efforts;

• $300,000 for a Green Building Incentive Program to encourage contractors to build or renovate using energy efficient methods or use solar power.