“The last couple months have been invaluable in helping us reach a contract that’s favorable for all parties,” said Dave Koster, general manager at HBPW. “We have great confidence in the Barton Malow team, and we’re eager to see the Holland Energy Park take shape.”

While the approved bid was for nearly $145 million, HBPW anticipates that adjustments during the open book period of the contract will land the final price below their original budget of $140 million. However, the board still recommended approval of $145 million for contingency purposes.

With construction set to begin next month, the contract schedule calls for generation and testing in late 2016, and substantial completion by February, 2017. More detailed construction milestones are available at p21decision.com/the-new-power-plant/construction-timeline/.

The Holland Board of Public Works (HBPW) is a community-owned enterprise providing electric generation and distribution, water, wastewater treatment and broadband utility services to nearly 28,000 business and residential customers in the Holland area. HBPW is committed to enhancing the economic and environmental vitality of the community, providing reliable services at the lowest rates achievable through innovation and efficiency.

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Annette Manwell | From the Holland Sentinel | Read the Full Article

Holland — HDR, the firm that recommended that the city of Holland choose combined cycle natural gas for its electrical generation, also could become the engineer for the project.

The Holland City Council will decide Wednesday whether to affirm Monday’s decision by the Holland Board of Public Works Board of Directors to hire the firm at an estimated cost of $2.5 million. The decision was made in December to build a new power plant at a location other than the site of the James DeYoung power plant.

HDR could, if approved by the city council, provide engineering services to the BPW for the design of the new power plant. Services will be billed on a time and materials basis, General Manager Dave Koster said. Although $2.5 million is the estimate, that amount could end up being different. He expected the services provided by HDR will amount to about 1 to 2 percent of the total project cost.

Koster and Business Services Director Dan Nally said much of the overall cost for HDR’s services also would be decided on how much work the firm does to assist with the expansion of the city’s snowmelt system and the district heating component of the Holland Community Energy Plan.

The BPW put out a request for qualifications — a report that helped BPW determine which firm was most qualified to accomplish the job — to seven firms but received only three back. While HDR’s costs were estimated at more than another qualifying company, that company is based in New Jersey and travel expenses were not included. HDR’s Ann Arbor office would be handling the BPW’s engineering needs.

HDR will have team leaders to oversee mechanical, instrumentation, electrical, permitting, architectural and civil and structural aspects of the new plant, said HDR Project Manager Ron Utter.

A timeline for the power plant has not been given because the site has not been chosen, Nally said. The BPW did enter into a closed session meeting Monday to discuss property acquisition. It was not stated if it was concerning the location of the power plant, and no action was taken. The location of the plant also would need city council approval. Once the location is finalized, the necessary equipment will be decided and the air permitting process will begin, Nally said.

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We hired HDR, a global independent consulting firm, to help us conduct an exhaustive sustainable return on investment study (SROI). It looked at affordability and reliability, but also at the social, economic, environmental and health impacts of a variety of options.

We looked at a lot of options—everything from state-of-the-art solid fuel generation to purchasing primarily from the grid.

Today, we’re pleased to share the results of that study with you.

In the PDF below, you’ll find last night’s presentation with synopses of each scenario HDR evaluated. Scenarios A to D are options specific to the Community Energy Plan. Scenarios E & F are options that involve no new local generation–just purchasing power from the grid. Scenario G is a more ambitious look at the Scenario A approach with a larger combined cycle unit.

Starting today, August 9, we are opening up a period for public commenting to hear your voice as we continue the decision making process. You can submit your comments here on the website.

 SROI Results with Synopses

Update — October 15, 2012

The above results tables includes synopses from HDR’s presentation. Please download the document below to view HDR’s SROI Analysis Final Report.

 HDR SROI Analysis Final Report

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 Download the Questions & Answers Session Presentation

Black & Veatch Study

Last night’s Q&A session referenced a Black & Veatch study on power supply alternatives that the Holland BPW released in the Spring of 2010. Please find a copy of that study here.

 Download the Black & Veatch Study

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We are using the SROI process to help the City of Holland evaluate baseload electric generation options while considering social, economic, and environmental impacts.

After two RAP sessions where panelists gave input to and helped define the process, multiple education/information sessions, evaluation of resources identified in the Community Energy Plan (CEP), and many months of detailed and time intensive work by the HBPW staff and its consultants, we would like to invite you to the first public presentation of the P21: Sustainable Return on Investment (SROI) results.

This meeting will be held on August 8 from 6:00pm – 9:00pm at Haworth Inn & Conference Center with the full City Council, BPW Board and RAP Panelists, and is open for community members to observe.

The post The Holland Board of Public Works invites you to the Power for the 21st Century (P21): Sustainable Return on Investment (SROI) Results Presentation appeared first on Holland's Energy Future | P21 Decision.

We expect to host the community meetings this October. The community meeting will be the capstone of the process, and from there the HBPW Board and Holland City Council will go on to make an informed decision.

We appreciate the community’s patience and diligence in pursuing the most responsible option for powering Holland in the future. Thank you for all of your letters. emails and comments.

The post Update: SROI Results to be Shared This August appeared first on Holland's Energy Future | P21 Decision.

Report Posted September 30, 2011–Holland Board of Public Works is facing a decision regarding its need for new electricity generation. It is asking for the community’s input on which single source of generation, or group of generation options, are best for Holland. As part of the P21 – Power for the 21st Century (www.p21decision.com) program, Holland BPW invited community groups and stakeholders to participate in a Risk Analysis Process, or RAP session, yesterday.

Baseload generation options that use innovative technologies like fluidized-bed combustion and combined cycle gas turbines as well as biomass, solar, and wind turbines were described by a power engineer with HDR, an engineering architecture and consulting firm. The options’ impacts on the Holland community were talked about during the RAP session.

An economist with HDR kicked the session off by outlining the Sustainable Return on Investment (SROI) methodology that will be used as an input to the decision on new generation. SROI is a risk-based cost benefit analysis process that opens up and makes transparent the models and data used for decision making. SROI aims to reveal the value of the projects under consideration by combining, for example, capital costs with environmental emissions cost into a sustainable rate of return.

SROI was developed by HDR and is HDR’s commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative. HDR explained how it has been used in other infrastructure decisions across the country. SROI is being used by municipalities such as Denver (wastewater), Miami (solid waste); Honolulu (H-Power waste to energy) and also currently being used in nearby Chicago to study the benefits and costs of separating the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River system to stop the spread of invasive species such as Asian Carp.

The SROI process allows stakeholders to make changes to the initial structure and logic of the model that will be built for the analysis. Panelists were invited to add, change, or remove costs and benefit categories. This was the focus of yesterday’s RAP session with sixteen panelists providing technical and local expertise to help HDR and Holland BPW frame the generation decision. Representatives were present from City Council, the BPW Board of Directors, the Sustainability Committee, the Chamber of Commerce, Haworth, Herman Miller, Riverview Development, West Michigan Environmental Action Council, Holland Historic District, the Sierra Club, Hope College, Holland Public Schools, and Holland BPW.

Approximately ten observers were also present at the RAP session that ran for most of the day. Panelists and observers had a chance over lunch and breaks to discuss the decision making process. A wide range of costs and benefits were discussed over the day. Potential costs such as emissions and the benefits of possible district heating options, the cost of dredging Lake Macatawa, and extensions to the snowmelt system were some of the many items reviewed.

A second RAP session is scheduled for November 3, 2011, at which HDR will work with the panel to put values to these costs and benefits. Risk ranges will be used to address the fact that these values are either not known with certainty or may be subject to differences of opinion.

Other P21 community information sessions have been scheduled on: Conservation; Fuels; Regulatory Matters; Generation technologies and options; Transmission; and District Heating.

HDR will report back to Holland BPW in the New Year at which time the SROI results will be presented to the community, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, January 12, 2012.

The session workbook from this RAP session is available here.

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