Following discussion with city staff members and public hearings, members of the Logan Municipal Council approved two resolution designed to boost the city’s energy portfolio at their regular meeting on Sept. 19.
LOGAN – After extensive discussions, the Logan Municipal Council voted to invest big money into the city’s future electrical power resources.
During their regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 19, the council’s members approved Resolution 23-39 which, among other budget adjustments, committed $21 million to add a natural gas power plant to the city’s already existing power generation capabilities.
The council members also approved Resolution 23-38, under which the city will purchase 5.7 magawatts of solar power from the Steel 1B Solar farm in Box Elder County at a cost of $34.88 per megawatt hour.
Funding for the natural gas plant will come from Logan’s financial reserves, according to Richard Anderson, the city’s finance director.
Under questioning from council members, Anderson admitted that the outlay for the gas power plant will drop city fund reserves to about $9 million.
“We like to keep that fund at about $15 to $16 million …,” he added. “We’ll drop below those target levels, but we have plans in place to replenish those funds.”
“This is what reserve funds are for,” agreed Ernesto Lopéz, the chair of the municipal council
Council member Jeanne Simmonds also complemented Anderson on his careful management city funds.
In the public hearing that followed, self-appointed city watchdog Josh M. Molitor observed that the city could easily offset some of the cost of the gas power plant if Logan were not involved in so many of what he alleged to be “redevelopment scams.”
Molitor was eliminated as a candidate for a seat on the city council in primary balloting on Sept. 5.
The proposed 10-megawatt natural gas plant will be constructed near an already existing power sub-station near 1800 South and 1000 West, according to Mark Montgomery, the director of Logan Light & Power.
Ultimately, the construction of the gas power plant was approved by a unanimous vote of the council members, along with an additional $80,551 in budget adjustments for more routine purposes contained in Resolution 23-39.
“The nice thing is that this plan really meshes well with our existing portfolio,” Mayor Holly Daines emphasized during discussion of the gas powered plant on Sept. 5.
With the council’s approval of Resolution 23-38, that power portfolio will be expanding to include additional solar power from the Steel 1B Solar farm in Box Elder County toward the end of 2023.
That facility, operated Enyo Renewable Energy, is located in Plymouth, near the Nucor Steel plant.
Enyo had already built three wind farms in the Beehive State, before expanding into solar facilities in Box Elder County in 2020.
On Sept. 5, Daines said that city power managers believe that new, cleaner technology will likely come on line in the next decade, including nuclear power and improvements in battery storage capacity to increase the reliability of solar power.
In the meantime, the city’s Light & Power department can supply about 15 percent of Logan’s needs through the operation of already existing hydro, natural gas and solar generation facilities.
The remainder of the city power needs must be purchased on the open market.