• Should The City of Tallahassee Assign a Cost With “Going Green” Initiatives?
• Do You Think “Going Green” Initiatives Should Be Promoted By Government and Implemented By Individuals or Implemented by Government?
• Should the Cost of “Going Green” Initiatives Determine Which Initiatives Should Be Implemented?

In late-2000 the City of Tallahassee installed Solar Panels at the Trousdell Aquatic Center. The City of Tallahassee claims the following on their TalGov website:

The 10 Kilowatt Photovoltaic (PV) solar electric generation system located at the Trousdell Gymnastic and Aquatic Center on John Knox Road, provides up to 14,000 kWh of electric power a year, enough to run the average 1500 sq. ft. home in Tallahassee. The PV System is “grid connected”, providing power for general distribution to the rest of Tallahassee when not being used at the Aquatic Center.

Tallahassee Reports has found through a Public Record request that over a 6 1/2 year period the system generated 60, 283 kwh of power. This is a yearly average of 9,518 kwh. This is 32% less than the 14,000 kWh claim posted on the City’s website.

The system has been down since June 2007 due to a bad inverter. New parts were ordered and the city was billed $48,600 on Spetember 11, 2008.

To date, the tax dollars invested in the purchase and operation of the system totals approximately $203,427. Over the period of operation the cost per 1000 kwh is approximately $3370. If the system were to run for an additional 7 years with no additional costs, the cost per 1000 kwh would drop to approximately $1600. The current cost for the City of Tallahassee Electric Utility to generate 1000 kwh is $150.