Winnebago County Chinese Solar Panels

Winnebago County ponders how to pay for solar panels
By Mike Wiser
RRSTAR.COM
Feb 20, 2009 @ 07:08 AM


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A committee of Winnebago County Board members committed the county to buying $200,000 worth of solar panels from a Chinese manufacturer to help convince the company to set up an operation here.The Wanxiang America Corp. has been working with the city, county and the airport authority to come to a deal that has the potential of bringing 60 manufacturing jobs immediately and more than 200 in the future to the area.Although they ultimately approved the deal unanimously, board members had about an hour’s worth of questions for Rob Lamb, industrial development manager for the city of Rockford, who was taking questions about the proposal. Lamb said the county’s portion of the deal was pretty straightforward, in that the county would be committing to buy $200,000 worth of solar panels manufactured at Wanxiang’s eventual Winnebago County operation site over the next two years.The cost of the panels does not include installation of them on county buildings, which Lamb estimated would be $200,000 more. But he said the county also had the option to have the company set up the panels at a proposed solar farm near the Chicago Rockford International Airport where the county would then get into the power-selling business.“I think this is the right thing for this county and this economy,” said board member Frank Gambino. “But I have to ask, how are we going to pay $200,000 when we’re already in the red?”Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen, who sat in on the meeting and indicated his support for the deal, said staff was still figuring out where the money could come from.He said it’s possible some of it could be paid for from grant money available through the federal stimulus package recently signed by President Barack Obama. “So we’re pretty sure that this can be paid for by the stimulus?” asked board member John Eckberg.“Whoa, whoa. Way too heavy with the language there,” Christiansen said. “It’s a possibility. That’s all.”Christiansen said the Winnebago County Justice Center and the MetroCentre could lend themselves quite readily for solar-panel installation, but that, and other proposals, would have to be studied in greater detail. “We really have a small part of this,” said board member Rick Pollack as he leafed through the pages of the agreement.“Looking at this, if I was a City Council member, I would have been sweating bullets.”Earlier this week, the Rockford City Council approved a deal with the company that gave Wanxiang 10 acres of land, more than $1 million in tax incentives and committed the city to buy at least $200,000 worth of solar panels for itself among other incentives.The deal is scheduled to go to the full County Board next week.Staff writer Mike Wiser can be reached at mwiser@rrstar.com or 815-987-1410.

From: http://www.businessrockford.com

Link to: http://www.usaalternativeenergynow.blogspot.com/