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City energy manager details grant wins, solar and utility savings for Tampa
Summary
Tampa’s newly hired energy team reported grant awards, new solar arrays and utility-rate savings that together reduced the city’s energy costs; the presentation outlined past-year energy reductions, federal credits and an inventory of solar projects.
City sustainability and energy staff presented an update on utility costs, grant awards, solar projects and energy-efficiency work during the staff reports portion of the meeting.
Kayla Casselli, the city’s sustainability and resilience officer, introduced the presentation and said the work aligns with the city’s climate and equity plan and other strategic documents. She said hiring an energy manager was a priority to capture savings and manage a growing portfolio of city energy accounts.
Energy manager Carl Camas Rosado reviewed recent trends and projects. He said the city monitors roughly 1,800 utility accounts and about 600 structures; he reported a reduction of roughly 2 gigawatt-hours in electric use year-on-year that he estimated equated to about $1.4 million in direct utility savings. He described use of the meter/utility-tracking platform EnergyCap to identify unusual site consumption for targeted audits and repairs.
Camas Rosado summarized grant awards and federal tax credits the city is pursuing. He said the city was awarded an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) of about $413,280 to replace HVAC equipment at the George Bartholomew Community Center and had applied for or received other Department of Energy funding for resilience and solar projects. He also said the city had applied for and expects an Internal Revenue Service refund tied to federal clean-energy credits for solar and EV infrastructure (an amount in the presentation: about $438,000) and that the city sought other tax-credit refunds for solar and electric-vehicle investments.
The presentation listed active and planned solar installations, noting four active arrays (including Loretta Ingram and Fleet Maintenance sites) and two that will be installed for the new East Tampa recreation complex and Fire Station 24. The energy manager presented a sample project analysis for a fleet-maintenance rooftop system and described typical financial assumptions used to estimate simple payback: installed cost per watt, annual production, avoided utility cost per kilowatt-hour and operating life (many estimates used a conservative 25-year life for modeling).
Camas Rosado said the solar portfolio produced more than one hundred thousand kilowatt-hours in recent months and attributed roughly $176,000 in avoided utility costs to existing solar systems in the period shown. He also reported that the city’s EV purchases and charger installations saved fuel and operating costs for fleet operations and that federal credits available for EV infrastructure and purchases are being pursued.
Council members asked clarifying questions about grant timing and which projects are underway; staff said the George Bartholomew HVAC replacement equipment purchases are in process and the city will draw down grant funds as work proceeds.
Ending: Council thanked the energy team for the update; no action was required or taken. Staff said they would continue to monitor accounts, submit grant paperwork and report back as projects progress.
