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Council approves Tangent solar contract amendment and easement with archaeological conditions
Summary
Lock Haven City Council approved an amendment to the solar third‑party agreement and granted an easement for underground electric connectivity to a new solar field, with conditions that archaeological findings from phase 1 and 2 studies be respected during work.
The Lock Haven City Council voted to accept Tangent's requested changes to the city's solar third‑party agreement (TPA) and to grant an easement needed to connect a planned solar field to the city's meter, after staff advised council to retain the project's original fixed electricity rate while adjusting the buyout terms.
City staff told council the original TPA fixed the price at $0.0555 per kilowatt‑hour for 25 years and included a buyout. “My recommendation to you is to go with the first option, which is to retain the 0.0555 per kilowatt hour and let them adjust the buyout option rather than adjust to an inflation escalator,” a city staff member said. Staff noted the city currently pays about $0.08764 per kilowatt‑hour under a municipal program, making the TPA's fixed rate significantly lower than current supply prices.
Council approved the amendment by roll call. The motion kept the fixed $0.0555/kWh rate and allowed Tangent to modify the buyout amount so that the city would retain the lower per‑kilowatt rate while avoiding an inflation escalator across the 25‑year term.
Separately, the council approved an easement to allow Tangent to run an underground electric line from the solar field to a city‑owned meter at a maintenance garage near the south hangars. City staff included phase 1 and phase 2 archaeological studies for the Business Park area with the council packet and recommended that any restrictions or mitigation measures identified in those studies be incorporated into the easement. Council adopted the easement with that requirement.
Why it matters: keeping a low fixed purchase rate can reduce long‑term electricity costs for city accounts tied to the project; requiring archaeological safeguards aims to prevent damage to potentially sensitive sites during construction.
Council recorded roll‑call votes approving both the TPA amendment and the easement. Questions from councilors focused on the route of the underground line, whether the archaeological surveys covered the full trench corridor and potential added costs if the cable route needed widening to avoid sensitive areas. Staff said the route could be adjusted to avoid interference with identified sites, at an incremental cost, and that the easement will require compliance with the archaeological recommendations.
Both measures passed on unanimous roll calls as shown in the meeting record; council also asked staff to ensure the easement documents explicitly incorporate the phase 1 and phase 2 study recommendations before recording the easement.
