Council hears third-party rooftop solar option for Young Family Athletic Center and line maintenance facility

Tony, a representative of 8 20, told the council at the March 4 study session that his firm and its Brightwell financing partners can design rooftop solar systems for two city buildings and deliver energy under service agreements that require no upfront capital from the city.

The presentation focused on the Young Family Athletic Center (YFAC) and the Line Maintenance facility. Tony said the YFAC system was sized to maximize on-site consumption under OG&E tariff rules and avoid exporting energy that would primarily benefit the utility. He discussed two financing approaches: a 30-year third-party service agreement in which an investor owns, insures and maintains the panels and guarantees production, and a 15-year purchase option in which the city would assume ownership earlier and take on insurance and maintenance costs. "These panels are gonna generate amount of power that's gonna be guaranteed to the city," Tony said.

Why it matters: staff and the presenter framed the Brightwell service agreement as a way for the city to save on energy without deploying capital. Tony provided concrete numbers for the YFAC scenario: he said the city currently pays about $230,000 on the YFAC meters and that the proposed solar would reduce the cost by roughly $70,000 (to an estimated $159,000 under the model). He also noted a buyout option typically included after year seven if the city later chooses to purchase the system.

Technical and procurement details: presenters identified Silfab as the proposed panel manufacturer and highlighted 30-year performance warranties, with expected production at about 85% of first-year output by the end of the warranty. The presenters described a ballast (sled) rooftop installation that preserves roof warranties by minimizing penetrations and noted an in-house structural engineer and a required structural-engineer stamp and permitting review before any installation is approved. On net-metering, staff said OG&E's threshold (around 360 kW) meant a larger YFAC system sized near 592 kW would not receive full net-metering; consequently, the YFAC design was intentionally sized to absorb daytime loads rather than export. The Line Maintenance project, by contrast, was described as smaller (about 88 kW) and likely to qualify for net metering.

Council questions and next steps: councilmembers asked about missing roof bays in the layout, PACE financing as an alternative and how bids and legal standards would be managed. Jason (parks department) said any procurement path would include comparative proposals or bids and legal review to ensure comparable specifications. Tony said Brightwell has been used on previous local projects (Norman North, Regional Food Bank) and can be modeled alongside PACE and direct purchase options so the council can compare prices and timelines.

What happens next: staff said they will return with procurement-level details if the council wants to proceed and that structural review and formal bid/proposal documents would be prepared before any action.

Ending: the presentation concluded with staff offering to provide modeled comparisons of service agreements, purchases and PACE financing and to return to council with more detailed procurement documents.