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Albany County approves energy-monitoring pilot on Saint Rose campus, asks for contract clarifications
Summary
County staff won approval to enroll five county-owned buildings at the Saint Rose campus in a no-cost energy-monitoring pilot with a vendor identified in the transcript as EcoLONG; legislators pressed staff to clarify whether the agreement includes direct load control, battery use, revenue-sharing or performance guarantees and asked that contract language be reviewed with counsel.
Patrick Kern, a staff member with the county executive’s office, described a no-cost pilot to install energy-monitoring devices in five county-owned buildings on the Saint Rose campus to analyze HVAC and other energy use. "It's a no cost program to the county," Kern said, adding the pilot would install monitoring equipment on HVAC units to gather data for future efficiency decisions.
Legislators pressed Kern on whether the vendor would exercise direct load control or whether the arrangement was limited to monitoring. One legislator cited contract language that looked like a performance contract with revenue-sharing and asked how penalties or guarantees would be enforced. Kern said, "as far as I'm aware, this is just basic pilot agreement," and offered to follow up with the vendor and counsel to clarify contract terms.
Members also asked about battery equipment included in the package and whether the pilot is normally targeted at low-income residential structures; Kern said the vendor has expanded the program beyond residential settings to test it on campus buildings. The Legislature approved the authorization to enter the pilot, subject to staff resolving outstanding contract questions with the vendor and the county attorney.
