The Ruby Fulbright Aquatic Center is on its way to becoming solar-powered after the Habersham County Commission unanimously accepted an award from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority (GEFA) to help cover the costs of installing solar panels there.
During their Dec. 20 meeting, the board of commissioners voted to accept the award and agreed to use the funds to purchase and install solar panels at the aquatic center.
Interim County Manager Alicia Vaughn applied for the GEFA award at the end of September, and the authority announced in November that they would cover 75 percent of the costs of solar panels and battery storage at the aquatic center. The estimated total cost of the project is $234,420. GEFA will reimburse Habersham County for $175,815 of that cost.
The Habersham County Parks and Recreation Department spends about $140,000 on power annually, according to the county.
“A big portion of that comes from the cost of the power to heat the pool [at the aquatic center],” Vaughn told the commissioners at their Monday meeting. “It’s very expensive, and so hopefully installing these solar panels is going to really lower that power bill.”
Habersham County is one of seven counties in the state awarded reimbursement for the installation of solar panels from the GEFA Solar Resiliency Technical Assistance Program, Vaughn says. The program aims to help local government entities afford solar power technology for critical infrastructure.
Now that the GEFA award has been accepted, the county can move on to putting out a request for proposal, or an RFP, to receive bids from area contractors to install those panels.
