WEST PALM BEACH — Local representatives of a China-based solar power company are urging city officials to incorporate solar panels into the city hall and library project now being built downtown.
They're dangling a cut rate for the panels and say they could save the city as much as 30 percent on its electric bills each month, eventually making up the cost of buying and installing the technology.
The proposal is for a 100- to 175-kilowatt system atop the garage at the City Center complex that would provide covering for cars parked on the roof, said Stephen Berg, the owner of an Internet marketing company (Elink Media) who represents Solarfun Power Holdings, based in Shanghai.
"If we did a 100-watt system, it would be the biggest around here," Berg said. "If we did a 175, it would blow everybody's hair back."
A key part of his pitch is that West Palm Beach would become the standard-bearer for solar energy in Florida. It would be the first city in the state to use solar panels in a government complex and would likely spur other cities and private companies to do the same, Berg said.
The company does 90 percent of its business in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom and is trying to break into the Florida market, he said.
A 175-kilowatt system would cost more than a million dollars in an established market, he said.
But Solarfun is offering the panels for $490,000.
A top official from Solarfun is meeting with city officials, including Mayor Lois Frankel, this week.
Frankel said she's "very interested," and the city is doing "due diligence."
But she added the city has already settled on several features, such as sensors that will turn out the lights in offices when people leave, that will cut down on energy costs at the complex.
"There were lots of different energy-saving strategies," she said. "This (solar panels) wasn't one we had picked out."
Deputy City Administrator Dorritt Miller said the designers of the $154'million City Center project are evaluating the proposal and will report back.
The pitch to the city comes at a time when new attention is being given to solar power. Gov. Charlie Crist last week decreed that future state buildings should incorporate solar panels when possible as part of a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Critics of solar power say that despite Florida's reputation for sunshine, there are too many clouds for it to be efficient. Plus, they say, it's still cheaper to get power the conventional way.
Berg said cloud cover is factored into the estimates of how much power the panels would produce.
The city would save about $4,000 a month on electricity, he said, although it would take years to make up the cost of the panels.
The idea has the support of City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, who said West Palm Beach could become "the epicenter" of the solar movement in the state. Mitchell has suggested the city use the interest money from the City Center bond issue to pay for the panels.
Berg, who said he's getting no fee from Solarfun but would stand to gain on other projects if solar power catches on, said he'd be happy even if West Palm Beach turned to another solar company.
"If they go ahead and get this done," he said, "I will take great pleasure in being the catalyst."
