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Nixa receives Innovation Award for solar farm

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For the second consecutive year, the city of Nixa is the recipient of the Missouri Municipal League’s Innovation Award.

The city received the honor for its partnership with Springfield-based Gardner Capital Inc. and Lee’s Summit-based MC Power Cos. to develop a 72-acre solar farm, which went live Nov. 14, 2017. With 33,290 solar panels, the 7.9-megawatt farm is the largest in the state.

Nixa Public Information Officer Drew Douglas said the Missouri Municipal League gave Nixa the award last year because it founded the Community Alternative Sentencing Court – which seeks solutions at the root of underlying personal issues leading to crime.

“Nixa continues to punch above its weight and aggressively pursue innovative solutions for our progressive community,” Mayor Brian Steele said in a news release. “These Innovation Awards are proof that other cities across Missouri admire the innovative spirit of the Nixa municipal government.”

Steele thanked retired City Administrator Brian Bingle, director of Nixa Utilities and Public Works Doug Colvin, Rep. Jay Wasson, R-Nixa, and the partnering organizations.

“Not only does the Nixa solar farm reduce our carbon footprint, but it saves Nixa Utilities $2.5 million,” Steele said. “We can keep rates low at a time when many electric utilities continue to raise costs.”

Located on the south side of state Route 14, west of town, ground broke at the farm in late June 2017. Through an agreement, Nixa will buy all of the generated power over a 25-year period. Nixa is scheduled to pay Gardner Capital 4.87 cents per kilowatt hour in the first year, with rates escalating annually to 8.69 cents per kWh by 2043.

According to a news release from the city, that’s less than what it pays now through agreements with City Utilities of Springfield and the Southwestern Power Administration, meaning Nixa will realize $2.5 million in savings during the contract’s 25-year length.

Effective April 1, GridLiance GP LLC also acquired the city’s electric transmission assets for nearly $10 million. Colvin previously told Springfield Business Journal the city chose to sell the assets following incoming regulations and tariffs by President Donald Trump on products needed for power transmission operations.

The city will still operate on the transmission line and pay an annual fee to GridLiance through Southwest Power Pool. Because of the acquisition, Colvin said the city had to switch to Southwest Power Pool.

This will initially increase costs by the projected $200,000 because SPP has higher rates than Southwestern Power Administration. But, city officials expect that cost to decrease to the current rate over the next five years as more municipalities enter the same transmission format.

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