Exelon hired to look into possibility of Lake Herman Rd. turbines

Exelon Wind, a Delaware company that also has an Iowa address, will be studying city-owned property north of Lake Herman Road to determine whether wind turbines can be installed there.

Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani submitted the request to the City Council on Tuesday, and the panel approved the proposal along with several other matters by a single vote and without discussion, since they were listed on the panel’s consent calendar.

The company will pay Benicia $5,000 annually while it conducts the study.

In his report, Giuliani wrote that the project would give Exelon access to the property so it could collect meteorological and environmental data to see whether it made sense to build wind turbines there.

The study equipment is small enough to be towed by a pickup truck, he wrote, and would be set up temporarily on three different parcels owned by the city.

Two of the parcels are outside city limits, in unincorporated Solano County, and the third is inside the city; all are north of Lake Herman Road, he wrote.

Existing trails and roads would give the company access to the sites, he explained, and the equipment wouldn’t disturb the ground.

During the five years, the company also will be able to address both if and how a wind turbine project might be pursued under existing land restrictions and concerns expressed by agents of Travis Air Force Base, near Fairfield, and Solano County officials that such turbines interfere with radar operations.

With the same vote, the Council authorized the purchase of a Zoll X-Series cardiac monitor, a $32,941.47 piece of equipment, including monitor supplies and a service contract.

Benicia fire Chief Jim Lydon asked for the purchase, advising the Council that three monitors originally were bought in the last fiscal year. However, a grant had been awarded for four monitors, covering not only the cost of the previous three but also the purchase of the fourth.

“The receipt of this grant, and the purchase of this final monitor, will allow the department to continuously maintain our ALS (advance life support) service delivery capabilities when one of the current monitors needs maintenance and a loaner, as provided by the service agreement, has not yet arrived,” Lydon wrote.

“It will also allow the department to have the additional resource available for special events or during periods when there may be a need to staff additional apparatus.”

Under provisions of the grant, the city has obtained four monitors and associated supplies and service agreements, valued at $125,716, at a cost to Benicia of $25,568, Lydon wrote.

The monitors will help local paramedics provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation and emergency cardiovascular care without interruptions to see whether heart rhythm has developed, because the monitors display such signals on a screen while resuscitation is in progress, he wrote.

In addition, he added, the information can be sent ahead to awaiting physicians through Wi-fi or Bluetooth technologies.

The Council also agreed on second reading to amend a city ordinance so the Parks, Recreation and Cemetery Commission can change its meeting date to the second Wednesday of every other month; and to join the Western Recycled Water Coalition to gain expertise and help in planning and funding future recycled water projects.

In addition, the Council extended its agreement, originally made Sept. 7 with V.W. Housen and Associates, a Danville firm, for engineering and capital improvement planning services for the Public Works Department at a cost of up to $59,040.

The company is reviewing Water and Wastewater Capital Improvement Project information, helping develop recycled water options for wastewater, putting a water meter replacement program in place and helping city employees meet closed-circuit television inspections of sewer lateral lines to meet commitments established in the River Watch Settlement Agreement.