The City of Manteca sends $2.5 million annually to PG&E to cover electricity purchases needed to operate the wastewater treatment plant.

The treatment plant is by far the city’s biggest energy hog.

On Tuesday, elected leaders will consider a course of action to stabilize much of its energy costs, deny PG&E a significant chunk of revenue, and insulate the city to a large degree from the financial impacts of future PG&E rate hikes.

The council may approve inking a deal with Wildan Energy to put in a solar photovoltic panel system and battery energy storage that will cost upwards of $18 million.

It will include what could end up being the largest floating solar panel installation in the region.

The floating panels will be placed in wastewater treatment ponds.

By not going with traditional land situated solar panels, it keeps options open for the city’s use of land around the treatment plant that is now being upgraded to meet new standards and to squeeze out more capacity while plans are proceeding to expand it.

Some other uses for the land floated over the years run the gamut from a future public works yard to a possible green waste to compost facility.

The project will qualify for up to a $6 million incentive if completed by the end of 2027.

The anticipated cost of the protect will be less than the anticipated cost of the energy that would have been consumed by the treatment plant without the project.

The funds required to repay the project financing and associated project costs are expected to be available from energy-cost savings or other finds that would have been used to purchase energy.

The bottom line for ratepayers is the energy costs for much of the existing energy needs will be basically capped over the course of the 25-year life of the system.

Additional power needed to treat increase wastewater loads from growth will stay requiring paying for PG&E electricity.

That said, the project will negate cost increases for the treatment power load the solar farm will produce. In doing so, it reduces one of the upward cost pressures in future rate increases that are still impacted by wages and things such as treatment chemicals.

The city already uses methane gas created from the treatment process to produce compressed natural gas to power a growing part of the city’s solid waste truck fleet.

Other cities burn off the methane gas the process created adding to greenhouse gas emissions.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com