Convention center studies solar panels

Nashville’s new convention center, already set to have a green roof, probably will have a solar one, too.

The Convention Center Authority has hired a local consulting firm to explore options for solar panels on top of the Music City Center, the $585 million building under construction downtown. An installation on the roof above the ballroom on the building’s north end would make the facility one of the most high-profile in Middle Tennessee to use the alternative energy source.

The Tennessee Valley Authority has a program that allows building owners that meet certain requirements to get credits for the electricity they generate through the sun’s energy and feed back into the power grid.

“The building is unique enough and obviously prominent enough that it can serve as an example to other property owners, as a testimonial to the long-term value of solar,” Mayor Karl Dean said Thursday. “I don’t want to do a project just to have panels up there. I want a real, tangible benefit for the city.”

The consulting firm, Energy Source Partners, will look at “small,” “medium” and “large” solar options for the convention center, including costs, energy savings, financing structures and maintenance. Ron Merville, the company’s president and CEO, said 50 kilowatts or less is considered small by TVA standards, while 200 or more is considered large.

Holly McCall, a spokeswoman for the convention center authority, said the Music City Center was designed to accommodate solar panels and they fit within the project’s budget, though a specific amount of money has not been set aside. While installing the panels would not lift the facility’s LEED certification above the silver level that is already expected, Dean said, it would add to the project’s energy efficiency.

McCall said Energy Source Partners, which opened for business in 2008, had the most experience of the six firms that applied for the job. Merville, a licensed professional engineer who has worked on some 500 public works projects for Metro, said his company’s solar projects have included the HCA headquarters near Centennial Park, a C.B. Ragland Co. building on Second Avenue South and a wastewater treatment plant under construction in Franklin.

Energy Source Partners also could do a Music City Center installation. Merville said the center, which is scheduled to open in about a year, is “a perfect site” for solar panels.

“Solar would help offset the electrical costs in the center — and do it with renewable energy,” he said.

The authority will pay Energy Source Partners $125 an hour, but the total payment can’t exceed $25,000, according to the contract. The firm is expected to deliver its report in 30 to 60 days.

A four-acre green roof is already being built atop the Music City Center. Dean said solar panels would make the undulating roof even more eye-catching.

“This roof is unlike any other roof that has ever been built in Nashville,” the mayor said. “The roof is visible from the interstates. We’ve been very conscious of the fact that the roof needs to be something special.”