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Moonlight Towers Shine, Solar Powers Up

Tuesday, August 21, 1990 special called
  • Electric Utility Operations:

    Discussions included maintaining current electric rates for customers and exploring the discontinuation of library fees for those within the utility service area.
  • Historic Preservation:

    Funds were approved for the protective painting and structural stabilization of Austin's iconic historic moonlight towers.
  • Pioneering Solar Power:

    A significant step towards renewable energy was taken with the approval to install a 20-kilowatt photovoltaic (solar) system on the Austin Convention Center.
  • Infrastructure Upgrades:

    Several contracts were authorized for essential electric utility needs, including power plant maintenance, the purchase of new transformers, and equipment for a new energy control center.

Full Transcript

AUST FOUNDED 1024 Austin City Council MINUTES For REGULAR MEETING AS THE ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD OF DIRECTORS August 21, 1990 - 3:00 Ρ.Μ. Mayor Cooke called to order the meeting of the Council, meeting as the Electric Utility Board, noting the absence of Councilmember Epstein. Electric Utility Commission Report Robert Floyd, Chairman, Electric Utility Commission, presented their report. He said motions made at their August 20, 1990 meeting approved resolutions 3-18 on this agenda. Votes were unanimous on all but items 17 & 18. Mr. Floyd said they also discussed looking at employee pay in the Electric Department; leaving electric rates as they are; and discontinue library fees for people living in the Austin Electric Utility Area. Mr. Floyd commended Council for their monthly meetings as the Electric Utility Board and urged them to continue the meetings. Resource Management Commission Report The Resource Management Commission Report was presented by Chairman Ken Altes. He gave the members of the Council a packet with matrix showing comparison of various utility districts. City Manager Reports John Moore, Director of Electric Utility, presented the Monthly Management Report (Fiscal, Operations, Fuel). 1 The Monthly Utility Receivable Report was given by Phil Brown, Assistant Director of Financial Services. Resolutions The Council, on Councilmember Carl-Mitchell's motion, Councilmember Nofziger's second, adopted the following resolutions: (6-0 Vote, Councilmember Epstein absent) Approved a contract award to ENVIRO TECH SOUTHEAST, INC., 900 University Blvd. No, Jacksonville, Fl. for fuel oil filtering, tank cleaning and disposal services at the Decker Creek Power Plant in an amount not to exceed $195,615. Approved a contract award to TRENCH ELECTRIC C/O R.D. ERB COMPANY, INC., 5511 San Pedro, San Antonio, Texas, for the purchase of current transformers in an amount not to exceed $130,800. 1 Approved a contract award to NORTH AMERICAN TRANSFORMERS, INC., c/o R.D. Erb Company, Inc., 5511 San Pedro, San Antonio, Texas, for the purchase of power transformers in an amount not to exceed $1,266,700. ! Approved a contract award to CONDIT COMPANY, 14200 Midway Road, Suite 124, Dallas Texas 75244, for the purchase of two generator hydrogen dryer systems in an amount not to exceed $56,448. Approved a twelve month supply agreement contract with four one year extension options to ENERGY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATES, INC., 100 Northcreek, Ste. 800, Atlanta, Ga. 30327, for the main frame-based computer program (PROMOD) used to perform generation planning analysis in an amount not to exceed $32,448 for the first year with subsequent price escalations not to exceed five percent per year. Approved contract awards for the protective painting and structural stabilization of fourteen historic moonlight towers to: ALPHA PAINTING in an amount not to exceed $49,000 and TOWER NETWORK SERVICES in an amount not to exceed $49,560. Lowest bidders of ten bids. Approved a contract award to TECHLINE INC., 8750 Shoal Creek Blvd., Austin, Texas, for the purchase of grounding cable supplies in an amount not to exceed $33,319.71. Approved a contract award to MONITOR DISPLAY SYSTEMS, 7031 Corporate Way, Dayton, Ohio 45459, for the purchase of transmission and distribution mapboards for the new energy control center in an amount not to exceed $259,280.50. Approved a contract amendment extending the term of the City of Austin's gas supply agreement with NATURAL GAS MARKETING AND STORAGE for one month in an estimated cost of $558,000. Approved a contract with the City of Weatherford for ten MW of electric capacity from January, 1990, through December, 1990 and twenty-five MW of electric capacity from January, 1991, through December, 1996. This contract would replace one currently in effect. Approved a contract with PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC COMPANY to allow the City of Austin to participate in the Photovoltaics for utility Applications Program which will result in the installation of a twenty KW photovoltaic system on the Austin Convention Center. Austin's cost for the installation is not expected to exceed $250,000. Approved the purchase of approximately .441 acre of land adjacent to the Burleson Substation for improved access and expansion of the Substation in an estimated amount not to exceed $31,695. Approved execution of an emergency purchase from UNITED TURBO TECHNOLOGIES CORP. of Pensacola, Florida to clean the Holly No. 1 turbine oil lube system in the estimated total cost of $38,718.00. Approved execution of a contract with HITACHI DATA SYSTEMS, 98 San ! Jacinto Blvd., Austin, Texas for sixty gigabytes of quad-port disk storage with a total of sixty-four megabytes of equally distributed cache memory and four megabytes of non-volatile storage in an amount not to exceed $672,072. Items Postponed Postponed the following: - Contract avard to Adobe/Midland Joint Venture, for a three year supply of natural gas, at an estimated cost of $29.141 million, for the period October 1, 1990 through October 1, 1993. - Contract with Amdahl Corporation for the purchase of an upgrade to the City of Austin's Amdahl 5890-200E mainframe computer with thirty-two 1/0 channel and ninety-six megabytes of main memory to a 5890-400E or equivalent, with 64 channels, 256 MB of memory, two channel-to-channel adapters, multiple domain capability, and full support for the MVS/ESA operating system, in an amount not to exceed $1,621,716.00. Adjournment Council adjourned its meeting at 4:00 P.M. 1 ! 1 i