Thread by @freddieoconnell

For the past four years, I have served as chair of the advisory board of Nashville’s District Energy System.

Today @JohnCooper4Nash announced that, after a procurement process exploring the sale of the system, Metro would retain control of this asset.

nashville.gov/District-Energ…

Our District Energy System provides steam and chilled water to any building opting into the system within its capacity footprint, lowering building costs and providing long-term energy efficiency.

The current gas/electric system is a replacement for the old thermal incinerator.

After a year of reviewing reports on the advisory board, I noticed two things:
* We were experiencing capacity constraints that we were not prepared to deploy capital to resolve.
* We were not acquiring many new customers despite extraordinary growth within the DES footprint.

So I started asking questions. My goals throughout have been to resolve the issues above. I want to:
* Appropriately and strategically capitalize the system to build capacity.
* Ensure that we bring on as many customers as possible to take advantage of the energy efficiencies.

Eventually, my questions led us to pursue an open-ended RFP coupled with an internal evaluation of capabilities.

We solicited proposals for:
* superior management
* a total disposition of the system

The @metrofinance procurement process eventually led to an intent to award a sale of the system to @ENGIEgroup. The advisory board, which meets quarterly, was not involved in the procurement discussions.

During the award process, Engie did secure 100% customer approval for the sale. Any single customer could’ve blocked the ability of Metro to dispose of the system to DES. None did. Suggesting a remarkable degree of comfort among customers facing the prospect of new ownership.

DES currently carries about $50m in general obligation bond debt, which requires about a $1.3m Metro subsidy after all revenues and other expenses are considered.

The proceeds of the sale would’ve cleaned our balance sheet and added $11m to the general fund.

With today’s announcement, I expect my colleagues on #MetroCouncil will wonder why we aren’t considering this as part of the bigger budget discussion.

We will face incredible tension between short-term fiscal needs and longer term strategic goals of the city as we confront FY21.

The past four years, to be perfectly honest, don’t fill me with confidence that Metro can achieve my preferred goals.

That said, under this plan, we would shift administration to @NashvilleMWS, which is probably better equipped than @metrofinance to operate the utility.

But our marker for success must be development of an investment plan to address capacity concerns alongside policy adjustments (which I hope to be a part of leading) that induce more customer participation in DES.

Our next meeting is in May, and I will be interested in hearing perspectives from around the table, including customer voices.

I’m grateful to @JohnCooper4Nash for allowing me to continue my service on this board, as this asset is a key part of the operations of District 19.