A section of solar panels that was installed at the Little Rock Veterans Affairs hospital over a year ago but has never been activated was taken down this week to make way for a new parking deck, VA officials said Thursday.
The panels will be placed on top of the deck once it is completed.
About 7,300 panels included in the "solar photovoltaic system" were installed in the parking lot of John L. McClellan Memorial Veterans Hospital in 2013 at a cost of approximately $8 million. They have never been activated because they do not meet the requirements to go online in Entergy's electrical system, said Marty Risner, an energy manager with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
"They have not been activated. They have not been put online," Risner said. "But they have been tested, so we know they work."
"There's been several things that require completion for the system to be put online, and those things have just taken longer than anticipated."
Workers with Jarrett Construction Co. of Montgomery, Ala., dismantled the panels and stacked them near the edges of the parking lot east of the hospital earlier this week. They remained stacked there Thursday.
Part of the $9.125 million awarded to Jarrett includes taking the solar panels down, storing, protecting and re-installing them, said Jon Williams, a project engineer with the VA. The estimated completion date for the parking deck is June 1, 2016.
A study showed more parking is needed at the hospital, Williams said, and the parking deck was the best option because "we're basically paved to the boundaries of our property."
At the same time workers break ground on the parking deck, engineers with Eco Clean Solar Inc. -- the company that originally installed the solar panels -- will be working to fix the system and activate the panels still in place.
Risner said part of an interconnect agreement between the VA and Entergy includes the VA making sure electricity is not "backfed" into Entergy's system but completely used at the hospital's site.
"The next action is for the contractor to finish engineering work to satisfy Entergy's requirements," Risner said.
He expects the hospital's solar-power system to be operational by this fall.
News of the panels being taken down prompted U.S. Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., to send a letter Wednesday to VA Secretary Robert McDonald.
In his letter, Hill listed nine questions for the secretary, including whether the solar panels ever worked and why the parking garage project was approved after the solar panels were already in place.
"Many questions remain unanswered about the project and when the VA plans to fully implement this supposed cost saving system to provide energy for the facility," Hill's letter reads. "It is essential that we ensure accountability and transparency when utilizing precious taxpayer dollars to support these extensive and costly government projects."
U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., also issued a statement Wednesday, in which he said he'd bring the topic of the VA's Renewable Energy Program to the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs' Committee to see what improvements can be made.
"The failure of the Little Rock VA's solar panels shows an obvious disregard for the money hardworking Arkansans send to Washington," Boozman said in the written statement. "Renewable energy projects like this have the potential to save taxpayer dollars, but it's clear that hasn't happened at this location."
The federal VA provided $8 million in funding in 2012 for the design and installation of the 1.8-megawatt solar-power system, according to a news release from that time.
Risner expects, that once activated, the solar-power system will generate about 12 percent of the hospital's electrical needs and save the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, which operates the hospital, about $150,000 each year.
Similar solar-power systems exist at about 90 VA locations across the country, according to a list of the VA's renewable energy projects.
A solar-power system at the Eugene J. Towbin Healthcare Center in North Little Rock and another at the Fayetteville VA Medical Center were both funded the same fiscal year as Little Rock's. Both of those systems, which work with other electric providers, have been operational for about a year.
In one year, the panels at the North Little Rock location provided approximately 8 percent of the hospital's electricity, saving about $107,000.
Patricia Hill, spokesman for the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, said they "expect the same level of success" in Little Rock once the panels are operational.
Metro on 04/10/2015