Spring Valley to consider energy, cost-efficient partnership with Engie

The city of Spring Valley is looking into a partnership with an international company that would not only help it trim its energy and infrastructure costs, but also help it find the money to pay for it.

Engie, an infrastructure modernization, public safety and economic development company, made a presentation at the Spring Valley City Council meeting on Monday and its members came away impressed with the potential benefit for the community.

Katy Glynn, a senior business development manager with Engie, outlined the potential benefits her company can provide: everything from safety and security (traffic redirection, secure entrances, health/life safety issues, etc.) to electrical illuminations (natural lighting systems, LED lighting upgrades, etc.) to mechanical and plumbing (plumbing/piping, efficiency network upgrades, water treatment systems, etc.) to mechanical and air side efficiency exhausts, heat recovery unity, radiant heating, etc.) to the building envelope (geothermal ground source heat pumps, fleet electrification, wind and solar energy, etc.).

“We bridge gaps,” Glynn said. “You tell us where you want to go. We tell you how to get there.”

The amount of potential projects – assistance with anything from city-wide renovation down to a single building, such as a school or a library – and the potential savings will be studied going forward.

The company offers first a no-charge discussion to see where the communities interests lie and areas it wants to improve, a free walk-through analysis of the city’s key structure, infrastructure and energy usage area and a plan to improve each item.

It will then conduct searches to find grants, tax breaks and government assistance to lower costs and make the effort as a whole as inexpensive as possible.

“Absolutely, it’s very intriguing and we will look into it as a part of our long-term planning,” Mayor Melanie Malooley-Thompson said. “Many of the things she spoke about were areas where we do need help and it’s especially interesting that they will help us seek funding to pay for it, too.

“There are so many projects across your community that they have the resources to help with … and by getting together with her, telling her our needs, hopefully she can use those resources to connect the dots for us.”

In other action, Street Superintendent Jeff Norton informed the council about the difficulty stemming from breaks in an 800-foot water main between Ladd Road and Marquette Road along Dalzell and Dakota streets.

“We were trying to fix a crack with a clamp and it just broke everywhere,” Norton said. “It’s full of band-aids already.”

City Engineer Mike Richetta agreed that section of the main should be added to the city’s capital improvement list.

The city also awarded a contract for water main repair to John Pohar and Sons for $210,015. The work is part of a $340,000 total grant obtained through Rebuild Illinois.