DuPage Co. board leery of $12 million generator proposal

The DuPage County Board's public works committee wants more financial detail regarding a $12 million backup power generator proposal that would allow the entire Wheaton campus to continue operations if electricity were cut.

The cost for the project includes buying the generators, constructing the building that will house the equipment and infrastructure improvements. The board is also looking at the necessity of a $1 million tie-in with ComEd.

The ComEd tie-in would provide a smoother transition from the power grid.

"If we had the ComEd connection with our backup power source, when power goes out we'd be up and running in five minutes and have a seamless transition back to the grid when the power is restored," said board member John Curran. "Without it, it would take one to two hours to get the campus up and running and then you'd have to shut down power again and switch over to the ComEd power grid when electricity is restored. But we have to decide whether it's worth that cost."

The connection could also result in ComEd buying back a kilowatt of power from the county each year, resulting in a savings in the ballpark of $40,000 annually. But Curran said that buy back is not guaranteed and neither is the rate.

Kathy MacLennan, the county's deputy director of facilities management, said the backup generators would provide full power to county buildings, such as the convalescent center, jail and youth home, that shouldn't be operated on limited power. But the system also would provide full power to other county operations as well like the administration building, courthouse, animal shelter and coroner's office. MacLennan said it's more cost effective to provide full backup for the entire campus than just a select few facilities.

Curran said many board members believe the cost of the project is too high and details of where that money is going aren't clear enough yet. The committee wants MacLennan's team to explain where all the money will be spent. Currently, Curran said, there is about $3 million that's merely marked for miscellaneous costs.

MacLennan said bid requests for the generators have been issued and it takes about a year to construct that equipment once the county board decides which ones they want to buy. At the earliest, MacLennan estimated the project could be complete by the fall or winter of 2011.