Mark Spurr, of FVB Energy, Inc., will conduct a presentation covering the Step 2 Report – Grand Marais District Heating Project at 1 p.m. Aug. 19 at the Cook County courthouse.
This is the final report on the biomass-fuelled, district heat system which has been considered for portions of Grand Marais.
The presentation is outside of the normally scheduled commissioners’ meeting. A quorum of commissioners may be present, but no decisions will be made.
The Grand Marais City Council and the Grand Marais PUC may also be in attendance. Grand Marais residents and any interested members of the community are encouraged to attend.
The report presents the design, construction, operation and costs of the proposed facility, including a business plan and recommendations on options for moving forward.
The overall project, funded by the Cook County Board of Commissioners with 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax revenue, has consisted of two steps.
According to Gary Atwood of the Cook County Local Energy Project (CCLEP), the work of Step 1 demonstrated that district heating in Grand Marais had sound economic potential based on estimates of construction and operating costs.
In an announcement of the presentation, Atwood wrote, “The county board and City of Grand Marais elected to move forward with Step 2 which included a schematic design and layout of the facility, detailed site surveys, design of the piping distribution system, and a final business plan incorporating bids for construction and contractual agreements with future customers.”
The Step 2 Report and additional background studies can be reviewed at the Grand Marais Public Library.
Funding for this project was requested by CCLEP which is serving as the project coordinator, with the Cook County Auditor’s Office in the role of fiscal agent. FVB Energy has played a major role in the growth of the district energy industry, providing consulting services for most of the new district cooling and district heating systems developed or under development in North America since 1990.
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