The City of Sierra Vista, Arizona, today announced developments in its partnership with energy and sustainability expert, Schneider Electric, to improve lifecycle savings and revenue generation city-wide. Schneider Electric’s work with Sierra Vista will include an electrical infrastructure overhaul of the city’s main outdoor event space and a new wave machine for the aquatic center. The initiative will directly impact the Sierra Vista City Council’s strategic focus areas to increase economic prosperity and demonstrate environmental leadership, while also driving a sports tourism initiative to attract sports leagues and tournaments to the beautiful micro-climate unique to Sierra Vista.
The City of Sierra Vista, a mid-sized municipality southeast of Tucson, is looking to lead the way in providing quality of life, community engagement and economic development for residents. Less well-known than its northern counterparts of Tucson and Phoenix, Sierra Vista has long been a destination for nature and music enthusiasts. Known as the hummingbird capital of the United States, it hosts a full schedule of festivals for bird, music and art lovers alike. Yet, the town rich with history and culture has often been overlooked by external event planners and potential conferences, tournaments and fairs… until now. Sierra Vista wants to build upon their picturesque locale with upgraded facilities and ongoing development, bringing more tourism to their welcoming town and allowing relocating military families to feel not only at home in their new address, but a sense a pride in their Sierra Vista residence. To achieve this future state, the city is addressing far more than just public building infrastructure.
“Our team in Sierra Vista has a long-term vision to become a leading attraction for sports and recreation in the state,” said Rick Mueller, Mayor of Sierra Vista. “With Schneider Electric’s expertise, we’re on our way to achieving that vision and much more. We’re excited to work to improve our City grounds and facilities, creating ideal locations for local events, vendors, and visitors alike.”
Across public buildings city-wide, Schneider Electric will be replacing close to 3,000 interior light fixtures with high-efficiency LEDs in addition to another 484 exterior LED fixtures. Significant HVAC upgrades will be happening at Sierra Vista’s aquatic center, The Cove, along with high efficiency replacements at city hall and the police department. In addition, The Cove will be replacing an old inoperable wave machine with a new state-of-the-art system – making Sierra Vista one of only two municipalities in the state with this truly unique community attraction.
Sierra Vista is paying for the upgrades through an energy performance contract with Schneider Electric that eliminates the need for outside funding. Increasing efficiencies through upgrades and generating additional revenue through sports tourism and The Cove allows the City to redirect funding towards higher-priority areas like economic development instead of growing utility costs.
Schneider Electric has grown its significant presence in the region, recently entering into an energy savings performance contract (ESPC) with neighboring Army installation, Fort Huachuca. The $24 million project will improve energy security, resiliency and efficiency across the installation. A four-megawatt combined heat and power plant driven by natural gas will offer considerable environmental benefits by capturing heat that would otherwise be wasted from electricity generation and utilizing it to serve thermal loads. The project will serve as the foundation for a future microgrid solution for Fort Huachuca, serving more than 18,000 active duty soldiers, military family members, civilian employees and contractors on post during the week.
In addition to the city hall, police department and The Cove improvements, Schneider Electric will implement other efficiency measures at various sites, including:
Synthetic turf solution at five soccer fields at Cyr Center Park and Domingo Paiz – saving water and providing year-round athletic play
Replacing 454 HID sports field lighting fixtures with high-efficiency Musco LEDs at 17 fields and courts across the City
Electrical infrastructure overhaul at Veterans Memorial Park – allowing for more flexibility and outdoor event capabilities at the City’s primary outdoor event space
Wastewater aeration control upgrades at the Environmental Operations Park to provide better operator control and significant energy savings
Construction began in June 2019 and is anticipated to wrap up in March of 2020 with an expected project lifecycle savings and revenue generation of well over $20 million.
“The city’s innovative vision for the future is what truly drove this project,” said Brandon Woodward, account executive for Schneider Electric “Their long-term vision to make Sierra Vista an incredible place to live, work and play is an exciting prospect for Schneider Electric. It goes beyond a traditional scope of infrastructure upgrades and allows us to pair an economic development plan with our experience and delivery methodology for a truly unique partnership that will positively impact Sierra Vista and surrounding communities for many years to come.”
Over the past 27 years, Schneider Electric has successfully implemented more than 750 energy savings performance contract (ESPC) projects across the nation, saving its clients more than $2 billion. This project delivery method helps publicly funded entities make capital improvements over longer payback periods and offers many long-term benefits such as improved facility efficiency, occupant comfort, financial management and environmental protection.
For more information on how Schneider Electric helps municipalities tackle their top priorities with energy efficiency, please visit www.schneider-electric.us/enable.
