Title
Approval of Contract for General Services, Agreement No. AGR 25-13 with Renewance, Inc. in the Amount of $945,240.00, a Contingency in the Amount of $50,000.00 and Applicable GRT, for the Purpose of Removal and Proper Disposition of One (1) NGK One (1) Megawatt, Six (6) Megawatt-Hour Sodium Sulfur Battery System at the Los Alamos County Eco Station and Budget Revision 2025-10
Recommended Action
I move that Council approve Contract for General Services, Agreement No. AGR 25-13 with Renewance, Inc. in the amount of $945,240.00 and a contingency in the amount of $50,000.00 for a total of $995,240.00, plus applicable Gross Receipts Tax, for the purpose of removal and proper disposition of one (1) NGK one (1) megawatt, six (6) megawatt-hour sodium sulfur battery system at the Los Alamos County Eco Station.
I, further, move that Council approve Budget Revision 2025-10 in the amount of $316,000 and include Attachment B in the meeting minutes.
Utilities Manager's Recommendation
The Utilities Manager recommends that Council approve this Contract for General Services and budget revision as requested.
Board, Commission or Committee Recommendation
The Board of Public Utilities approved this request at their regular session on December 4, 2024 and recommends that Council approve this Contract for General Services and budget revision as requested.
Body
DPU's NGK sodium sulfur battery has reached the end of its useful operational life and will be disposed of under agreement AGR25-13 with the Renewance, Inc., the selected offeror determined through an open competitive Request for Proposals process under which two proposals were evaluated. The fiscal year 2025 Electric Production budget includes $750,000.00 for the sodium sulfur battery removal. Budget Revision 2025-10 increases this amount by $316,00.00 for a total of $1,066,000.00 including contingency and GRT. The agreement includes a lower-cost option for recycling in Japan at a lower cost of $586,569.00 plus the $50,000.00 contingency and applicable GRT. Due to schedule risk of the lower-cost option, which may exceed the term of the current Electric Coordination Agreement expiring on June 30, 2025, which is the mechanism under which the DOE/LANL will pay approximately 80% of the disposal cost, the higher-cost option is included for funding approval to mitigate the schedule risk.
Alternatives
The sodium sulfur battery modules can be kept as-is at no additional cost, but with the County's acceptance of the full, unknown, cost of disposal in the future without any cost sharing through the Los Alamos Power Pool, and acceptance of the risk of fire or explosion of the battery system while it remains at the Eco Station site.
Fiscal and Staff Impact/Planned Item
The project was budgeted to cost $750,000 and requires a budget revision to increase the project budget by $316,000 to have a total project budget of $1,066,000.00. BPU and Los Alamos Power Pool approved this budget increase to complete this project. The project will be covered under normal staff duties.
Attachments
A - AGR 25-13
B - 2025-10 Budget Revision