Rainbow approves purchase of emergency generators and solar battery backup

The Rainbow Municipal Water District will be acquiring two emergency generators and a solar-powered battery backup system.

Rainbow's board voted 5-0 April 27 to authorize general manager Tom Kennedy to execute purchase orders for the two generators and the battery backup system equipment. The purchases will be funded by a state Office of Emergency Services grant, and Kennedy's $300,000 spending authorization matches that grant amount.

Between July 2019 and October 2020, the district experienced approximately 100 hours of power outage events including 27 hours due to public safety power shutoffs when weather conditions increased the risk of a downed power line causing a wildfire.

If pump stations are shut down, Rainbow might not be able to provide potable water service and also might be unable to provide the fire hydrant flows needed to fight any wildfires or other blazes. Rainbow owns one portable generator which is positioned as needed to respond to power outages, but that single generator is not sufficient when more than one facility loses power.

Rainbow staff issued a contract to Hoch Consulting to provide grant writing services, and under that contract Hoch Consulting was to be paid a fee only if a grant was obtained. The Office of Emergency Services has a Community Power Resiliency Allocation to Cities Program which aids cities and small districts with additional preparedness for a power outage. Rainbow was given a $300,000 grant from the program.

The grant funding agreement requires that the money be spent by Oct. 31, 2021. "Procurement for these items has extremely long lead times," said acting district engineer Chad Williams.

The combination of the deadline and the long lead time led to the decision to authorize Kennedy to execute the purchase orders rather than to bring the contracts themselves to the board. The expected lead time for the generators is between four and six months.

Rainbow has already executed a purchase order with Engineering Partners, Inc., to provide a purchase specification for the generators, and the purchase specification or performance specification will be used to obtain quotes for generators which meet the needs for the two sites. The generators will be used for the Gomez Pump Station and the Magee Pump Station.

The solar panels and battery backup system will be placed on the Sumac Reservoir. Rainbow has a radio tower on that site and owns the land while sharing the communications tower with the North County Fire Protection District. The battery backup system will allow both Rainbow and the fire district to maintain voice and data communications capability during an outage.

The grant agreement requires that the equipment be purchased and received into inventory prior to Oct. 31, although construction and actual installation may be done after Oct. 31.

The authorization for Kennedy to approve the purchase agreements will include reports on the expenses. "As money is expended we would bring those back to the board," Williams said.