Professional Services Agreement - American Structurepoint Inc - Renewable Natural Gas Value Feasibility Study

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INTER -OFFICE MEMORANDUM DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS DIVISION OF UTILITIES TO: Members of the Board of Public Works Eric Horvath, Director of Public Works Kara Boyles, City Engineer Clara McDaniels, Board of Public Works Attorney FROM: Al Greek, Director of Utilities Jacob M. Klosinski, Assistant City Engineer SUBJECT: Agenda Request Form -- Professional Services Agreement RNG Value Feasibility Study DATE: April 16, 2018 The Department of Public Works is requesting the Board of Public Works approval of a Professional Services Agreement with American Structurepoint to provide professional services to investigate the opportunities for the City's cleaned digester gas product. Opportunities exist for the City of South Bend to consider selling its renewable natural gas (RNG) and provide a potential revenue source to the City of South Bend by selling its cleaned digester gas to other customers. The City of South Bend currently has four (4) anaerobic digesters at the Wastewater Treatment Plant located at 3113 Riverside Drive. Of the four digesters, one (1) primary digester (Digester No. 2) and one (1) secondary digester (Digester No. 4) are operating in service. The biogas product created through the digestion process of Digester No. 2 is currently being cleaned for recovery in a boiler for Digester No. 2, Raw Sewage Pump Engine No. 1, and the City's slow fill vehicle fueling station. With an ever -changing energy market, there are opportunities to sell the recovered biogas to generate revenue for the City's continued operations and energy recovery strategies. We are requesting approval by the Board of Public Works to explore these opportunities and the private - public partnerships that may be beneficial to the City's future for high strength waste treatment, revenue generating opportunities, and potential infrastructure improvements that may be necessary to extend the City's impact in reducing its carbon footprint. The investigation of the high strength waste station includes and evaluation of the existing capacities available for current operations and a cost estimate for future improvements. The funding source for the Professional Services Agreement is Utilities, Sewage Works 1 Wastewater Engineering, Account (641-0630-793-31-02). If there are any questions regarding the subject project, please contact Al Greek (Ext. 4210) or Jacob M. Klosinski (Ext. 9496) at the Division of Utilities.