Courtesy Metropolitan Government of Nashville and
Davidson County. Photo Anthony Mirabella, Gershman,
Brickner & Bratton Inc.
There are nine 2,600-ton chillers in Nashville’s new energy generation facility.
once-innovative Thermal system, Metro executed a public-private partnership to create a
new district energy system that is now in its
third full year of operation, providing its customers with highly efficient and 100 percent
reliable service. The entire process of sys-temwide assessment, design-build-operate
procurement and public-private management
has allowed downtown Nashville to save district energy and recapture all the financial,
operational and environmental benefits for
future generations.
the customers was ongoing communication
– including frequent meetings, customer representation on the panel evaluating the private-sector proposals and continuous feedback from the Metro team. The new customer contracts were fully negotiated with
customer representatives and their counsel,
so there was a substantial amount of buy-in
upfront from the major constituencies.
On Sept. 18, 2002, $66.7 million in
Metro system revenue bonds were issued,
and ground was broken Nov. 10, 2002, for
the new Metro Nashville District Energy
System. The new energy generation facility
began service Dec. 16, 2003, on budget and
six months ahead of schedule. From the
Harvey W. Gershman, president
of Gershman, Brickner & Bratton
Inc., has been active in the solid
waste management field as an advisor to government and industry for
more than 30 years. He has managed market studies, cost and feasibility analyses,
contract development and negotiations, contractor procurements, marketing, project development and project financing activities. Many of his
assignments have included development of
waste-to-energy and district energy system projects.
Gershman currently serves as project administrator
for the Metropolitan Government of Nashville
and Davidson County for the redevelopment of
Nashville’s district energy system. He can be
reached at hgershman@gbbinc.com.
