HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - AEC - 09/09/2019 .:, Town of
Cohasset
Massachusetts
FINAL — APPROVED 11/18/2019
Meeting Minutes
Alternative Energy Committee
TIME: Monday, September 9, 2019
PLACE: Cohasset Town Hall at 7:30 pm, Selectman Board Room
ATTENDEES:
Committee Members Excused Absences Guests
Tanya Bodell None Chris Senior, Town Manager
Bill Fusco Michelle Leary, Town Liaison
Steve G1rard1 Unexcused Absences
Patricia Gooding None Peter Pescatore
Mary Jo Larson
Michael Schmitt School Committee Reps
Steve Wenner
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:32 pm.
Attendees introduced themselves and describe their experience with energy and
renewable energy.
Mary Jo noted that this was the first meeting of the newly constituted Alternative Energy
Committee and that the first order of business was to elect new leadership.
1) GOVERNANCE
Mary Jo motion to elect Tanya as Chair; Steve Girardi and Steve Wenner seconded. The
motion passed unanimously.
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Tanya made a motion to elect Mary Jo as Vice Chair, which was seconded. The motion
passed unanimously.
Steve Girardi volunteered to be the Committee Secretary, responsible for meeting
minutes and other committee administration. The Committee unanimously approved
his new position.
2) GREEN COMMUNITY/ ENERGY CONSERVATION INITIATIVES
Steve Girardi and Michelle Leary reported on the LED Streetlight Conversion.
The Town has applied for a MAPC grant for LED Streetlight Conversion. The Town
applied for and received a grant of $38,404.88 to implement the Town's LED streetlight
conversion.
Lights have been installed and the Town will begin paying for its streetlights under a
new, lower rate from National Grid in recognition of the lower electricity usage
associated with LED streetlights versus standard bulbs.
The investment in LED bulbs is expected to pay for itself within five years or sooner.
3) COMMUNITY CHOICE ELECTRICITY AGGREGATION
Steve Wenner and Chris Senior reported on community choice electricity aggregation.
The Town is in final negotiations with Good Energy to contract to provide community
choice aggregation to Cohasset. The Town is looking to coordinate with Scituate and
Marshfield to combine the load of the three towns for potential bids. Teaming could
offer Cohasset better negotiation power, but pricing tends to be driven by supply and
demand for renewables and energy more than a retail customer's economy of scale.
Good Energy already has circulated a draft Plan. The Plan follows standard boiler-plate
format which already has been approved by the DOER and DPU. The process requires
the following:
1) Contract with Aggregator: Cohasset needs to contract with Good Energy to be
the Town's aggregator. This process is nearly complete.
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2) Plan Finalization: The Plan needs to be finalized and approved by the Town
through a public process. This will occur over the next few months.
3) DOER Approval: The final Plan goes to the DOER for approval, which generally
takes 4 — 8 weeks.
4) DPU Approval: Upon DOER approval, the Plan then goes to the DPU for
approval, which takes 6 to 9 months.
5) Town Approval for Implementation: During spring Town Meeting, while the
DPU process is underway, Cohasset voters will need to approve implementation
of the Plan.
6) Marketing: Once all of the approvals are complete, Good Energy can begin
marketing the different alternatives to residents and businesses; Good Energy will
provide public marketing and education for Cohasset and coordinate the entire
effort for no upfront cost.
7) Opt-out: There will be a period during which potential customers can opt-out or
change their enrollment to a low cost or 100% renewable option.
8) Bids: Good Energy will obtain bids for the different options. Cohasset's load may
be bid simultaneously with Scituate and Marshfield if that combination increases
negotiation power.
Tanya requested a timeline of events so the Committee can understand what it needs to
do to assist with the process.
The Committee discussed creation of a subcommittee that would review the Plan, meet
with Good Energy, interface with the Town and report back to the Committee for final
recommendations.
Mary Joe Larson and Steve Wenner agreed to be the subcommittee on community
aggregation. The Committee unanimously approved creation of a subcommittee to
understand the details of the Plan and report back to the Town.
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ACTION ITEM: Mary Jo and Steve to convene the Community Choice Aggregation
Subcommittee to coordinate with Good Energy to understand the Plan and timeline of
key action items.
4) GREEN COMMUNITY UPDATES
Michelle Leary provided an update on the Green Communities Grant Phase II.
Cohasset has been implementing a $177,400 grant from DOER. This includes:
1) Energy efficiency investments
2) Charging stations for the Town
Michelle is coordinating plans for Phase 3 Green Community funding in response to
proposals due at the beginning of next year.
Before a Town can receive funding for a new grant, it must spend the money and
implement grants that previously were received.
5) NEXT MEETING
The Committee agreed to plan meetings on the second Monday of each month.
Tanya noted that she would circulate a digital calendar reminder in advance. To the
extent the second Monday falls on a holiday, the meeting would be held the following
Tuesday.
NOTE: Since this meeting, the Committee discovered that it was too complicated to
defer to the following Tuesday due to already scheduled meetings. Instead, the
Committee agreed to hold the meetings on the third Monday of the month in the event
the second Monday was a holiday.
ACTION ITEM: Tanya to schedule future meetings and send out Outlook invitations to
Committee members and parties interested in receiving the meeting agenda in advance.
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6) ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made to adjourn, seconded and unanimously approved at 9:38 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Tanya Bodell
Chair of the Alternative Energy Committee
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APPENDIX A
ACTION ITEMS
The following lists the action items by person responsible for implementing:
TANYA BODELL
• Organize future meetings and send out calendar invites.
MARY JO LARSEN
• Convene the Community Choice Aggregation Subcommittee to coordinate with
Good Energy to understand the Plan and timeline of key action items.
STEVE WENNER
• Convene the Community Choice Aggregation Subcommittee to coordinate with
Good Energy to understand the Plan and timeline of key action items.
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