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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - AEC - 08/17/2015 Meeting Minutes Alternative Energy Committee Town Hall Basement Conference Room, 7:30 p.m., 8/17/15 AEC Attendees Shaun Selha (Chair) Marie Caristi Josiah Stevenson Patricia Gooding Andrew Muir Mary Jo Larson Eric Seuss Steve Girard i Other Attendees Chris Senior (Town Manager) Paul Schubert (Board of Selectmen) Karen Quigley (Board of Selectmen) Amanda Thompson (Cohasset Mariner) Jeanne Astino (School Committee) Brian Joyce (Director of Public Works) Meeting Minutes Meeting Minutes for July 2015 were approved and forwarded to Rob Bonnell (rbonnel I@cohassetma.org) Committee Application Renewals Just a reminder that all members must submit their AEC applications. Green Communities Application Format (Due by October 30t", 2015) QC#1: Adopt "As-of-Right Siting": Need to submit a copy of the warrant article (including the zoning map) and a letter from the Town Clerk verifying it was signed-off and adopted at ATM (signature and seal). — complete. QC#2: Adopt Expedited Application/Permitting Process (12-month): Need letter from Town Council saying we already satisfy this criteria (i.e. 365-day turnaround on project permits or less). Sample language on DOER website. — complete. QC#3: Establish an Energy Use Baseline With a Plan to Reduce Baseline by 20% in 5 Years: Need official letters from the Board of Selectmen and the School Department indicating that they are adopting the Energy Reduction Plan as a Town Policy. —Still in progress. QC#4: Purchase only Fuel-Efficient Vehicles: We just need to submit the vehicle inventory log that Steve (AEC) has already put together. Seth noted that cargo vans are exempt, so we may be down to five (5) non-exempt vehicles. As a side note, Seth noted how the Town of Hanover has started using some Green Community Grant money to pay the incremental cost associated with buying Hybrid command vehicles for the Police and Fire Department. — Complete. QC#5: Adoption of Stretch Code: Need to submit a copy of the warrant article and a letter from the Town Clerk verifying it was signed-off and adopted at ATM (signature and seal). —complete. Landfill Post-Closure Permit Meeting with DEP CDM Smith DEP meeting minutes noted the following action items: Identify if Wetlands Court Case has been dismissed. Formal letter to DEP addressing their comments in the draft Denial Letter of the Closure Certification Report from April 14, 1998. Comments questioned: Thickness of Capping Layers Organic Content of Topsoil Edge of Waste -Request a Certificate of Compliance with the Conservation Commission for the project closure. -File a Notice of Landfill Operations with the Registry once the closure is approved by DEP. -Resolve any balance of wetland issues that need tobe addressed The Town has mowed the cap, cut shrubs, and removed debris from the site. Palmer Capital to complete the site surve for engineering design this week. Energy Conservation Measure Implementation Schools—The VFD and premium efficiency motor installation at the Middle/High School should be complete. Dave DeGennaro to confirm. Other Municipal Facilities—Lighting retrofits at Library to begin 3rd week of September. Streetlight Procurement and Conversion— National Grid listed 550 active streetlights. Town consultant found 449 of the 550 listed. Additional 83 found that were not on National Grid list or that had no pole number. Eighty eight (88) of the 449 identified were not operating correctly. Brian Joyce to work with National Grid and consultant to reconcile the true number of streetlights the Town wishes to procure. Once the numbers are reconciled, the Town will negotiate with National Grid for new purchase and sale agreement (1-2 weeks). Brian Joyce also has a call scheduled with Scituate for 8/18/15 to discuss partnering on 3 d party maintenance. SunConnect Presentation (Carson Weinard and Bill Lyon) -Presented PPA offer for solar array installation of Middle High School Roof. - Includes new roof membrane installation underneath sections of roof where PV panels would be located. - Offer 2-year craftsmanship warranty (we questioned if it could be extended to 8-year) and 20- year Firestone roof membrane warranty. - Estimate size of array at 362 kW with annual production of 457,00 kWhs. - - Looking for 20-year PPA at a price of $0.1424/kWh with a 2% escalation per year (they would entertain 0% escalation with different $/kWh price) - Offering to do "behind the meter" offsetting utility consumption at the school. - They will handle Operation & Maintenance for 20-year term. - Construction timeline is approximately 2-months. Areas of Concerns: - Only covering 40% of the roof, may have to look at doing additional roof work to minimize seams at the same time. - Will off-set utility consumption, need to check with the DOER how this will be handled as part of Green Community Energy Reduction plan. Can we claim reductions or have to create new baseline? - Currently no minimum production value in their standard PPA. - No educational component though they figured they can set one up. Next steps: - SunConnect to submit their standard PPA and Lease Agreement for review - AEC to follow-up with DOER on Green Community implications - Brian Joyce to identify cost of roof replacement so financial analysis can be made to see if premium in PPA price is worth it. Miscellaneous New Business -Patricia Gooding (AEC) brought up 8/14 email indicating DOER is currently offering free LED bulbs to municipalities. Patricia to touch base with Brian Joyce and Mark Kelly to see if the Town can take advantage of this in order to convert/retrofit the lights at the Teen Center, Library, and DPW Building as well as any other municipal facilities. -Shaun Selha (AEC) mentioned that Marie Caristi will be stepping down as Co-Chair. Shaun will serve as Chair going forward and Mary Jo Larson will serve as Vice Chair, sitting in as Chair when Shaun is out of Town. -Marie Caristi (AEC) noted the possibility of working with the schools to present the move "Switch" to them. -Mary Jo Larson (AEC) discussed the possibility of including Student or Teacher Representatives at the AEC meetings of which all are in favor. -Shaun Selha (AEC) reminded everyone to get sworn in at Town Hall. There are now ten (10) approved members of the AEC.