Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - AEC - 06/20/2016 Meeting Minutes Alternative Energy Committee Town Hall Basement Conference Room, 7:30 p.m., 6/20/2016 AEC Attendees Shaun Selha, Chair (by phone) Mary Jo Larson, Vice Chair Steve Girard i Steve Wenner Marie Caristi Eric Seuss Patricia Gooding Josiah Stevenson Other Attendees Jeanne Astino (School Committee) Amanda Zani (School Committee) Amanda Thompson (Mariner) Bob Silvia (Fire Dept) Meeting Minutes Meeting Minutes for May 2016 were approved and later posted. Green Communities Activities Grants for ECM Implementations Initial grant application for $141,460 submitted to DOER and we have received the contracts from the DOER for the release of the funds (25% up front followed by distributions during construction and upon completion). Brian Joyce confirmed that the work is scheduled. Those funds, along with utility incentives, will pay for Phase 2 of our ECM implementations that include the following (represents 106,000 kWhs of annual savings or 2.5% of annual energy consumption): • Exterior lighting upgrade at Cohasset DPW Facility (May 23rd to June 3rd) • Exterior lighting upgrade at Cohasset Middle/High School (June 3rd to June 81h) • Exterior lighting upgrade at Deer Hill Elementary School (June 91h to June 13th) • Exterior lighting upgrade at Osgood Elementary School (June 14th to June 17th) Require update from Brian Joyce if work was completed by June 17th as per the initial schedule. Municipal Energy Technical Assistance Grant ($12,500/yr for technical assistant for the town) Patricia Gooding looked into the grant and found out that 2015 funds were fully utilized. DOER is looking to release funds for 2016 META grant soon. Patricia will advise once this occurs. There is the possibility that the Town could team up with other municipalities and share a full-time assistant utilizing grant funds. The Town is also looking to see if there is a similar grant available currently for technical assistance associated with electric vehicle procurement. Grant application was to be submitted to DOER by Chris Senior. Awaiting notice of application acceptance and then grant approval. MassEnergylnsight System Log-Ins Chris Senior to forward Seth Pickering (DOER) the contact information for the other Town employees requiring log-in rights (view only) for MassEnergylnsight. List to include Department Heads and AP/AR/Finance employees. Goal is for this to be completed in the next 2 weeks. Bob Silvia and Patricia Gooding to follow-up with Chris Senior to see if he would like assistance in writing the email or letter to the DOER requesting the additional log-ins for the Department Heads. MassEnergylnsight (Patricia Gooding, Chris Senior): Town has identified Mary Snow as the professional best suited to work with AEC on transitioning the diesel and gas consumption and cost data uploads to MEI. Patricia Gooding to work with Mary Snow. Mary Snow has indicated that she needs to talk to her supervisor before taking on any additional work but in conversations with Patricia Gooding she indicated that she is willing to meet up to see what the scope of work would be Electric Vehicle and Charging Station Initiative 1. MA DEP EVIP (Brian Joyce, Chris Senior, Mary Jo Larson): AEC consulting with Town and Capital Budget to assess needs/interests in applying for the MA Electric Vehicle Incentive Program, which offers $7,500 to lease/purchase an electric vehicle and $7,500 for 1-2 charging stations. 2. To date, the Fire Department, Elder Affairs and the School Department have expressed interest and are now weighing costs/benefits. 3. Placement of charging stations might be at the Police/Fire Department, Middle-High School and Willcutt Commons. 4. Chris Senior has agreed with Fire Chief that Town should proceed with application process ("first come first served"). Fire Chief Bob Silvia drafting EVIP Grant Application. Update and next steps? • MA DEP EVIP application submitted by Bob Silvia. Currently, the Town is waiting on grant approval. • The School Department and Fire Department inspected and test drove the Nissan Leaf and were happy with it. The goal is for the lease payments to be under $100/month. Currently estimates have been in the $60/month range. The lease payment will be offset by gas reimbursement and maintenance costs for existing vehicles. Electricity and Natural Gas Commodity Contracts and Demand Response Enrollment (Brian Joyce, Chris Senior, Shaun Selha) 1. ConEdison Solutions electricity commodity contract expires in November 2016. Natural gas commodity purchases floating through National Grid for all municipal facilities with the exception of School Department that is part of a South Shore Collective. Brian Joyce noted that the Town is currently gathering bills and will work with the South Shore School Consortium for RFP pricing for both electricity and natural gas commodity contracts. • Town mulling proposal from Titan Energy for natural gas and electricity commodity supply. Jeanne Astino to confirm whether or not the Town executed the contract. Shaun Selha advised to hold off on executing the contract with Titan Energy since the rates were good but not great. Shaun Selha will forward the names of other P party commodity providers that have a good name in the industry for competitive pricing and honest dealings. 2. Shaun Selha forwarded presentation to Chris Senior and Brian Joyce on benefits of locking in now for commodity contracts for electricity and natural gas as well as potential revenue stream through Demand Response program. Next steps? • No movement or decision by the Town yet. Town Bylaw for Ground-Mounted Solar Photovoltaic Array (Mary Jo Larson): 1. AEC working with Fire Chief Bob Silvia to draft a By-Law with standardized installation procedures per NEC and NFPA code (commercial and residential) to allow for Fire Dept. review for isolation and access during an emergency or fault event. 2. In conjunction with the Planning Board, AEC will work with Fire Chief Bob Silvia to draft the warrant article in time for the Fall 2016 STM agenda. Next steps? • Mary Jo has created a draft copy of the By-Law that she will review with Bob Silvia. Mary Jo will then meet with the Planning Board to review and discuss next steps. Status of Old Landfill PV Array Development (Brian Joyce & Chris Senior): 1. Brian Joyce noted in an email to the AEC that the lot merger has been filed with the Registry of Deeds. 2. The Closure Permit application has been filed by CDM Smith with the DEP. The DEP indicated that the permit is acceptable with the exception of: § They need to close out the Wetlands Issue, which is administrative on their side. § They would like the Town to dig pits to measure cap thickness. 3. Palmer/Town/AEC to meet in the next couple of weeks to discuss schedule and path forward with the project including potential financial assurance obligation requirements from MASS DEP separate from those covered under the executed Lease Agreement. 4. The technical review by National Grid of the interconnection and design plans is complete. The next step is the drafting of an Interconnect Service Agreement which Palmer and National Grid are working on. • National Grid is currently questioning DPU ruling on single-parcel requirement, Palmer Capital working through information requests so the interconnection agreement can proceed and be executed. Streetlight Procurement and Conversion (Brian Joyce & Chris Senior) 1. Town Counsel finished their review of the revised Purchase and Sale Agreement that National Grid has submitted to the Town. They will be meeting with Town officials to review their comments on 5/24/16. National Grid has countered with the P&S price of $14,000 for all 500+ streetlights. Additionally, they will grant the Town a credit for the eighty-eight (88) streetlights that were found to be inoperative and reported to them last September (DPU stipulates credit can only be obtained from the moment the inoperable streetlight was reported to the moment it is repaired). Additionally, National Grid is in the process of repairing all inoperative streetlights. Currently, there is no schedule from National Grid on when that will be complete. • Brian Joyce or Chris Senior to confirm that the P&S Agreement is fully executed. The other pertinent information requested is: • Final purchase price. • Credit granted for off-line streetlights since initial reporting in September • Status of repairs to inoperative streetlights by National Grid • DOER has decided to issue separate grant for Municipal Streetlights after all. Shaun Selha submitted LOI to DOER indicating interest in grant for LED retrofit and controls installation. DOER is waiting to see how many municipalities express interest and then will decide what the grant amount will be for each municipality. Other Energy Conservation Initiatives 1. Energy Audit of Water Distribution and Treatment Plant and Pumping Stations (Brian Joyce): National Grid (Michael Skinner) has hired J.K. Muir to conduct the energy audit. On-site field visit date to be scheduled. The audit will be conducted at no cost to the Town. • Brian Joyce to confirm if the on-site field visit for the energy audit was scheduled. National Grid was attempting to schedule it with Suez. 3. Microgrid Feasibility Study (Stephen Girardi): 4. § MA Clean Energy Center has pre-qualified engineering firms for the feasibility study. One firm has already responded back with proposed scope of work. Update? • Still waiting on official release of RFP. Now looking at potential July release date. 3. CCSCR Partnership (Shaun Selha): National Grid has volunteered to have one of their Technical Assistants provide an Energy Audit of the facility for free. This is being scheduled through Jack Buckley. This will identify the energy conservation measures that can be enacted at the facility. After these are implemented, Phase 1 will be completed. Phase 2 will be the analysis of renewable energy technologies at the site as well as other more engineering heavy initiatives. • National Grid has decided to break it down into two (2) phases. The first will be for ECM's and the walkthrough has already been scheduled. The second phase will be for renewable energy projects. We may have to use Green Community Grant Funds for the implementation of the ECM's or renewable projects. AEC Committee Applications 1. Committee Applications need to be submitted to Tracey Connors (tconnorsCcohassetma.org) for any AEC Members who wish to stay on the Committee. • Shaun Selha received confirmation from Troika that existing nine (9) members have been re-appointed for the next year. New Business Urban Green Technologies—Iron Horse PV Array • UGT is looking for off-takers for a VNMC agreement, similar to what we were originally planning on executing with Solar City, for a new PV Array that is currently being constructed in Billerica, MA. The site is known as "Iron Horse". They are looking to structure the contracts as a percentage savings over baseline costs (25% reduction). AEC will look to set up presentation by them of the VNMC contract structure for next month's AEC Meeting. Next Meeting: Monday, July 25, 7:30, Town Hall Basement Conference Room