Energy Commission Minutes

Minutes of 11/13/2024

November 13th, 2024

Carroll Energy Commission Minutes
Meeting of November 13, 2024 @ 5:00 p.m.
Carroll Town Hall Conference Room

The Carroll Energy Commission mission is to advise, encourage, and facilitate energy conservation, energy efficiency, and clean energy solutions for public buildings and properties, businesses, and resident homes. The Committee shall provide leadership and direction for community education relating to energy and shall propose and explore funding for local energy projects.
These minutes of the Town of Carroll Energy Commission have been recorded by its Secretary. Though believed to be accurate and correct they are subject to additions, deletions, and corrections by the Energy Commission at its next meeting when the Commission votes its final approval of the minutes. They are being made available at this time to conform to the requirements of New Hampshire RSA 91-A:2.

Minutes recorded by Imre Szauter, Secretary

Commission members in attendance: Member Vern Amirault, Member and Select Board Representative John Greer, Member Brian Mycko, Vice Chair and Secretary Imre Szauter, and Chair Bill Vecchio.

Members of the public in attendance in person: Melissa Elander, Clean Energy New Hampshire (CENH) North Country Circuit Rider.

The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Chair Vecchio.

Chair Vecchio invited all attendees to rise and join in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Chair Vecchio welcomed Melissa Elander of CENH and thanked her for her continued support of the Carroll Energy Commission.

Chair Vecchio stated he would entertain a motion on the Sep. 17 meeting minutes. Chair Vecchio motioned to accept the minutes as written. Member Greer seconded the motion. With no discussion, the motion passed with 3 AYES, 0 NAYS, and 2 abstentions. It was noted that Chair Bill Vecchio and Member Brian Mycko were absent from the meeting, so they abstained from the vote.

Chair Vecchio stated he would entertain a motion on the Oct. 23 meeting minutes. Chair Vecchio motioned to accept the minutes as written. Member Greer seconded the motion. With no discussion, the motion passed with 3 AYES, 0 NAYS, and 2 abstentions. It was noted that Members Vern Amirault and Brian Mycko were absent from the meeting, so they abstained from the vote.

Under New Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on community solar farms. A PowerPoint and description of community solar were distributed to members prior to the meeting. With so many items on the agenda, members agreed to delay looking into community solar until a later meeting.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the Nov. 1 CENH Local Energy Solutions (LES) conference in Manchester. Chair Vecchio, Vice Chair Szauter, and Member Greer attended the conference and offered observations about the keynote address, morning and afternoon sessions, and the afternoon plenary session. Chair Vecchio stated that a large benefit of the conference is the networking that takes place in the hallways and over lunch, and visiting with the vendors in the exhibition area. It was noted that Carroll’s CENH Gold Level Municipal membership provided the tickets to the LES at no extra charge, one of the many benefits of the town’s CENH membership.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the status of the Affinity LED Lighting streetlight conversion project. Vice Chair Szauter read a Nov. 12 email from Johnny Muy at Affinity LED Lighting, confirming that the electrical contractor has scheduled installation for the week of Dec. 2. The replacement streetlights and floodlights are in storage at the Highway Garage; the dumpster will be delivered a few days before installation begins.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the NH Department of Energy (DOE) Municipal Solar Grant Program application, filed by the town in August. Vice Chair Szauter read from the NH Secretary of State, NH Governor & Executive Council website regarding the Nov. 13 meeting at 10:00 a.m. containing agenda item #46, the Town of Carroll grant request from the NH DOE for an amount not to exceed $86,236. He read the Quick Results of Meeting Actions that listed approved items, including item #46, and mentioned the audio recording of the meeting.

Chair Vecchio provided a document with the NH DOE rankings for towns that applied for Municipal Solar Grant Program funding and an Excel spreadsheet analysis of funds requested in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 categories. The Town of Carroll attained the fifth best score out of 17 towns in Tier 2, scoring a 79 out of 105 possible points. The minimum score for consideration was 65.

Chair Vecchio noted that only $708,388 out of the $1,000,000 allocated for Tier 1 towns had been committed, so the remaining balance of $291,612 might be reallocated to Tier 2. The towns must now wait for the NH DOE to allocate final amounts, based on town requests and available funds.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the CENH battery storage proposal. He stated that he and Vice Chair Szauter had gathered information on the Public Safety building loads, photographed the electrical panels and breakers, calculated the lighting loads, partially completed the CENH pre-quote checklist, reviewed the diesel generator capacity and run time, and documented the building’s energy consumption since it was built, all to be forwarded to Ted Vansant at Barrington Power for use to calculate the appropriate battery storage system size. Each document was reviewed by the commission.

Shortly before departing the meeting at 6:12 p.m., Melissa Elander commented that four other New Hampshire towns are working on battery storage proposals as well as Carroll.

Chair Vecchio offered to reach out to Eversource Energy to learn if the number of electrical outages and their duration are available for inclusion in the pre-quote checklist. Members agreed that the documentation was reasonably complete enough to submit to Barrington Power for review.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the draft warrant article for the Public Safety building solar PV array. Chair Vecchio provided a draft based on a recent Bethlehem warrant article. Members agreed to review the draft and provide suggestions at the next meeting.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the draft warrant article to create and fund ongoing operation and maintenance costs of the Public Safety building solar PV array if sufficient NH DOE Municipal Solar Grant Program funding is made available to the town and voters approve the solar PV array warrant article discussed above. Members discussed how to include income from Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECs) to replenish the fund. Vice Chair Szauter offered to reach out to town treasurer, Annette Marquis for guidance on whether a Capital Reserve Fund (CRF) or a revolving fund would be the appropriate approach for this item. Members agreed to review the draft and provide suggestions at the next meeting.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the battery storage project. Members agreed this will be a difficult one to create and requires additional research.

Members discussed and agreed to move the next regular meeting of the Energy Commission, scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 11 to Monday, Dec. 9 at 5:00 p.m. in the Town Hall conference room. This will provide an additional opportunity to finalize draft warrant articles before submission to the Select Board on Dec. 10.

Members also discussed another November meeting to work on the draft warrant articles and agreed that Monday, Nov. 25 at 5:00 p.m. in the Town Hall conference room would work for a majority of members. Vice Chair Szauter will request Administrative Assistant, Meg Basnar to post these meetings on the town website calendar.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the draft warrant article for funds to be placed in the Energy Efficiency Capital Reserve Fund (created by voter approval in March 2024). This warrant article was presented and accepted at the Oct. 29 Select Board meeting.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the NH DOE Commercial & Industrial Solar Incentive Program. He stated it was his understanding the Ted Vansant of Barrington Power would apply for funds under this program if voters approved the warrant article for the Public Safety building solar PV array.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH). He stated that he is aware that several Energy Commission members (including himself) have some reservations about the CPCNH program that provides a better electricity rate than that offered by Eversource Energy. Chair Vecchio suggested a Zoom conference in the future to discuss member concerns with CPCNH staff. Members agreed that after the March 2025 Town Vote, the Commission should participate in a Zoom meeting on this topic.

Member Greer departed the meeting at 7:01 p.m.

Additional discussion on electricity rates and potential savings offered by third-party providers took place.

Under Other, Chair Vecchio asked if there were any items for consideration. No items were offered.

With no additional items for discussion, Chair Vecchio entertained a motion for adjournment. Chair Vecchio motioned to adjourn. Member Mycko seconded the motion. With no discussion, the motion passed unanimously with 4 AYES and 0 NAYS and the meeting was adjourned at 7:16 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Imre Szauter, Vice Chair and Secretary