Energy Commission Minutes

Minutes of 3/19/2024

March 25th, 2024

Carroll Energy Commission Minutes
Meeting of March 19, 2024
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, and Vice Chair Imre Szauter. Member Brian Mycko joined via Zoom. Chair Bill Vecchio was excused.

Members of Affinity LED Lighting, Dover, NH in attendance (via Zoom): Steve Lieber, Founder & President; Angel Segarra, Project Manager; Kelly Smigielski, Project Development and Communications; and Jason Wiggins, Project Development.

The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. by Vice Chair Szauter.

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

Due to technical difficulties with Microsoft Teams, the Energy Commission and the Affinity LED Lighting team spent 25 minutes trying to establish a reliable connection. Finally, the Teams session was terminated and a Zoom session established. This connection worked as expected and Member Mycko joined via Zoom.

Affinity LED Lighting Founder and President, Steve Lieber welcomed the Energy Commission and his team to the meeting. He congratulated the Town of Carroll for passing the LED street light conversion warrant article. He introduced his team and outlined the roles they will play during the entire street light conversion process.

Under New Business, Vice Chair Szauter opened a discussion on the LED street light conversion process, as authorized by the March 12, 2024 Town Vote passage of Warrant Article 11.

President Lieber stated they will provide the town with a written agreement to review, sign, and return. Once the agreement between Affinity LED Lighting and the Town of Carroll is signed, they will begin work by conducting a detailed onsite audit of all our street lights, using the Eversource Energy inventory as their basis. The purpose of the audit is to verify that the inventory matches actual field installations, including location, type of light, intensity, and condition of the electrical and mechanical connections. Street lights on poles that are not listed in the Eversource Energy inventory will be added during the audit, and street lights that have been removed but are still carried in the inventory will be flagged. The final audit, which will include GPS coordinate information, will be processed to produce a color-coded lighting map for the Energy Commission’s review.

Vice Chair Szauter reported that 31 defective street lights had been reported to Eversource Energy since October 1, 2023. Eversource Energy has replaced most of the defective street lights with similar high pressure sodium (HPS) units, but several of the most recent replacements have been LED units. Member Amirault reported that he spoke with one Eversource Energy crew member who was replacing a defective street light with a new LED light; the crew member reported he had to change the electrical connection in order to install the LED light.

President Lieber explained that under the provisions of the agreement, the Town of Carroll will own the LED street light units, but Eversource Energy will be responsible for all other components of the system, including the mast arm, the wiring, and connections to their power lines. If, during the installation of the new LED street light cobraheads, the contractor determines that the wiring must be replaced, they will do so and note that action.

President Lieber outlined abnormal conditions that may occur in the field and how they will be handled and by whom. If the LED street light is always on, this may indicate a photo eye may be defective. This would be a situation handled by contacting Affinity LED Lighting. Other issues, including cabling, mast arms, and connections to the power lines, would be on Eversource Energy to resolve.

President Lieber highlighted that under the one-year parts and labor warranty, all service calls should be routed to Affinity LED Lighting. After the first year, it’s up to the town whether to contact Affinity LED Lighting or Eversource Energy for service calls. He emphasized that the cobraheads are warranted for ten (10) years, so having a few spares on hand could reduce the number of service calls on a defective cobrahead from two to one by combining the diagnostics and resolution phases into one trip.

Member Amirault asked if the audit will include recommendations for additions, deletions, or intensity changes to existing street lights. Project Manager Segarra stated that the audit will result in a lighting plan for review by the town which should be the basis for any discussions regarding changes. President Lieber indicated that some towns have used the audit results to request reimbursements from their electric service provider in cases where the town was billed for street lights that were no longer in service.

President Lieber suggested that when the audit is complete and the lighting plan is available, the Energy Commission should include the fire chief, police chief, and public works director in reviewing the plan with Affinity LED Lighting. This would be the point at which recommended changes could be made to finalize the plan before presenting it to the Select Board for their review and approval.

President Lieber confirmed that the Energy Commission decided to implement the non-networked version, the less expensive of the two proposals presented last year. Member Amirault summarized his findings with regard to networked street lights in two Maine communities. Those communities reported issues with their installations related to control, record-keeping, and reporting. President Lieber confirmed that Verizon has had problems with their system for remote street lighting control. He also stated that for this networked street lighting system to function properly, each town needs to have a “power user” who understands how the system works, how to take advantage of it, produce schedules and generate reports to the electric provider that result in cost savings from reduced energy usage.

Vice Chair Szauter reported that there was no follow up by Verizon’s Intelligent Street Light platform group after he contacted them in late 2023 for more information. President Lieber requested more information so he could follow up with his contacts at Verizon.

President Lieber asked who would be signing the Affinity LED Lighting agreement to start the project. Member Greer suggested the chair of the Select Board should be the one to sign the document. He stated that the Select Board would be meeting later in the day and could select a new chair. President Lieber agreed to wait until the Select Board chair was identified, then send the agreement for review and signature.

Member Amirault asked if Affinity LED Lighting required any documentation from the town prior to issuance of the agreement. President Lieber stated that they did not.

Member Greer asked how soon Affinity LED Lighting needed the signed agreement returned to them. President Lieber answered that once the agreement was signed by both parties and the town paid the required 50% deposit, the project would begin. Project Developer Wiggins will inform Eversource Energy when the agreement has been signed and the project will begin shortly thereafter. He will also track the Eversource Energy rebate documents. Project Manager Segarra will gather the necessary data and notify the auditing company to schedule their site visit to the town.

Member Greer asked how long the entire project might take to complete. President Lieber stated that assuming the audit is completed by the end of April and reconciliation of the audit with Eversource Energy and review of the lighting plan by the town is completed in a timely manner, it’s possible to finish the entire project within 90 days.

Vice Chair Szauter asked if Affinity LED Lighting would like a single point of contact for the town. President Lieber indicated that they would. Member Greer made a motion to appoint Vice Chair Szauter as the town’s contact with Affinity LED Lighting for execution of this project. Member Amirault seconded the motion. With no discussion, a roll call vote was taken. Member Greer: AYE; Member Amirault: AYE; Vice Chair Szauter: AYE; and Member Mycko: AYE; the motion passed unanimously.

Vice Chair Szauter asked how Affinity LED Lighting deals with privately-owned street lights. President Lieber stated that it depends on the situation, but in the case of one or just a few privately-owned street lights, it might be beneficial to both the owners and the town to replace the existing street light with an Affinity LED Lighting LED street light and transfer ownership responsibility to the town. The operational costs would be minimal and both the town and the owner would gain from the long life expectancy of the LED cobrahead.

Vice Chair Szauter asked about the addition of LED street lights to areas where they might serve the public interest, such as at the intersection of Ledoux Road and US-3, the intersection near the UPS facility. President Lieber stated that the NH DOT (New Hampshire Department of Transportation) decommissioned thousands of street lights statewide and this location may have been one of them. He indicated that the audit would likely clarify why there is a mast arm but no street light at that location.

Vice Chair Szauter asked if the audit team needed someone from the town to accompany them during their site visit. President Lieber stated that the audit team prefers to work alone, but notifying the police department of their presence in town might be a good idea. We will be notified when the audit team is heading this way.

Vice Chair Szauter asked about the availability of the audit data and lighting plan for use with the town GIS system. Project Developer Wiggins replied that as part of the closing meeting and transfer of documents, the GIS information could be made available for importation as a layer in the town’s GIS system.

In closing the discussion, the following action items and owners were identified:
1) When the Select Board chair decision has been made, Vice Chair Szauter will notify Affinity LED Lighting. This information will be included on the Affinity LED Lighting agreement that is sent to the town.
2) Vice Chair Szauter will provide President Lieber with the Verizon Intelligent Street Light program email thread that received no follow up from Verizon.

The Affinity LED Lighting team thanked Energy Commission members for the meeting and again congratulated them on bringing the proposal to the voters. They then disconnected the Zoom session at 11:24 a.m.

Members Greer and Amirault and Vice Chair Szauter wrapped up the discussion by summarizing the Affinity LED Lighting conversation.

Under Old Business, Vice Chair Szauter invited items for discussion; nothing was offered.

Under Other, Vice Chair Szauter invited items for discussion; nothing was offered.

With no other agenda items to discuss, Vice Chair Szauter entertained a motion for adjournment. Member Greer motioned to adjourn. Member Amirault seconded the motion. With no additional discussion, the motion was passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 11:28 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Imre Szauter, Vice Chair and Secretary