2015-09-09 Climate Advisory Committee Minutes

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Town of Reading - Meeting Minutes • Barry Berman suggested that the gas leak issue should be brought before the BoS, if not as a proposal for resolution supporting the legislation, just as an informational presentation and the gas company should be invited. • David Zeek explained that the timing of this request is linked to scheduled September 29 Public Hearing on the "Omnibus Energy Bill" with the Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy (TUE) joint committee of the legislature. The law is not going to be voted on imminently, but conversation is beginning. • At the end of discussion, the Committee and Selectmen agreed that we want to work together and continue to have a relationship of mutual respect. Mr. Ensminger stated that the BoS would be happy to have the Committee come to their meeting on October 6 or 21. • Mr. Berman encouraged the committee to do more research on how the gas leak issue impacts Reading, beyond what we already learned from the Fire Chief. • Mr. Ensminger asked the committee about our current activities and suggested that we could use time on the agenda of a BoS meeting in October to provide a general update on our programs in addition to the gas leak issue. • Ron agreed to contact the Town Manager to set up a time for the committee to present at a BoS meeting in October. Mr. Ensminger stated that he would like to have the committee at a BoS meeting at least semi - annually. Review and Approval of recent meeting minutes. The minutes of August 26th meeting were reviewed and approved as amended. Community Shared Solar o Joan reported on August 31St CSS meeting with Tom 011ila at RMLD. She and Mike Scola attended that meeting. • Tom informed us that RMLD has arrived at a financial model that is a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), revenue neutral to RMLD and less complicated than alternative models. • Once this financial model gets final approval from GM, the next step is to put together formal specification and request competitive bids from solar developers. • The CSS program will replace "Green Choice ", so current "Green Choice" customers will have first preference to participate in CSS. The number of participants will be limited based on the total capacity of the solar array. For example, if the array is 1 MW, there will be 200 participants, each getting 0.5% of the electricity output. Participants will pay the agreed -upon PPA rate for their solar kWhs, which will initially be a premium over standard fuel charge. In the second and subsequent years, they will receive credit for peak reduction and transmission. Break -even or payback will be 3 to 4 years. Customers would sign up for 10 year commitment. • The first solar array will be located in Wilmington. The hope is that there will be customer demand for more Community Shared Solar and solar arrays will be installed in each of the four towns. • The Reading Climate Advisory Committee will help with marketing and publicity when the CSS program is ready. Senior Citizen initiative. o Gina and Ron will meet with Jane Burns, Jean Delios and John Feudo regarding this program next week. Adopt an Island o Gina suggested we think about holiday decorations for "Polar Express" event. Book Discussion o Ron is scheduled to lead discussion of papal encyclical regarding Climate Change at the Library on December 8. Page 1 2 2013 -09 -03