2016-01-27 Climate Advisory Committee Minutes

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Town of Reading - Meeting Minutes • Solar • Community Solar. Gina reported that there is no news on Community Solar. • Residential Solar / Solarize Reading. • Ron emailed Jill from Direct Energy Solar informing her that the committee is interested in Solarize but cannot commit to an exclusive arrangement with one installer. Jill responded with more Information, including a model Request for Proposal (RFP). Ron will be meeting with Ml next Thursday. • Gina emailed all Committee members a newsletter from Belmont Citizens Forum which covers the issues involved with solar PV installation in municipal light department communities. • Ron will call Jane Parenteau, Manager of RMLD Integrated Resources, to invite her to one of our meetings in February (2/10 or 2/24) for a discussion of RMLD's business plan for renewable energy, and specifically Community Solar and individual residential solar. (Note: Later In the meeting, Gina volunteered to make the phone call to Jane Parenteau.) • School presentations. Nothing new to report. • Gas Leaks • A total of 21 municipalities have now signed resolutions supporting the legislation. • There has been no response from Town Manager to emails or voice mall messages. • Earth Day 2016 • Laurie Ann has booked the RMLD building for Saturday, April 23. ® • The Earth Day event will likely focus on renewable energy and energy efficiency. It would be an opportunity to promote both Community Solar and individual residential solar photovoltaics. • Laurie Ann reviewed the list of exhibitors from Earth Day 2015. Ron and others offered to help make phone calls to these contacts and to potential new exhibitors. • Friends and Family Day • Friends and Family Day is scheduled for June 11. We did not participate last year. • After brief discussion, the Committee agreed that this event is not a good opportunity for our community outreach efforts, so we will decline the invitation again this year. • Micro-grid grant money o Jeff sent an email to MassDOER inquiring about the availability of Resiliency Program grant money. Jeff thinks there may be $15 million left in this program, but so far he has not had any response to his inquiry. • Outreach to Representative Brad Jones o David Zeek stated that our state representative, Brad Jones, is on the conciliation committee working to merge the House and Senate versions of bills regarding net metering and SRECs. David suggested meeting with Representative Jones to discuss these bills. Ron advised Dave to first ask if these bills are relevant to municipal light departments. OClimate Action Plan o Ron asked David Zeek and Jeff Everson if they had reviewed the Reading Climate Action Plan (2008) which had been emailed to them. Both had looked at it but were not prepared to discuss details. Ron suggested that we all review the plan Page 12 xoum ul