Town of Newtown, CT 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT
THESE MINUTES ARE SUBJECT TO APPROVAL BY THE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY COMMISSION
4-18-2013
The Sustainable Energy Commission held a regular meeting Thursday, April 18, 2013 in shared meeting room 3 of the Municipal Center located at 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT 06470.
The meeting was called to order by chairman, Kathy Quinn at 7:02 pm.
Present: Chairman, Kathy Quinn, Charlie Copp, Mark Sievel, Joseph Borst
Absent: Fred Hurley, Desiree Galassi, Dan Holmes, Barbara Toomey, James Gulalo
Communications:
No communications
Acceptance of Minutes:
Mr. Borst made a motion to accept the minutes of the March 21, 2013 meeting minutes as presented. Mr. Sievel seconded the motion which carried unanimously.
Old Business:
HES Program
Ms. Quinn reminded the Commission that the HES vendors will be attending the Earth Day event.
Solar Panels PPA
Ms. Quinn and many Commission members attended the presentation at the Middle School. The project is almost done, there are just a few finishing touches that are needed along with some approvals. The project is spread over 8 buildings and is a 190 KW system.
The next project that would be submitted for the second round is the Reed School. Mr. Hurley saw a possible proposal for the Reed School, the roof structure would need to be investigated to ensure that the roof could support the system.
Water Treatment Plant
All the connections have been made at the Water Treatment Plant, they just need to be approved now. The system will be able to be monitored through the internet. IT is working on putting links on the Commission website for the solar systems that are operating on town buildings.
Solarize CT Program / Ross Solar
Ms. Quinn has reached out to Robert Schmidt from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund and he said that the next phase for the program is not clear yet.
Ross Solar has partnered with a finance group for leasing. This could be another possibility for financing solar panels.
Transition Movement
Ms. Toomey is attending Earth Day. There are no other updates at this time.
Go Green Website
Updates are still being made and a dashboard will be added for all the solar systems on town buildings.
Energy Star Portfolio Manager
The portfolio will tie in with the ESCO project. Ameresco will have to collect baseline information for the ESCO, Ms. Quinn will look into using that same information to set up the Portfolio Manager.
ESCO
The Board of Selectman gave the go ahead for the ESCO, the next step is presenting to the Board of Finance on April 25 at 7:30 pm. The approval from the Board of Finance is needed to present to the Legislative Council. The only questions that came up at the Board of Selectman meeting was about the potential risks, which are minimal.
Municipal Energy Management Plan
Ms. Quinn plans on working on this after the ESCO. Ms. Quinn has outlines from other plans that can be used as a starting point for the Commission to put the plan together for Newtown. The plan will outline what the Commission should be doing and how they should interface with the town.
Brownfields
The process for cleaning up the brownfield properties will be a long process.
C-PACE
Liz Stocker, from Economic Development, presented to the Board of Selectman on April 1 about C-PACE and presented to the Legislative Council on April 17.
C-PACE will tie into the action plan and ESCO. The cost to the town will be minimal if anything.
Grants
The Commission has some grant money available. One idea that came up was contributing to a street lighting project in Sandy Hook or a different type of project in Sandy Hook to encourage business in the area.
Adjournment:
Mr. Borst made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:35 pm. The motion was seconded by Mr. Sievel. The motion was carried unanimously.
The next regular meeting will occur on Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 7:00 pm at the Newtown Municipal Center in Shared Meeting Room 3.
Submitted, Jessica Smith, clerk.
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