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Meeting Minutes
December 18, 2014
7:12 pm
120 Washington Street, 3rd Floor
Attendees: Rick Nye, Jeff Barz-Snell, Cindy Keegan, Jeff Cohen, Jeff Elie
Visitor: Ed Wolfe
Not in Attendance: Rishi Nandi, Nick Lewis, John Hayes,
Introduction – quick update on projects from Energy Manager (Jeff Elie)
- LED Streetlights- January council meeting to approve 3400 lights conversion by Siemens under short term bond, 5yr payback, $200K per year savings- with just electrical savings. 10 yr warranty. Still confirming lighting fixture. End of June is expected timeline for install.
- Green Communities Projects – wrapping up, retro-commissioning, some final LED lighting at DPW, pedestrian mall. End of January completion expected, next round of Green Communities grants probably available in March.
- Municipal Aggregation – City Council approved getting quote.
- Solar Net Metering/Municipal PPA/Community Solar (Jeff Cohen) – Reveo approached us about buying solar RECs in our load zone as part of our municipal energy bill. 11 cents/kWh to purchase (all in), rather than our current 13.8 cent/kWh rate currently locked in for next 3 year electricity contract that just started. Typical range of purchase is 4-5 MW of energy at 11 cents for 20 years with small escalator. The City of Melrose just did this deal for city power usage.
General Discussion
- Climate Change Adaptation Plan public meeting discussion – discuss CDM Smith/City of Salem presentation on December 15th and the Final Draft report posted on the Studies and Reports website.
42 different adaptation scenarios, so presentation was difficult. Draft study available online. Energy resiliency (is what we’ll be focusing on), permitting considerations, etc. Upcoming presentations planned: General climate change., what you can do in your home from flooding, Rosie Pond activity, + one other- thru grant with CZM and Salem Sound Coastwatch. When the engineering project at Rosie’s Pond is at 25% there will be another public meeting as well. Comment brought up by Ed Wolfe was concern that the tidal numbers used in the study seemed much higher than anything that has actually been seen even though they referenced historical tides.
- RETF By-laws discussion – Jeff Elie provided some other energy committee by-laws for consideration including items like: 2/3 of meetings to be attended, then membership is voted upon by group. Jeff is going to modify the sample one to reflect our committee and send for consideration prior to next meeting. Plan to vote on draft at next meeting, and then send to the City’s legal counsel for review and acceptance.
- Footprint/CLF Renewable Energy Grant Money – Discuss projects eligible to be used with money. Possible projects include wind turbine feasibility study update (quote for updating the acoustic modeling from Tocci was $30K, looking to trim that down); Meridian has not come back with quote for updating the wind feasibility report yet, Jeff Barz-Snell suggested approaching Boreal also); and Enerex provided a very detailed quote for possible microgrid pilot project, to assist with a potential RFP to other vendors- sites under consideration at the moment: highschool/middleschool, DPW/Police, Bowditch/Highschool)
- Solar Salem discussion and next steps – Jeff Cohen, Salem Solar Coach, will update the committee on working with Salem Alliance for the Environment (SAFE) on doing a new Solar Salem program that brings more residential and commercial solar installations to Salem. City of Salem will support thru SAFE(B-Corp) another Solarize Salem program. Solar Coach would be independent contractor thru SAFE and would help review programs for residents, suggest vetted vendors, make contracts quicker for residential, PPA, leasing, and community solar (allow residents to purchase more solar beyond their own homes in addition to municipal aggregation).
Key Decisions: None- no votes taken.
Not on agenda:
- Solar for Municipal buildings/locations: Blue Wave/ Barego partnered to do feasibility study of municipal buildings – so far some of the best for sun, have the worst roofs based on age or structural integrity. Proposal for the ones they feel would be worthwhile for them to develop-expected to be received on Monday 12/22/14.
Action Items:
- Jeff Elie will send draft by-laws – review & approve at Jan meeting
- Jan meeting- approve the committee name change
Read thru CBA
- Reminder that additional members should be sought and encouraged to submit applications to Mayor Driscoll.
- Consider change of RETF name to Salem Sustainability & Energy Committee (or other ideas folks may have)
Future Meetings
- Next meeting will be held on January 15, 2015 at 7pm.
Adjournment 8:15pm
Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 39 §23B, and
City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033
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