04/09/2024 EC Minutes
TOWN OF BETHLEHEM
2155 Main Street
Bethlehem, NH 03574
Minutes
Bethlehem Energy Commission
Tuesday April 9, 2024, 6:00 pm at the Bethlehem Library
Attending: Dan Crosby, Mary Lou Krambeer, and David Van Houten
Melissa Elander and Jim Fitzpatrick.
Excused: Chuck Phillips, Scott Caisse, Bruce Caplain.
Mission: The Bethlehem Energy Commission encourages and supports economically and environmentally sensible energy practices in Bethlehem, NH.
Minutes from March meeting (delayed)
Public input – none
Community Power Warrant Article on the March 12 ballot passed with a whooping 459 YES to 91 NO.
We need to look at website. We have to check on mailing date and then on date of the public hearing. Here are dates to watch for:
April 25 Annual CPC General Meeting
April 26 Bethlehem CPC website goes live
April 26 letters to Eversource customers dropped
April 29 — Bethlehem residents receive a 4-page welcome letter explaining CPC
May 6 6pm public hearing at Town Hall
June — Eversource switches customers to CPC
July Eversource bill will reflect CPC as the supplier
The CPC PowerPoint and the aggregation plan will remain on the Bethlehem website. https://bethlehemnh.org/public_hearings/bethlehem-energy-aggregation-committee-community-power-2/
Eversource Dollars for Municipalities
Clean Energy NH is working with Eversource to try to increase the incentive for battery storage systems offered through the Clean Energy Fund. The incentive is currently capped at $10,000. These funds will be available to municipalities. Clean Energy NH and Eversource have discussed a possible incentive amount of 50% of the project cost with a cap of $100,000, with a focus on installing battery backup in municipal facilities that offer emergency services.
-Village District – meeting tonight. All work done, independent verification of grounding system to review plan and make sure everything works. Array is 100 kW.
Main Street Solar — Report from Gabe Chelius of Clean Energy NH on the Solarize Main Street USDA Rural Development REAP applications.
-Solarize North Country – might make the 15% reduction level. There are still unfinished estimates which may expand participation.
-Measuring our impact (look at numbers in January 2025) – REC dollars and savings per project. We need to develop a town wide procedure for the results of our work. We will be able to see a complete year of data on the municipal solar project at the end of 2024. Dan will connect with the SAU about sending excess production REC dollars back to the town of Bethlehem.
–NH Energy Week, a series of events happening May 6 – 10, 2024 to advance a sustainable and economic energy future for the Granite State. Bethlehem has been nominated for a NH Energy Community Champion Award.
Next meeting: Tuesday, May 7 at 6PM at Bethlehem Library. Chuck Phillips will run meeting. Mary Lou will be absent.
Adjourn – 7:02pm
